HANDS OFF SPIRIT

Changing The Message

Change isn’t always easy, but when it comes to helping someone we love, we make the effort to change.

One such change, which slowly has been happening for a few years, is the way we think about protecting children from sexual abuse, abduction and victimization, such as human trafficking. Even though we may not want to believe a family friend or relative would hurt us or our kids, we have to face the facts and educate our children differently.

Parents are scared to death that predators will snatch their child off the streets and the “Stranger Danger” message has passed that fear on to our children.

However, this message has some problems. The primary concern is that 93 percent of sexually victimized children know their abuser. Yet, for decades, we’ve focused our energies on the much rarer 7 percent. The hard-to-swallow fact is 9 out of 10 people who molest children are not registered sex offenders, and 39 percent of the time, the abuser is a family member.

Instead of scaring kids with misguided fears, let’s empower them. We should teach them how to apply those skills whether they are dealing with a cunning stranger or a familiar face.

EMPOWERMENT, NOT FEAR

• Teach kids about the lures predators use to trick them.

• Teach kids how to recognize potential dangerous situations and give them specific action plans when possible.

• Establish open lines of communication within the family.

• Boost your kids’ confidence and help them to be able to assert themselves when necessary.

and understanding of personal boundaries. Predators test boundaries to see just how far they can go with a child. A child who recognizes and appropriately reacts can stop many molesters in their tracks.

• These and other tips can be found at childrescuenetwork.org.

Tragically, children are suffering trauma and abuse every single day. If ever there was a reason to change our message, this is it. Society must rise to that challenge to save our kids from the potential dangers of human trafficking and assault.

DID YOU KNOW?

• According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be sexually victimized by age 18.

• According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 12.3 percent of women were age 10 or younger at the time of their first rape.

• A child is reported missing every 41 seconds in the U.S., according to the Child Resource Network.

• An estimated 1 in 6 runaways in 2014 was the victim of sex traffickers, the FBI reported.

give our children a respect

• Perhaps most importantly, g hld their abilities to appropriatestand up for themselves, understand and respect personal boundaries and are able to communicate their feelings g and expperiences.

W We can chhange our message t to chiilddren n and d edducatio i n i is thhe e key! Sit wit i h yoour kids s and d di discscus u s pers rson o al boundar a ie i s s.

Imagine a world where kids grow up confident in t ppply p p p lb d d bl h f l d h t hld d d t y y p