Sexual violence prevention consists mainly of opening the lines of communication with children about sexuality, teaching them self-protection skills and helping them identify trusted adults around them. However, prevention cannot rely solely on children’s ability to master self-protection skills. Adults must also protect them.
It is important to remind children that grown-ups are not allowed to do certain things to children:
1. Nobody is allowed to touch your private parts.
2. Nobody is allowed to look at your private parts.
3. Nobody is allowed to kiss you on your private parts.
4. Nobody is allowed to take pictures of your private parts.
Remind your child that these are the parts of their body that are covered by their underwear or bathing suit.
Remind your child that nobody is allowed to ask them to touch, look at, kiss or take pictures of their private parts, even if:
The only times a grown-up can touch and look at your private parts is when:
You need to self-affirm.
Self-affirming means telling others what you like and don’t like. It also means asking others to respect you.
You need to leave.
Leave the room and go to a place where there are other people. Go find your parent, your teacher or any other trusted adult.
You need to talk with a trusted adult about what happened.
It may happen that you weren’t able to say “NO!” or “STOP!” or that you weren’t able to leave the room. If that happens, it’s not your fault. You need to talk about it to make sure it doesn’t happen again. You’re brave for being able to talk about it.
What is a trusted adult?
A trusted adult is an adult you feel good with. It’s someone you like to see, who makes you smile and who can help you when you have a problem. Help your child identify trusted adults around them, including beyond the family circle.
Psychosexual development is part of the overall development of young children. Learn the difference between normal behaviour and sexual behaviour problems.
Sex education is part of young children’s everyday world. Learn about simple acts that can help prevent sexual violence.
When you talk about privacy, you can recognize various kinds of interpersonal relationships, identify personal space (boundaries), and learn how to ask for those boundaries to be respected.
Learn how to receive a sexual violence disclosure and report a situation.
