Reading the news recently has been hard. Yes, we live in an imperfect world, but it is made all the more brittle when I read about child abuse. A 6-year-old girl in India raped at her school, 1400 children in Rotherham U.K. subjected to appalling abuse and exploitation over the last 16 years...the list is long and painfully endless. How do we, as parents, make our children aware of the risks around them and about body boundaries so that they are less vulnerable to manipulation or assault? My son recently turned 4 and having a conversation with him on such a complicated issue was a daunting thought. Besieged by doubts on WHAT to say, and HOW MUCH to say, I dug into mountains of research. Like all parents, I want to educate my son to be alert to possible dangers, yet, at the same time I want to encourage him to feel safe and confident in exploring the world. After much thought, I filtered down what I want to discuss with my son into the 3 main themes summarized below: 1. My Body Belongs to Me Tell your child his body belongs to him and NO one can touch it without hisContinue reading...
