Search Results for: blog protective behaviors for personal safety

Protective Behaviors at Bath Time are Lush.

Bath time is an excellent time to begin talking about Protective Behaviors. While washing children you can tell them about their private parts: the parts that nobody can touch unless it’s Mom or Dad giving them a quick wash or putting medicine there, or the Dr. or Nurse having a quick check to make sure all is well. The private parts are the body bits covered by our underwear or swimming costumes. Private means, “This is my body and it’s not for sharing. If you touch, I’m going to tell.” Although this seems super easy to me, many parents struggle … Continue reading →

Thera Pea Dolls: At home Protective Play That Won’t Break the Bank.

Thera Pea Dolls are a tool I use to teach Protective Behaviors. In my role as a child therapist and Protective Behavior consultant, I am always on the look out for different ideas to present as teaching utensils for parents to use with their own children if they want to. I like to suggest protective play resources that are either free or take little expense to make. One of the favored resources I use is Thera Pea Dolls. The dolls are simply a stuffed body outline that can be written on, or drawn upon, for numerous at home psycho-educational purposes. … Continue reading →

Final BITSS of Protective Play

As we’ve seen over the previous five BITSS articles on Body ownership, Intuition, Touch, Say no and Support networks, there are endless ways to include BITSS activities and games as part of your child’s everyday life. The suggestions provided were an entree to get you thinking and playing protectively. Stay curious, create different activities, seek out more information or think about getting a few resources from sexual assault centers or other places that deal with child sexual abuse. There are also some great computer games that children can play to help them learn about personal safety. Hold a protective behaviors … Continue reading →

The NET worth of a sexual predator.

Sexual predators defraud where ever and when ever they can. Like trolls prettied up as princes, they permeate every part of society and pick their targets from where ever they can access them: including the internet. They know no class or gender bounds; they instead pick anyone who falls for their fraudulent and cowardly manipulation. Their net casts over us all, yes, even those members on families.com. Be careful, be warned, be vigilant of whom you share personal information with. I have already had a dubious contact through families.com. It was dealt with, the person banned immediately, and there has … Continue reading →

When Bad Things Happen Again and Again.

It is not uncommon for a woman or child to reveal that many different perpetrators have sexually abused them throughout their life. There are neuropsychological and cognitive theories to explain why this happens. This does not mean that these theories are correct; it is just a way to help us understand how it is possible for one good person to attract so many bad things. What really gets me angered is when I hear people comment that the child or woman must be lying; that it is impossible for anybody to be sexually abused that many times. It is possible, … Continue reading →

Fight Back with a Voice of Marshal Protection.

While sitting here tonight pretending to be a highly observant Kendo Mum, I am reminded of the link between self-defense and personal safety. Many protective behavior programs advocate for fight back. If you are grabbed by a stranger while, you are on the street, in the park, or in your back yard; fight back and scream. Of course, structured self-defense would be the ideal, but, if like me, when you are in crisis you forget everything you are supposed to do, you won’t remember the structure and therefore, any old fight back will do. Most forms of self-defense and marshal … Continue reading →

Sexual Violence Awareness Month.

October means many things to different people, Fall, Halloween, Christmas shopping time, just to name a few. October in our house means that it is Sexual Violence Awareness Month – a busy month for me that ends with the International Reclaim the Night march on October 27. Each year, October’s awareness raising focuses on a particular aspect of sexual violence. This year the focus is “Stop incest.” I hear this message loud and clear. Turnaround defines incest as: Any overtly sexual act between people who are closely related or who perceive themselves as being closely related (as in relationship between … Continue reading →

What is Age Appropriate Sexual Development in Early Childhood? The Three to Five-Year-Olds.

The introduction to Age Appropriate Sexual Development can be viewed here. The pre-school child now has increased vocabulary and contact with a larger number of people. The children remain curious about their own bodies and the bodies of others. They are becoming acutely aware, and interested, of the difference between a boy body and a girl body and will typically start asking questions like, “Why does Daddy have a penis?” Their increased social contacts may bring them into contact with other Moms who are pregnant, or indeed, there may even be pregnancy in their own home. The questions continue: “Where … Continue reading →

A Glass of Water May Make the Burden of Child Sexual Assault Too Heavy.

The same student that sent the Donkey Story also sent me this poignant story about stress management: A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, “How heavy is this glass of water?” Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g. The lecturer replied, “The absolute weight doesn’t matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you’ll … Continue reading →

Teaching Our Children Modesty

Think your children are too young to learn modesty and respect? You might think again. Most parents work with their children at a young age teaching them to respect others. Teaching modesty and self-respect should happen at a young age. Let me clarify a bit on the modesty issue with babies and toddlers. I don’t believe modesty is as applicable to younger toddlers. Babies and toddlers are very into their own world anyway so teaching them self respect in the way I’ll be discussing may not be beneficial until closer to age 3. When our older son was about three, … Continue reading →