Telling your child about good and bad touch

This post was posted in Outset about two years back. As per request, I am reposting it here in Scrutiny

The incident which happened in Bangalore a year back still send chill through my spines. Since my child started going to school, I was always thinking about how to make her distinguish between good and bad.

It’s really confusing since we have to caution them from even our friends and close relatives without offending them. We pick and drop our child to our school but are they safe at school? They ought to be but you never know. They might be confused  if it’s okay when the school caretaker help them remove their undergarments? Since they are just toddlers they might need help with it. So, where lies the line between good and bad touch. We know, but do they know?

For that,  we need to educate them about their body parts naming them the way it suits their age. Tell them that its not permissible to touch them or to show them unless they need to be cleansed, which is the role of their parents or caretakers. Again, can we trust the caretakers? There lies the importance of understanding what’s  abuse. Make them understand the difference. DON’T UNDERESTIMATE YOUR CHILD. Don’t think that they won’t understand if you tell all these. They are way too intelligent than you think.

Another point is, don’t force them to kiss or hug a relative or friend or a stranger if they are not comfortable, how ever close they might be. Because, this might send wrong signs. They might think that its okay to be close with people whom they are not comfortable with. Its doesn’t mean that you should keep your friends and relatives away. Just talk to them. They will understand and if they don’t, their friendship or relationship is not worth it.

These are all easy to say but difficult to practice. There is someone who will help us with this.

Meet Deepa Kumar, maker of HowToTellYourChild.com, a platform that provides educators  and parents easy tools to teach children tough topics like sexual abuse and puberty. The platform provides animated videos, tools and products to make this education fun and positive. SIGN UP FOR FREE AND GET TO WATCH EDUCATING VIDEOS AND FREE NEWSLETTERS, BED TIME SAFETY STORIES AND MORE. JOIN THERE NEW MOVEMENT. No sexual abuse on my watch where we can take the pledge.