Ignorance is not an excuse in 2016, so read, receive enlightenment, and shun ignorance. No dulling in protecting your off springs from sex predators who are on the increase. Here’s what you need to know….
Private Means For My Eyes Only: Start emphasising the importance of body privacy to your children from a very early age. Let them know no one is allowed including them are allowed to take nude pictures and it is in their best interest to send their nude pictures to anyone.
Avoid Exposing Your Children to Sexual Scenes: Ensure the door is locked when you are ‘busy’ and avoid leaving pornographic materials where children can find them. Pornography is a poor sex educator, it’s addictive and can be damaging to anyone, young or old.
Presents Are No Perfect Substitute for Your Presence: Spend quality time and develop close communication with your kids. Have an approachable demeanor. Dad, join mum in on this! You may be away from home most of the time, but when you are home, let them know you are there by making up for lost time. Structure weekly meetings with them, find out what’s going on in their lives and teach them something new. Joel Osteen said even if he’s in a meeting he would always answer a call from his children. It is important to let them know that they are priority in our schedules and life in general. Also, listen in on their conversations and counter all misinformation with the right ones, considering we are in the jet age where they could be exposed to negative information.
Teach them also that keeping a secret from you could be deadly. Teach them to know when to speak up. This is to encourage them to speak up if they ever get abused.
Set Boundaries: Don’t let your children just wander around in the neighbourhood. Many adults report that they were abused as kids when they went on holidays alone at their friend or relative’s homes.
Give Positive Affirmation Regularly: Children with low self esteem sometimes look for love in the wrong places and accept ‘perverted’ love from pedophiles. Children raised on constant criticism and blame, neglected children, physically and emotionally abused children are prone to sexual abuse. ‘I love you…,’ these three words should not be scarce in your home.
Engage Them in Valuable Teachings Without Nagging: When watching T.V. and movies for instance, always discuss the content of what they are watching with them. Uphold positive scenes. When there are scenes that may impact them negatively, don’t assume they will know better. Tell them such things are wrong and have consequences. Tell them why they are wrong and give them real-life examples of probable consequences. Use movies and everyday situations to teach them life lessons. However, we still need to explain why some things are proper and some are not, especially those relating to child sexual abuse