With repeated incidents of child sexual assault, it’s crucial to educate younger generations using innovative and simple methods to protect their bodies during their earliest years.
The way parents approach this education makes all the difference; prevention doesn’t mean scaring children, but can be achieved through a game, a question, or a bedtime story.
Ages three to six: Your Body is a Gift
Between the ages of three and six, children begin exploring their bodies and the world around them. This is when ‘positive affirmations’ become crucial, paving the way for a child who can protect themselves without living in constant fear. Child psychiatrist Ibrahim Mahmoud explains that parents should emphasize to their children that their bodies are a gift from God, which must be cared for through good nutrition, sufficient sleep, and exercise, while also protecting it from strangers.
Mahmoud pointed out that it is absolutely forbidden to force a child to kiss or hug anyone, even relatives during family gatherings, events, and visits. Instead, they should be taught that they have the right to say ‘no, thank you,’ while raising their hand to indicate their unwillingness to have physical contact with others.
A Simple Question, Great Protection
The most important concept can be explained with a simple drawing or by using a doll that highlights the private areas that no one has the right to touch or see, except a doctor and in the presence of the mother or father.
But what if someone offers a child candy and asks them not to tell anyone? The child psychiatrist advises a single sentence the child must learn: ‘I have to tell my mom first.’ However, the most crucial thing is that the child feels safe enough to talk without fear of punishment or ridicule.
Ages five to nine: Warning About Unsafe Touches
This stage involves learning to differentiate between types of touch, using a sheet of paper divided into two halves. On one side, we write ‘safe touches,’ like a mother’s hug, and on the other, ‘unsafe touches,’ such as a child sitting on someone’s lap or being asked to keep secrets after their body has been touched.
Mahmoud added that at this age, a child should learn that there are no secrets to be kept from parents, even if the other person threatens them. They should also be advised to immediately report it if they see another child being harassed at school or a club, for example.
Ages 10 to 12: Digital and Social Awareness
At this age, children use technology more frequently and are more exposed to inappropriate content. Therefore, they must be taught the importance of reporting suspicious images and immediately blocking the sender. It should also be ingrained in their awareness that harassment isn’t just physical touch; it can also be a look, a word, or an invitation to ‘play’ something strange. The response in such situations is simple, like: ‘I don’t like this, can we play something else?’
Fun and Effective Awareness Activities
Educational expert Nermine al-Hag shared advice with Al-Masry Al-Youm for parents to help them protect their children from harassment and sexual exploitation:
Drawing a Safe Body Map
In this game, the private areas that are not to be touched are colored in, to make the child aware of the danger of strangers touching them there.
Role-Playing
This involves practicing how a child can respond in situations where they might experience harassment.
Change the Method, Reach the Goal
Messages conveyed through a game or a cartoon story stay in a child’s mind more effectively than a thousand scary lectures, according to al-Hag. She emphasized the importance of using phrases that boost a child’s self-confidence, such as, ‘I trust you,’ and ‘You can handle this.’
It’s also crucial to repeat questions and advice regularly to reinforce the information in the child’s mind.
The educational expert pointed out that behind this simple guidance lies a strict system of preventative habits that mothers should instill from their children’s birth, including:
Only their mother should change the child’s clothes, and in a private space. Gradually teach the child to stop touching their genital area after the age of one and a half. Close the bathroom door, even while toilet training. Do not allow children to be kissed on the mouth or to sit on other people’s laps. From the age of two, teach the child that the area between the navel and the knees is private. Teach the child to say loudly, ‘No, that’s not right!’ in response to any uncomfortable behavior.Strict Rules at School and Nursery
Incidents of child abuse in schools and kindergartens have understandably caused significant anxiety among mothers regarding their young children. In our times, a disturbing attraction to children has eroded our sense of safety.
What was once a non-issue has now become a source of fear and suspicion.
Therefore, al-Hag has outlined several key points to focus on to protect children in schools and nurseries:
Ensure that only one designated caregiver is responsible for taking a child to the bathroom. Ensure that children are not allowed to enter restrooms collectively or change clothes in front of each other at school. At home, prioritizing a child’s privacy involves key practices such as ensuring siblings do not bathe together and having children sleep in separate beds from a young age, with each child having their own dedicated blanket.Blind Obedience is a Great Danger
Child psychiatrist Mahmoud warned against one of the most dangerous unintentional things parents can do: training a child to be blindly obedient. Any child forced into silence and unquestioning obedience is a child being set up to be a victim.
Therefore, it is crucial to break the cycle of silence and educate the child, understanding that harassment itself isn’t just what’s most frightening; it’s the secrecy surrounding it. Children must be given the freedom to object and the confidence that they will be believed if they speak up, to provide genuine protection.
In the battle to protect children, we don’t need walls of fear. Instead we must build bridges of trust and knowledge, conveyed through a game or a story that could save an entire life from a painful trauma and prevent a crime where their rights are lost.
Empowering kids, not frightening them: A guide to self-protection against all forms of harassment Egypt Independent.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Empowering kids, not frightening them: A guide to self-protection against all forms of harassment )
Also on site :