Hello everyone. Welcome back to the "Stop Child Sexual abuse training" that I have been so privileged to share here courtesy Praise Fowowe and Ibukun Onitiju. This is the third training in the series, we have had two previous posts on this particular topic. So if this is your first time of hearing or reading about it on this blog, please visit HERE and HERE to catch up. Without wasting too much of our time, let's get to today's training.

Stop Child Sexual Abuse – Training 3

Hi,

I hope you learnt something in the last training.

I have started receiving comments and I had the opportunity to interview a confident young lady who shared her story with me. She  is now a strong ambassador for the cause to create awareness and eradicate child sexual abuse. In her story, she was abused by her uncle from 6 years and because she didn’t know better, she did not understand what was going on. It was some years later in secondary school that she understood the extent of the exposure she’s had. She had some turbulent times after that, but today, She is a great example of restoration.

Let’s go one step further, and protect the young generation.

“A preserved childhood is better than a repaired adulthood” — Pastor Nike Adeyemi

Let’s welcome Praise Fowowe again to Mind and Mouth as he delivers the second part of the series on stopping child sexual abuse!

Every parent must understand that many children are being abused at the moment and it is your responsibility to know what to teach your child at every stage of his/her life.
Today we shall move on to children between the ages of 3-5 years.
Here are some of the modules we cover under curiosity and I
-          RESPECT
-          GOLDEN RULES – for personal space
-          FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN – for prevention of child sexual abuse.

Before I explain RESPECT, you as a parent need to understand the traits exhibited by children within the age range:
-          Has great energy and wants to do things alone
-          Likes to learn new words and becomes very curious and inquisitive
-          Loves to listen to short stories and songs
-          Seeks attention and approval of adults
-          Energetic and imaginative at 4. Full of wild stories and exaggerations
-          Asks a lot of questions especially about births. Enjoy stories and can answer questions
-          Loves to play in groups  but could be violent if not controlled
-          At 5 has a vocabulary of 13000 words. So explain difficult words with simple meanings
-          Can draw pictures and would argue about so many things
-          Likes to feel like a bigger boy /girl than the young ones.
Some of them will ask you so many questions at this age and you must be ready to answer the questions.
You would have to use RESPECT to teach morals here i.e.
R – Reach out to help me
E – Encourage me
S - Save me from danger
P - Paint me well
E - Elevate me
C - Celebrate me
T - Treat me right
At this age also you have to teach them the 4 golden rule and the alarm bells that they must run away from.
Rule 1- My Body belongs to me and also belongs to God
Rule 2- I must report to my dad and mummy whatever happens to me
Rule 3- I have a right to say no to whatever I feel is wrong
Rule 4 – Anybody that says I should not talk wants to destroy my future

Alarm bells

Bad movies, bad pictures, bad songs, bad friends.
You need to be closer to your child and be there to answer all the questions they raise because if you leave them at the mercy of an untrained house-help/au’ pair they may get the wrong answer.
You may also need to observe that child occasionally because we’ve had a case of a 4 year old that was sodomized by a houseboy without his parent’s knowledge.

Fire on the mountain – When your child at this age begins to avoid a particular adult or talks to a man/woman he should naturally respect in a disrespectful manner, you might need to investigate what is going on.

Learning Points
-          Be close to your child
-          If you don’t teach them, the society will or your house help will
-          Answer their questions in the right way
-          Perform regular checks with your child
-          Be calm when dealing with cases of sexual abuse

Share your stories, leave comments, or share experiences or Ask questions by leaving comments on this post. 

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Thanks for stopping by, stay positive...xxx