Ever heard about child sexual abuse prevention? The world is no longer a place you can stay safe. Sexual, physical, emotional, and verbal abuse can gain its peak. It has not only tormented adults but now has reached its hands to children as well. The innocent children are no longer safe from sexual abuse. Every alternate day you can hear news of a child being sexually abused. But what to do? Though we cannot completely wipe it, we can take a step to reduce it. Here we will tell some of the ways with the help of which you can reduce the risk of child sexual abuse. But first, let’s know about what is child sexual abuse and how to protect your child from abuse.
What is Child Sexual Abuse?
Child Abuse in itself is a heinous term. Added to that, there are criminals who use children for fulfilling their malicious desires and exploit them sexually. Sadly we live in a world, where crime rates are increasing in every nook and corner of the world and our most prestigious souls, the children are being tortured like animals. You may have heard cases of young children disappearing from playgrounds or from not-so-urban complexes, from school buses, even from their own apartments. These tiny tots are safe nowhere. It is pathetic to see what happens to them after they are kidnapped. Some are exploited to earn money, some get involved in crimes, some are forced to beg and sell their body organs and themselves live a life of poverty. The kidnappers are the goons who become richer day by day.
Signs That Your Child is Suffering From Sexual Abuse
Understanding your child’s psychology is important, many times parents do not understand what their children are going through. Children are unable to express their feelings and thoughts with their parents, even parents also do not understand if their child has faced something bad or suffering from something critical. So here are some signs that you should know that your child is suffering from sexual abuse.
1. If Your Child is Always Quiet And Isolate Themselves
Children are young and have little or no knowledge about how this world is full of criminals who will leave no opportunity to harm young minds. Teach your child to not take anything from strangers and to keep a safe distance from them and report to you immediately if any instance happens. If your child always remains energetic and exuberant and you sense that he/she has grown quieter in just a span of 5-6 days, then do online counseling sessions. Don’t force them to do any work as it may put you in a bad light. Try to read their mind, try to see what reflects from their eyes. If your child is hesitant to tell you anything, go to the doctor or his/her grandparents. Sometimes, it may take time to open them up, but keep on trying and never let it go.
2. If Your Child Has Stopped His or Her Hobbies And Activities Once Loved
Children are always energetic and filled with life. Be it games or study, the young minds are ready to grasp anything. But, problems arise when your child stops enjoying the same activities he/she used to enjoy earlier. Ask them if they have genuinely lost their interest or someone has affected their minds in such a way that they are finding it hard to gather their focus in their tasks. It’s not so daunting, as a responsible parent, please never underestimate and ignore your child’s potential. Just the same ways as the gardener protect his/her flowers from stray bees, it’s your utmost responsibility to find out and remove any evil force that is affecting your children.
3. If Your Child Hesitates to Meet or Visit Any Specific Person
Children are moody. They might not like a person if their vibes don’t match. They generally don’t hide their feeling and are like open books. But, if your child particularly hesitates to meet any one person, be it any aunt, uncle, a neighbor, guard, or anyone, then it can be a matter of concern. As a parent, you have to find out the grey area over there, whether it is happening because of casual reasons like mood swings or there is some grave situation in which your child is being exploited by strangers or any family member.
How to Protect Your Child From Sexual Abuse: Child Sexual Abuse Prevention
Here we are going to tell you some ways with the help of which you can protect your child and reduce the risk of child sexual abuse. Though this cannot prevent sexual abuse but can give you surety and reduce the risk of the same. Here are some things you should be aware of and even follow for Child Sexual Abuse Prevention.
1. Be Involved in The Life of Your Child
One of the most important ways you should adopt to protect your child from sexual abuse is to be involved in their life. You must take out time for your child and sit with them and talk about what they did the whole day and let them speak their mind so that they speak up if they are in any problem. You should know about their friend’s circle, teachers, people they meet, and all other people in their life. Moreover, you should keep an eye on even the slightest changes in your child’s life.
2. Motivate Your Child to Always Speak up And Share Things
Tell your child how important it is To speak up about what is in their mind and share thanks for their parents. Motivate them and encourage them to speak about things they do all day and tell them that if they feel uncomfortable with anything or anyone they should immediately tell you about this. You should never scold your child or tell them that this is very common or you are making up this story when they try to share their mind with you because this will lead them to bury their fear in their heart.
3. Teach Your Child About Body And Touch
Don’t wait for your child to turn to 7 or 8 so that you can tell them about their body and what is a good touch and what is bad touch. You should start educating your child about their private body parts and what is a good touch and what is bad and how it feels from the age of 5 to 6 itself. Tell your child that private parts are not to be touched by anyone except your parents. If anyone does so then the child should tell you about this. Private parts of others should also not be touched, even if others say to do so. You must also tell them which touch is appropriate.
4. Teach a Secret Code Word to Your Child Which They Can Use When They Feel Unsafe
At the age of 5 or 6, maybe a child may not have that level of maturity that they can talk to you in code. So till then, you should make sure they speak to you about everything. But once they grow older around 7 or 8 then you should tell your child a secret code that only you and your child will have. Tell them that whenever they feel unsafe with someone or they want the help of you and they should use the code to tell you this.
Also Read: Common Myths About Abuse: Misconceptions About Abuse
5. Become The Support Factor of Your Child
Another very important thing you should keep in mind so that you can protect your child from sexual abuse is to become the greatest support factor of them. You should try to build trust with your child so that they can openly share their mind with you. This might take time, you can sit beside your child, play with them, talk to them and tell them that you are always there for them and they can share everything with you. By this, the child will share everything with you. You should not scold them or ignore them when they do so as it might result in your child not speaking to you. It is even important to take your child to a child counselor and give him/her child counselling which can make him feel better.
6. Don’t Let The Person Come Near Your Child if Your Child is Hesitant to Meet Them
If you notice that your child is hesitant and unwilling to visit or see a certain person or relative or anyone be it the cab driver or the person who gave them chocolate, any shopkeeper, or even the close ones you should not let that person come towards your child and reduce their visit to your house. As nothing should be more important to you than your child. Even close relations come after your child’s safety. So, you should pay attention to it.
7. If Your Child Has Faced Any Sexual Abuse, File a Complaint, Don’t Wait
If your child has faced any sexual abuse and you have got to know about it then you should not sit back and wait. You shouldn’t be like, “I have scolded the person, this won’t happen again”, or think about family reputation or your reputation. Rather you should go up and file a complaint against it. There are secret reports filed as well. This is very important to ensure that sexual abuse doesn’t happen anymore and will also motivate the child to fight against it. There may be times when your child and even you break down but you should not give up.
Conclusion
Sexual abuse is a heinous crime. If you are being sexually abused or if you witness anyone being abused sexually who must not step back rather take up your courage and speak against it. Child sexual abuse can only be prevented when every person takes action against it. Child Sexual Abuse prevention is necessary and many times victims and their families break down, in such cases, they should seek the help of a counselor so that they can gain motivation. If you want to protect your child from abuse, you should follow the above tips and speak against sexual abuse.
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