LITTLE THINGS PARENTS NEED TO TEACH THEIR CHILDREN
The original article was authored by Angana Prasad and featured in Kiddy Diaries (http://www.kiddydiaries.com/little-things-parents-need-teach-children-initiative-project-khel/) on September 16, 2016.
We realize that a lot of things go wrong in the way we are bringing up our children. It is not just about what we are saying to our children but also about what we are not telling them at a particular moment.
Here are a list of little things that we think, every parent should be teaching their children right from the start to bring about the change:
Listen to your child-
At times children might pick up stories from the television or from a conversation they have overheard, so it also becomes our responsibility to identify which ones are fake. It is easy if we know how to ask similar question and try to understand whether the details are same each time. If you’ve figured out that your child is lying, let them know patiently that you trust their story and will talk to the person being blamed, so they should be totally sure of what they are saying. If we react negatively at this point then the child might get scared and the next time if actually something similar happens the child might not even want to share.
Be Open to Name Private Parts- Teach your child the names of their private parts. If we do not call our foreheads or hands or legs by code names, then the genitals shouldn’t be either.
By code naming body parts, we are giving out a message that this part is dirty or shameful. This is a major reason why children come running to share if they scrape their knees but do not think of sharing if their private parts are wrongly touched.
It is OK to say NO – We need to give our children’s intelligence more credits than we are giving at this moment. They have sharper instincts.If they are uncomfortable with someone touching them, or they do not want to eat something or do not want to hang out with someone or do not want to be hugged by someone, it is OK to say NO.
Teach them to Share- Let your child know that they should share about all their interactions with other people especially if they have said or done something that has made them uncomfortable.
Project KHEL is working towards breaking the silence against Child Sexual Abuse for the past 3 years, through their programme called ab BAS!. You can visit them at www.projectkhel.org/programmes/ab-bas/