Holiday season is upon us, and our kids are about to spend A LOT of time around people — family, extended family, friends, friends of friends, acquaintances and total strangers. They will be in amongst groups of people at family gatherings, Christmas parties, carol nights, NYE celebrations, camping grounds, parks, swimming pool or beach (or ski resorts if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere) , shopping centres, cinemas, etc.
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We cannot stress enough how important it is for your children to be educated in Body Safety — especially at this time of year!
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Give your kids:
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the gift of confidence, in knowing what they can do if they feel worried, unsafe, unsure, intimidated,
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the gift of being able to recognise what is inappropriate behaviour,
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the gift of understanding what consent means and what rights they have, especially in relation to their own body.
Give yourself the gift of peace of mind, knowing you have done everything you can to help keep your children safe and happy.
Teaching the key messages of Body Safety is easy.
They are positive messages that are age-appropriate for children. You can start with our free resources:
educate yourself by watching our short animation Body Safety for Adults: Empower your child with body safety knowledge,
together with your children, watch our animated My Body Safety Rules video,
download, print and display our My Body Safety Rules poster (currently available in 14 languages!)
take a look through our entire collection of Free Resources for empowering children!
Keep scrolling down to read our 8 Top Tips For Keeping Kids Safe At Christmas Time!
My Body Safety Rules poster — now available in 16 languages! See ALL posters…
8 Tips to help you keep your kids safe!
1. ENSURE your child is educated in Body Safety. That is:
• They know their body is their body and no-one has the right to touch it .
• They have 3 to 5 trusted adults on their Safety Network.
• They know never to keep secrets that make them feel bad or uncomfortable.
• They know to tell a person on their Safety Network if someone does touch their private parts, asks them to touch their private parts and/or shows them pictures of private parts, and to keep on telling until they are believed.
2. BE WATCHFUL of who your child spends time with. If your child is not willing to go with certain people or does not wish to hug or kiss them — listen and respect their wishes.
3. EVEN though it will be busy amongst the happy celebrations, be aware of any out-of-characteristic changes in your child’s behavior.
4. BE PROUD that your child is educated in Body Safety and display the My Body Safety Rules poster on the fridge to let everyone (including potential predators) know of this fact!
5. WATCH the 'My Body Safety Rules' animation with your child and discuss.
6. READ 'No Means No!' and 'My Body! What I Say Goes!' and 'Some Secrets Should Never Be Kept' at the beginning of the holiday period and discuss the books/questions with your child. These books are suitable for children aged 3 and up. For older children, the book Let’s Talk About Body Boundaries, Consent & Respect is also recommended.
7. READ any of the articles at http://e2epublishing.info/blog/ to educate yourself on why and how to empower your children and keep them safe. These articles are useful and informative, as is Jayneen Sanders’ parent guide ‘Body Safety Education'.
8. ENJOY the holiday season with your child and family but… keep your parent radar on alert!
The team from Educate2Empower Publishing wish you a very MERRY XMAS! And PLEASE share the importance of Body Safety Education to your friends and family. Let’s do everything we can to keep all kids safe this holiday season!
