I've been holding this for a while and probably should keep my mouth shut, but more and more stories keep coming out and I just want to scream.
Every child who has been abused / molested / assaulted / whatever you call it in their life who grows up to have children, please for the LOVE OF GOD be overly protective of your children and do everything IN YOUR POWER to make sure that the same thing never happens to them.
Second, third, and fourth check any person who circles your child's environment and do not leave your child alone with anyone you do not, without a shadow of a doubt, fully and completely trust. Survivors have a sixth sense about people. You need to listen to your gut.
Make it Stop
Protect Our Children
Enough is Enough
My kids, now 13 and 15 have never been cared for by anyone but family. If I could no get family to care for them I did not go out. Doing this has been hard at times as a single parent but there are just way too many sick people out there.
ReplyDeleteAnd not just any family, my mom & dad, my ex-in-laws and my sister. ;-)
ReplyDeleteIt's sad how often it's family members who are guilty of the abuse.
ReplyDeleteIt's happened to so many, especially those in our generation. Sure, we had the luxury of playing outside by ourselves and having the run of the neighborhood but it came at a cost. Who was watching our girls? Those girls are now grown and have their own girls, and they need to be on high alert.
One of the monsters I linked to could have easily abused a young girl who is very close to my heart. Thank God that the girl's mother is smart and protective enough to prevent it.
Having worked with offenders and victims, I have learned that it is the people who you think would never do that to your child who are the ones doing that to your child.
ReplyDeleteDon't we all wish it would be the creepy guy four blocks over? The one who we can peg from a mile away as "not right"?
Education is SO important. Teach babies about okay touch and not okay touch (good touch bad touch is no longer used. Research and time shows that calling something a "bad touch" makes a child feel bad. As if they were bad and they deserved it) from as young as 15 to 18 months. It's okay for a child to say PENIS and VAGINA and ANUS and all those other words that will help them tell us where someone touched them. What someone showed them. What someone made them touch.
Thank you for this.
Lora,
ReplyDeleteSomeone from Montco social services visited Cha's school last month. They had a nice talk with the 4 and 5 year olds about our bodies and who is allowed to touch them and what they should do if they're uncomfortable. There was a talk (No, Go, Tell), a book and a puppet show. I sat in on it to learn and we have talked about it several times since. Honestly, it should be mandatory for all schools.
Cha knows about Skylar's story. I explained that's why she can't be outside alone and can't visit friends unless we give the okay. I told her that a man touched Skylar and then killed her but the man has been caught and is now in jail.
So many family and friends have been victims. It's heartbreaking.