Train your little ones on "good touch and bad touch" from early years
Instances of child molestation are multiplying by the hour rendering parents sleepless. We are no more in a position to leave our children’s safety to schools or day-care centers. Before thrusting them with the responsibility of our precious ones, it’s unto us to carry out a thorough background check of schools, crèches and transportation we are choosing. It is equally important that we educate our children on these issues from as early as can be. Yes, it’s a shame that before we introduce them to Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, this sick society demands us to warn them of molesters and predators. But we have to accept these discussions like a pill, the bitterness of which yields healthy results later. Every child has a different intellectual growth-rate, it’s a parent’s duty to engage enough with children to gauge their emotional maturity and mental capability to grasp what we are to put forward.
Here is an interesting video of a 4 year old elaborating on Good Touch and Bad Touch
Introduce them to the Swimsuit rule – body parts covered by a swimsuit are private and no one is allowed to pat them there. If your child has yet to know what a swimsuit at all is, don’t bother. Let them know that their chest, bottom, and parts in between legs are no-no zones. If someone reaches for those parts they should scream at the top of their voice. I would also add lips to this list for I don’t see a reason behind kissing someone else’s child on the lips. Kids might not be able to grasp the idea at once; but as they say practice leads to perfection– even in kids. Invest time in role playing sessions to condition their mind against particular touches. They must know no one but mummy and papa, and a doctor in the presence of mummy or papa can touch them.
Give them complete authority over their body. Don’t coerce them into kissing or hugging people if they don’t agree. In fact if your child shows repulsion against any one in particular, dig deeper to know the cause behind this repulsion. We bet, children in such situations can produce solid substantiation. Another reason to discourage kissing is, you won’t want them to perceive this act as a standard. Children need to identify kisses as intimate expression of affection and if an outsider forces, the kiss should raise a red flag in their minds.
If your child has yet to learn to visit the bathroom by herself, it’s suggested to never allow her to playdates to neighboring homes. To not let outsiders help her in the toilet is what she needs to learn before A, B, C. The child should be trained to approach either mommy or daddy, or an immediate family member to assist her. I might come off as harsh, but I wouldn’t be comfortable sending her off with some uncle or a grown cousin either. To please people is secondary to you, assuring your baby’s safety is primary.
In no time they will be ready to step into school, and that is when the real struggle starts. With comprehensive conversation we have to break it down to their tender minds that the outer world is saturated with dangers. Though tiny, they have to outsmart these ‘bad guys’. Children these days are born with an innate affiliation toward iPad, laptops and games. It’s upon us to squeeze out enough time to spend with children, so they find comfort in our company. To confide in us must turn into their alter ego. Devote an hour after school discussing about the day, keep the conversation entertaining, as though its story time, just the narrator and audience are swapped. Here, you too, need to place trust in your child’s chronicle for it alone will give you an understanding of people she interacts with while you are away. If anyone’s behavior as reckoned by the kid appears to be suspicious, don’t dissuade yourself from probing further. Discuss objectionable incidents with concerned authorities. We often fail to realize that a slight depravity in the present can swell into an outrageous degeneracy in the future. Recognizing the danger and responding to it smartly is the sole mantra for every parent.
