How young is too young to start teaching children about child abuse? - By Tina Pokuaah

 


Children are undoubtedly amongst one of the most vulnerable groups in society which makes abuse of any form towards them an appalling crime. Despite this, Ons.gov, 2020 reported that child abuse remains an issue which is rarely discussed and also not well understood in the public sphere. This can - to some extent - be attributed to a lack of complete statistics.  Nevertheless, in recent years there have been some studies conducted (although not sufficient) on child sexual abuse. In their 2021 study, Childline highlighted that an estimated 1 in 20 children in the UK alone, had been subjected to sexual abuse. Furthermore, highlighting that child victims had been sexually abused by someone they knew.

With this in mind, I then ask how young is too young to start teaching children about abuse? From my personal standpoint, I would suggest that such conversations should commence as soon as the child can communicate and comprehend. One might ask, why? Well, if you review the statistics closely, it’s evident that waiting till pre-teen to start educating children about abuse is far from ideal. The sooner they understand what abuse is, the more likely they are able to identify inappropriate behaviour from others. Also, if they have any concerns they are more likely to feel comfortable enough to disclose them. However, I must highlight that it’s important to ensure that we frame these conversations age appropriately. Still, this doesn’t make it an impossible task!

I personally witnessed how important it is to have such conversations a few years ago when I was looking after my 6-year-old niece. She happened to be with me on the same day I was preparing a workshop on consent. As you can imagine, I had my flip charts and post it notes all over the place. Being an inquisitive, bright child, she was going around and reading everything around me. A few minutes later, she stopped and asked me what consent & boundaries meant. I saw this as an opportunity to educate her further.

I began by utilising two resources that I found on Youtube: ‘My Body Safety Rules - 5 things every child should know’ along with the ‘Pantosauraus pants’ video as a way of breaking the themes down so she could comprehend. If you’ve watched Pantosauraus, you would agree that the theme song is rather catchy. However, after a while she was more interested in singing and dancing to it, than actually comprehending the message behind it. We managed to complete the video, did a brief summary of it and she went back to playing.

Fast forward to the summer holidays, I took my niece along to a barbecue. Whilst greeting a ‘family friend’, he mentioned to her how much she had grown. He then tried to pull her towards him and embrace her with a hug. She abruptly stepped back and said to him with full confidence “My body is my body, and it belongs to me”. I was stood quite closely and she looked at me almost for some reassurance and said “isn’t it, Aunty?”. Her assertive attitude was likely to be considered “disrespectful” by those around us. I was well aware that this wasn’t her intention, she just wanted her boundaries respected which she had every right to.  “Yes girl, you’re right”, I responded proudly.

Whilst my niece went off to play, it actually led to an interesting conversation with the adults present about boundaries as well as safeguarding and protecting children. One man shared how his younger sister was sexually abused by their neighbour when they were kids. He expressed how he felt angry and helpless for not being able to protect her. So, he was pleased to learn that this generation was now being educated and empowered to speak up.

In closing I’d like to restate that when it comes to child abuse, the main objective is to ensure that it doesn’t happen in the first place.  But one viable step that all adults need to consider  is educating children on how they can identify abuse. There’s also a greater need to empower them so they can confidently speak up against anything that may seem wrong or inappropriate.



References

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/childabuseinenglandandwales/march2020

https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/research-resources/statistics-briefings/child-sexual-abuse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lL07JOGU5o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u03EHVf-7vI


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