Lately at some of our parent seminars, we began educating parents about the dangers of sexual predators, bullying, online safety issues and abduction and upon hearing some of the statistics…
- 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be sexually exploited before their 18 birthday
- 90% of the time a child is harmed by someone they know
- 68% of the time it is a family member
…parents get scared of this information and rightly so!
What is frustrating and alarming from a child safety expert’s point of view is that the parents are also sharing that they are scared and unsure as to how to talk with their children about their bodies, private parts, safe and unsafe touch, and about secrets. The parent’s reasons for not addressing these issues:
- Their parents never talked to them about it so they don’t know how to approach the topic
- They don’t want their children to lose their innocence
- They are uncomfortable with their own bodies
- They are uncomfortable saying the words for private parts
- They feel they may be sexualizing their children at an early age
These are all valid reasons, and we get it! The thing is, all of those things that scare you are only going to make your child more vulnerable to a child predator. We want your child to be off limits/a hard target to a predator and this is why you NEED to change your thought process right now and realize you should be scared NOT to talk to your child about these things!
Child predators are looking for a child who is an “easy target”:
- Whose parents don’t talk to them about their body
- Has been told to ALWAYS obey adults
- Has NEVER been taught their private parts are private
- Has NEVER been told their body belongs to them
- Has NEVER been educated about good and bad secrets
- Whose parents are uncomfortable discussing all of these issues
We at the KidSafe Foundation are dedicated to educating parents about the NEED to talk to your children about these topics. If you don’t, trust us, a child predator is ready, willing and able to teach your child. We know we sound harsh, we know we are scaring you, but our goal is to make your children off limits and a hard target to predators.
Our book – “My Body is Special and Belongs To ME!” – teaches children through fun, beautiful pictures and rhyme that their bodies are special, their privates are meant just for them, their body belongs only to them, secrets: good vs. bad, and how they can be a judge if a touch is safe or unsafe by how that touch makes them feel. If a touch makes them uncomfortable or confused (even if the touch feels “good” or the touch is given by someone they love), the book teaches how to talk to another trusted adult about it.
We know that even if you give this book to your child to read, you the parent might still be uncomfortable. What if they ask me questions? What if they want to know more? What do I say? Our goal with this book was to give YOU the parents the language to have the conversation with your child in a comfortable and natural manner. That is why we wrote an extensive parent section that we ask you to read through before you even give or read the book with your child.
We promise you that your questions will be answered. We give you ways to feel more comfortable talking about these issues. We give you conversation starters and answers to typical questions children will ask to help you continue the learning this book has to offer. If after reading our book through a few times, you still have questions (which we doubt…but if you do) email us at info@kidsafefoundation.org and ask us your questions and we will reply back to each and every one.
We feel so strongly about preventing children from harm and we hope with our book, we can help prevent a child from being harmed.
All proceeds from our book go directly to our 501c3 nonprofit KidSafe Foundation to bring prevention education programs and materials to children and their families. For more information or to purchase our book www.kidsafefoundation.org
