Guarding Our Child Against Sexual Abuse

Reading sexual abuse cases on the media makes me cringe. Especially when I have a little baby. It makes me anxious raising my child in this era. How can I guard my child against sexual abuse?

First and foremost, and you may all agree, that family is the key. Sex education in the family has to start early. We have to provide our kids the knowledge about sex.

What can we do?

1. Try to respect the word "no" and "stop" from the child. Child need to gain control and respect over their body. For example, we should respect our child when he/she refuses to be kissed, or when they tell us to stop tickling.
2. Teach the child early to differentiate good touch and bad touch.
3. Let the child to follow their intuition of danger.
4. Train the child to specifically face a danger in a public place. For example, to shout "help!" rather than "mama!".
5. Develop social network to help guarding the child. For example, grand mother or grand father.
6. Teach the child about good secret and bad secret.
7. Encourage child's inner discipline without threats or bribes.

Personal take on this topic

Family holds an important role on guarding the child from sexual abuse. Thus, parents need to have a good knowledge on this issue, so that they can equip the child with necessary knowledge and skills to guard themselves from the abuse.