Educate on Right Touch..

This write-up is from my niece – Nithya, who has completed her B. E., and now serving as a part-time volunteer in an NGO:

I feel this is really important to discuss about and if you have a kid under 15 years of age, I feel it’s absolutely necessary to know about this, as it is part of your child’s future. “Sex” is a taboo topic in India. People feel awkward to talk about it but completely okay in “doing” it.

I’m part of an NGO that aims for child education and we had a talk today with a pyschologist, who came in to discuss about “child sexual abuse”.

When I tell this, if u think “thank God, I have son, so it’s not my worry”, then you are completely wrong. If 36% of girl children are being abused, 40% of boys are also abused. This is no joke and it is certainly happening. It was a long lecture and I cannot type it all through it. But the most important points to be noted is what I’m going to emphasize about.

Another myth is that, the abusers are only male. Apparently it’s not., There are also females who abuse male children, so women are no better.

Teach your child that touching their private parts is wrong. It needn’t be a stranger all the time.70% of the child abusers are members from their own family. Always tell your child, that their body is theirs and nobody can touch it. Be it an uncle, aunt, friend or a person of any relationship for that matter.

Child abuse need not be physical , all the time. It can be verbal, visual and any other form. Making a child watch pornography is also a form of sexual abuse. Make them understand that , these too are wrong.

Always be vigilant whenever your child is not under your direct surveillance. Have that strong bond with your child such that he/she is able to tell you everything happening to them.

Isolation from environment, a sudden flow of gifts or money , it can be from a neighbor or relative or anybody, you need to keep a check on them, as they mostly end up being the perpetrator.

Finally, always believe what your child says, he/she cannot cook up a story of this sort, because this is not something they can comprehend, they seem confused as to why this person is behaving a certain way, not knowing whether it is good or bad.

Thus, most often, they are going to tell you the exact thing what happened there. More child abuses go unnoticed and identified only at a very bad stage because of our negligence. Do not NEGLECT your child, their words and whatever they say.

I strongly urge you to tell this to everybody you know so that another child is not abused.

Please join us in educating the next generation..

To see a better tomorrow..