Build Your Prevention Team - the Easy Way

"If I was handed this card before I abused,
I'd probably walk right away."
Abuser in Treatment

Parent's are doing a great job teaching their children body-safety rules (yay!), but as I've said before, body-safety rules alone are not enough.

Here’s why: First, when you rely solely on your child to speak up to an abuser or potential abuser, you’re putting the burden of responsibility on your children for keeping themselves safe, when it’s actually a parent’s responsibility. Second, when you have the courage to talk with a substitute caregiver (teacher, coach, nanny, tutor, etc.), you’re letting them know that you are paying attention. And based on my conversations with child sexual abusers, a substitute caregiver, who is a sexual abuser, is less inclined to groom a child whose parent says, "May I tell you about my child's body-safety rules?" 

I want to make it easier for you to have these conversations and urge everyone to spend $10 to buy a set of 25 Conversation-Starter Cards. The front of the card offers language for starting a conversation and the back of the card offers a couple of facts about child sexual abuse. Carry the cards in your purse, car, pocket, of fold a couple and put them in your wallet, and share them to get a conversation off the ground.

In the words of an abuser in treatment:

“If I was handed this card before I abused, I’d probably walk right away.”

In the words of two PSC moms:

“We had one of the cards sitting on the counter when we had a new babysitter over and it led us into a great conversation about our body-safety practices.”

“This card makes it easier to start conversations and in two weeks I’ve gone from having 30% of my caregivers on our prevention team to 50%!”

3 Tips for Talking with Teens About Consent

With teens, you can have deeper conversations about consent. You can use more abstract terms like “consent” and “exploitation,” and guidelines such as “Trust your intuition” and “Set sexual boundaries.”

1.  Teen Body-Safety Rules

Talk with teens about these three body-safety rules, and explore examples of coercion, manipulation, and sexting.

• No one has the right to touch the private areas of your body without your permission. No one has the right to force, coerce, threaten, or manipulate you into engaging in any type of sexual activity.
• You don’t have the right to touch someone else’s private areas of their body without that person’s permission. And it’s never acceptable to force, coerce, bribe, threaten, or manipulate another person into any type of sexual activity. With teens, it’s also important to discuss the legal ramifications of sexually assaultive behaviors. 
• It’s a crime for any person (child, teen or adult) to take photos or videos of your naked body. If any person ever tries to take a photo of your private parts or naked body, refuse and tell a parent or trusted adult. Also be sure that your child knows that “sexting” – sending nude photos by cell phone – is illegal.

2.  Invite teens to think critically about consent with “What-if questions.

• What if you consent to kiss someone and as you’re making out the person you’re with starts unbuttoning your shirt or pants?
• What if someone you don’t know very well wants to take photos of your body, saying you could become a famous model?
• What if you’re spending the night at a friend’s house and the friend’s older sibling or father walks around naked? What would you say or do?
• What if someone you’re interested in starts sexting?
• What if you are aroused and excited, and the person you’re with says, “Stop.” How will you manage your excitement (and disappointment)?

3.  Seize teachable moments to have even more conversations about consent.

For instance, the Victoria Secrets catalog comes in the mail, with photos of women in sexy lingerie on the front cover. Or, you’re watching a movie and the female clearly does not want to be kissed, but it looks like it’s going to happen anyway.

Whether you have a son or daughter, don’t miss these moments. If it’s hard to imagine having these daunting conversations, practice with your co-parent or a close friend.

How to Talk with Children About Consent

Learning about boundaries and consent is a process that takes place over many years. Here are examples of conversations you can have with your children at different ages. I’ve also included examples of how you can model consent as well.

Infant: You’re sitting with a group of friends and family who are adoring your infant and you know that everyone in the room wants to hold your precious baby. You get to say “No.” For example, “I know you’re eager to hold my baby, but I’m still bonding and I’m not comfortable passing her/him around yet. Thanks for understanding.”

Toddler: “I’m washing your vulva now. Your vulva is your private part. There are only three people who are allowed to touch your vulva: You; Me, if I’m helping you clean it but you can say NO if you want to clean your vulva yourself; and the doctor, but only if I’m there.”

When a 2-year-old girls starts to learn body-safety rules, the cornerstone of consent, she might say, “My vagina is mine!” This is a powerful statement and puts into motion the building blocks for a young woman, who might say, “I’m not ready to have sex with you.” Or, “I don’t want to you to touch me like that.”

Young Child: Now consider two children at the playground and one takes a toy from another. This is a great teachable moment about consent. You might say, “Darius, did you ask Gracie if you could use her shovel? Remember, you have to ask first and she has the right to say ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’

Here is how you can tell if a 5-year-old-boy is starting to learn about consent: “Mom, Gracie won’t let me play with her shovel?” “Well, Darius, you have to ask Gracie because it’s her shovel. What could you say to her?” Assuming you don’t stop teaching about consent in the playground, your parenting lessons will produce the young man who is able to say, “May I kiss you?”

Tween: Ivan and his dad are roughhousing, and Mom hears Ivan say, “Stop,” but the roughhousing continues and Mom also hears Ivan laughing a bit. This is a great opportunity for Mom to say, “Hold up guys. I just heard Ivan say stop, but you’re still wrestling. Remember that we’re a family that values consent. Ivan do you want to keep wrestling? Is there anything in particular you want your dad to stop doing?”

Here’s what a tween might say at this point, at least one who has consistently been taught about consent: “I want to keep wrestling, but I don’t like it when you poke my sides.”

Parents: Parents can model and reinforce consent all the time. Let’s say Dad’s mother comes over and asks Gracie for a hug. Dad can say to his mom, “I know you love to hug Gracie, but we’re teaching her that she gets to choose if and when she gives and receive hugs, so she knows that if she’s ever uncomfortable with touch from anyone, she has our permission to refuse.”

Here’s what a child might say in this situation if they’ve consistently been taught and supported around consent, “Maybe later, Grandma, I don’t feel like it right now.”

Some children are super affectionate and run up to other people to give hugs. These kids also need to be coached to ask first. “Liam, I know you love to give hugs, but it’s important to ask first before you touch someone else because each person is the boss of their own body. How might you ask Levi’s permission?”

Here’s another example of a parent modeling consent. Let’s say you see your child’s coach pat your child on the buttocks, while uttering, “great job!” This is your moment, parents. After practice you might say, “I noticed that you patted my son on his buttock. We are teaching our son about the importance of consent around physical touch and I would appreciate it if you would not do that.” If all parents could do this, we’d welcome a sea change in our culture.