Tips To Keep Your Child Safe From Sexual Abuse

Does your child come home in pain, in tears and sits silently in a corner? Is your child scared of someone outside? Beware! Your child might be a victim of sexual abuse.

This is what happened with a 4-year old girl. During a normal day at school, a classmate of hers put his finger inside her bloomer, then he sharpened his pencil and put that inside the girl too. Her mother reported that the incident has left a deep scar on her child.

Sexual abuse in kids, though it may sound like something extremely uncommon but it is not. It sure is unfortunate but it's not uncommon. The incidence of sexual abuse in kids is higher than you think it would be. Sad it is that some people in the world fail to control their lust and attack kids for their sexual needs. And what's worse, there is no age of perversion. This incident that took place with the four-year old girl was actually an act of perversion of her own classmate.

Also read: Is Your Child Safe At School? Things Parents Must Do To Ensure Child Safety At School

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How old is a four-year old boy to be so perverted!

And the worst part, that scared little child might not even know what is happening with him/her and who to talk to about it. Your child might be witnessing the worst nightmare of his/her life every now and then and you may not even know about it.

Photo Credit: iStock

Sexual abuse is that leech which is robbing kids of their childhood and exposing them to the dark side of the world. You can't eliminate these dark creatures from the world but, you can take some steps to reduce the risk of the same. A few things that you can teach your kids make them stronger and tell them what to do when they are in danger, can protect your child against the atrocities of the world.

So here's a list of tips you can take note of to protect your children against such predators.

1. Communicate with your child

Talk to your child. Encourage your kid to speak up and talk about their day. Sit with them, discuss with them, they may not even realize that something is going wrong, they may not be capable enough of understanding that something is going wrong, but you are.

2. Teach them about their body

Teach them about the body parts. If not in complete detail, tell them which part of their body is private and they must not let anyone touch them there.

Also read: 5 Signs That Your Child Is Being Sexually Abused

3. Ask them to come and talk to you

Ask your kids to come and tell you things. Maintain that strong communication with your child where they come and tell you things which you have taught them are wrong and inappropriate. Teach them to not hide such information from you and that you will not be upset rather happy that your child has come and informed something to you. Assure them that you will help them and protect them as well.

4. The difference between appropriate and inappropriate

Teach them what kind of behaviour is inappropriate and should be reported to an elderly. Though sexual abuse goes beyond the genitals as well, like lips, legs, neck and even arms, but this is good to begin with. Tell them what kind of a touch is okay and what is not. What kind of behaviour they must be reluctant to and report to you.

5. Your ways of showing affection

Sometimes simple acts of affection that you use with your kids can be used by a sexual assaulter. For example, sometimes when you feel low and ask your kid for a hug or a kiss, your child perceives that this is what one does when someone is sad and needs to be cheered up. The same behaviour can be used by an assaulter to abuse your child. This is when you need to check for your ways of teaching your kids on how they can show affection.

6. The secret factor

The secret factor is dangerous. Often the perpetrators ask their victims to keep the incident as a secret between the two. Teach your kids on how they must not keep such kind of secrets. How such secretive factors can become dangerous.

7. The people you can trust your child with

Tell your kids who they can trust and who they must not get very close to. But more than that, it is your task to choose the set of people very very carefully. The school you send your child to, the teacher who looks after your child, the babysitter and every person associated with your child, be very careful about choosing who you trust and who you can rely on.

Our kids aren't safe anymore, there are predators all around. In such times, all you can do is strengthen your bond with your child and help them become stronger and capable of dealing with it all. You never know, the predator of your child might be a four-year old classmate...