Thursday 2 October 2014

10 things parents and schools should do to keep kids safe from sexual abuse



LET TOUCH NEVER BECOME TROUBLE FOR ANY CHILD- WHAT SCHOOLS AND PARENTS CAN DO TO ENSURE THIS FOR EVERY CHILD

1.    For schools- Ensure that staff appointed like drivers, attendants, bais, watchman are registered at the nearest police station or get their adhaar card, ration card, driving license copies with you.ensure that you have photos, documents copies of all your staff, this will help you in tracing them in case they abscond after an incident.
2.    For schools- all teachers appointed, their background checks should be done.  If they have joined you from anther school call that school and find out the reason they left.
3.    For schools- conduct regular sessions about appropriate touch and educate all staff of your school about your ‘zero tolerance policy for child abuse’. Many staff are unaware about the strict ramifications of the POCSO ACT. Brief them, warn them and take their signatures.
4.    For schools- every week conduct good touch bad touch sessions with children. Show the video or teach them the poem on good touch bad touch
5.    For parents- screen all the staff that you appoint to take care of your child, including driver. Ensure you have their documents.
6.  For parents- stop calling everyone an uncle, this makes kids trusting and comfortable with complete strangers.
7.    For parents- use ‘safe and comfortable daily routine times’ like bathing, story telling etc. to talk to your child about how to handle being approached by strangers or what to do when someone other than your parents offers you something to eat or wants to touch you.
a.    For parents- stop sharing your bed with your child. Or when indulging in your sexual activity with your spouse ensure that your child is not around. Even when kids are sleeping they can be aware of it. Many kids mimic adult behavior and may then find nothing wrong in doing it with others.
b.    For parents-If children ask you about a kissing scene or a rape scene or a bedroom scene that they may have seen on television or movies or magazines and newspapers talk to them that is what adults do to adults not children to children or adults to children. You do not need to talk about this unless your child asks about it, remember if children ask about something it means their brains are ready to understand about it and are curious. It would be better that they get their curiosity satisfied from a known and trusted source rather than a source that can mislead them. Also talk to them about good touch bad touch especially when they ask you about rape.
8.    For  parents and schools- do not try to discipline children with threats. Remember a pedophile always uses threats to ensure that the child does not tell anyone. So if you have taught your child to be afraid or are regularly threatening your child then you are laying a negative foundation of fear and secrecy that is detrimental for your child. Refrain from threatening or asking your child to keep secrets from another parent, sibling or grandparent.
9.    For parents and schools-Teach children about good touchbad touch in the same manner that you teach them about road safety rhymes. Your child is not going to cross the road or drive a car and yet we teach them about red light, green light or to cross at a zebra crossing, very likely that your child is can to be the easy target of sexual predators so teach rhymes about body safety and show video on good touch bad touch- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCgtNSU4kg4&feature=youtu.be
10. For schools and parents- always ensure that you are aware of who will be the ‘critical adult’ or ‘key person’ for your child at all times. Young children have to be supervised at all times, a critical adult is that person with whom the child will be at any given time. So if the child is in school, the teacher is the critical adult, if the teacher sends child to washroom, then the critical adult must know the whereabouts of the child and who is taking care of the child. In all three cases in Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai the kids were abused in the absence of a critical adult, no one was responsible for the child during that time. 

Issued in Public interest by Early Childhood Association and Podar Jumbo Kids. Get the poem on www.eca-india.org or www.jumbokids.com or @swatipopat

42 comments:

namrata singh said...

Truly said Ma'am its very necessary in today's life that children and parents should be aware.And even the teachers should be alert every time.I think everybody should watch good touch bad touch video.

Surabhi said...

Hello Swati Ma'am
Great post.
on point number 8, I think we should also add "bribing with goodies".
What are your thoughts on it.

Unknown said...

Truly said Ma'am, its very important for parents & teachers to be aware of all these facts. Parents & teachers should always be alert and should keep telling children about good touch and bad touch by showing them video.

Unknown said...

Thank you ma'am for reminding and guiding to all of us regarding care to keep child safe from"sexual abuse"

Unknown said...

Thank you so much Ma'am for sharing these 10 facts.Now a days the cases of child sexual abuse are increasing. To prevent these situations it is very essential that parent and teachers should be alert every time and aware about all these 10 facts and also make the children aware about good touch and bad touch by showing them video.

Ankita Suchak said...

Thanks once again Ma`am for sharing this article & also guiding us through 10 steps for awareness.This is a very sensitive topic & we must show our kids good touch bad touch videos regularly.

Suman Khandelwal PJK Gondia said...

Its very true Ma'am , we should do this practice of showing GTBT regularly to our kids and parents .Not for the school curriculum pupose but for the social cause also.

shilpa said...

If each child of india is given right guidance in right time and keep sessions for Parents and child regularly, such cases of child abuse will finish it is well said in points but we all need to share to bring change.

shilpa said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
jayshree shah said...

Sexual abuse is a burning topic of the day.Article written on it is truly outstanding to educate, guide, & bring awareness in the parents .All adults are responsible for creating communities that are safe for children and families. Sexual abuse can be prevented before a child is ever harmed in the first place. Getting the facts and joining the discussion are the first steps.


Pritijayant said...

Thank you ma`am for these 10 things which we will keep in mind to keep kids safe from sexual abuse.
We promise that every week we will show the kids GTBT video to make the children alert and aware.

nagpur jumbo kid said...

In present scenario every person around child should be alert.Its very important for parents and Teacher to make child aware about Good touch and Bad Touch.If child wants to covey any thing to parents ,they should have patience to listen and do immediate verification of incidence to avoid further damage .

nagpur jumbo kid said...

In present scenario every person around child should be alert.Its very important for parents and Teacher to make child aware about Good touch and Bad Touch.If child wants to covey any thing to parents ,they should have patience to listen and do immediate verification of incidence to avoid further damage .

nagpur jumbo kid said...

In present scenario every person around child should be alert.Its very important for parents and Teacher to make child aware about Good touch and Bad Touch.If child wants to covey any thing to parents ,they should have patience to listen and do immediate investigation of incidence to avoid further damage .

nagpur jumbo kid said...

In present scenario every person around child should be alert.Its very important for parents and Teacher to make child aware about Good touch and Bad Touch.If child wants to covey any thing to parents ,they should have patience to listen and do immediate investigation of incidence to avoid further damage .

nagpur jumbo kid said...

In present scenario every person around child should be alert.Its very important for parents and Teacher to make child aware about Good touch and Bad Touch.If child wants to covey any thing to parents ,they should have patience to listen and do immediate investigation of incidence to avoid further damage .

nagpur jumbo kid said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ms Vaishali Chaudhary(PJK Chinchwad) said...

Thank you Maam for sharing this important article. Really its very important that every parent and teacher should be alert and aware to educate every child about good touch and bad touch.

Unknown said...

Thank you Ma'am, once again guiding us on how to take care of children and keeping them alert through the points mentioned. As sexsual abusing cases are increasing day by day.

Jumbo Kids, Chakan said...

It is very important for parents and teachers to understand about keeping children safe from harm at all times.We should talk to kids about body safety and make them aware with good touch bad touch.

Unknown said...

Yes,again a shameful incident happened at Mumbai.It is really sad and disgusting, kids do not even realize that a crime has been commited, as child sexual abusers are usually adults who the child trusts blindly.This can be prevented if parents and teachers teach their kids how to keep their body safe and NEVER to trust anyone other than parents. Ms.Rachana Jagtap

Unknown said...

Educating Children about GTBT has become need of the hour as the rate of child sexual abuse is rising at an alarming rate. Lets not fail in educating our children about the same, and follow our Director's instructions in educating the blooming buds at our hands. Thank you Ma'am, for educating us....

PJK Vadgaonsheri 2 said...

Thankyou maa'm for instructing us all with the guidelines to keep kids safe as this will really help to eduacate us to avoid the circumstances and consequences of child abuse. Showing GTBT videos is helpful too in this regards. As a parent i must say a very good initiative by Podar Jumbo Kids.

Unknown said...

wonderful post ma'am.It is an eye opener for parents,teacher and each and every one who deal with children.I think these are the 10 sutras which need to be inculcated in upbringing the children.

Unknown said...

Thank you Ma'am for making us responsible aseducationist to be aware and make the child aware of all the 10 facts to keep the kids safe from sexual abuse.

Anonymous said...

Today still people are not open and talk on this topic. But think if the thing is going through wrong channel which makes repairable damage. Parents and teachers I want to remind an old saying, " a stitch on time avoids nine"

PJK Vadgaon said...

Thank you Maam for sharing and guiding, it is very important and necessary in today's world for school staff and parents to have knowledge of 10 facts and be alert every time.

Unknown said...

Truly said Ma'am. In present scenario it is very important as an adult to make children aware about Good touch and bad touch. As Parents, teachers it is important to be alert at all the times.
The role of critical adult is very crucial for a child's safety. The good touch bad touch video must be watched by each and every individual.

Unknown said...

In today's scenario, it is very much important for teachers and parents to make the children aware of sexual abuse as children are suffering in this.Good touch Bad touch really makes children aware to keep themselves safe.

Anonymous said...

thank you maam for sharing .this article should become vry important for each parent and teacher in todays times when each day we are coming across a nasty story of child abuse.

PJK,Nigdi said...

Thank you ma'am for sharing the important article.We should be alert and educate about "Good touch and bad touch" to children.

Unknown said...

Parents really need to understand that they must be frank and advise their children instead of avoiding talking about it. There are times when fathers look embarrassed when we mention GTBT. This has to end! Its better to be safe than sorry as a little embarrassment today could save your child from abuse tomorrow. Its up to us to protect our kids in every possible way.

kamal said...

Very Informative article shared. It is very important as teachers and as parents to safeguard our children from sexual abuse. We can guide our children by showing them Good-touch Bad-touch video and making them alert.

Unknown said...

Truly said ma'am,its very important for all of to be aware of the these facts.We all need to be very alert & at the same time need to guide our kids & make them aware of all these facts by showing them good touch & bad touch video every month.

Podar Jumbo Kids, kalyan said...

Very Informative article ma"am, this will definitely make all of us clear about how to safeguard our kids.

Uma Nagdeo said...

Still today many adults are not comfortable while talking to children on such topics but it is high time now that we should bring awareness among them. session like Good touch and bad touch should be regularly conducted for kids.

Unknown said...

Sexual Child abuse is a burning topic everyday. We must educate our little kids about the appropriate touch so that we can prevent child sexual abuse and exploitation.

Unknown said...

Thank you Ma'am for sharing this 10
very important guideline,that all parents and schools should follow for safety of kids.

Unknown said...

Very important for parents and educators to be educated on how to deal with kids on this issue. This article is very informative must to read by all.

Jumbo kids Latur said...

Really we have to give at least basic knowledge about good touch and bad touch to our children if will give so they will become aware and bad incidents can be prevented.

Unknown said...

Indeed this is a very good thing, to make our little kids aware of the senario going on. The Parents, teachers and everyone must have a good thought for this good touch and bad touch. its the parents duty at home to listen to the things which happened, and if anything of a bad kind happens regarding touch then with care and understanding we must tell them what to do further or why its not good for them. if we as parents will misbehave or scold them, then they will never come to you and will not tell anything which can be a disaster in near future. Thanks for such a good article Madam.

Anonymous said...

Really thank, once again guiding us on how to take care of children and keeping them alert through the points mentioned. As sexual abusing cases are increasing day by day. Kids school admission