Body Safety Blog

The Moment This Mom Realized Her Child Was the Only One

Sarah was hosting what seemed like a perfect playdate. Six kids, ages 4-7, running around the backyard, squealing with laughter. She was chatting with the other moms when she heard her 5-year-old's voice cut through the chaos:

"Hey, you need to ask before you hug someone!"

She looked over to see her daughter standing between two kids—one who had just grabbed the other in what looked like an uncomfortable bear hug from behind.

The grabbed child looked relieved. The hugger looked confused. And all the other parents went silent.

That's when it hit her like a punch to the gut: Her child was the only one there who had been taught about consent and body boundaries.

In that moment, she realized something heartbreaking. Despite all her efforts to educate her own child, she was essentially sending her into a world where she was the only one who understood these critical safety concepts. She was going to be surrounded by children wh...

IF YOU'RE A PARENT WORKING OUTSIDE OF YOUR HOME, THIS VIDEO IS FOR YOU!

Here are the things you can teach your kids if they are under the care of a step-parent, family, friends, babysitters, basically anyone other than yourself.

1- Explain to them what body autonomy and boundaries are.

2- Talk about private parts and how those areas are only for them to touch/see.

3- Talk about the difference between secrets and the difference between secrets and surprises.

4- Create a safety network and let your child know what to do if they are in an unsafe situation or experience unsafe touch.

5- Use things like safety words and teach them that they can ALWAYS tell you anything and that it doesn't matter when something happened, they can still always tell you!

6- Use communication tools (like CONSENTletters™) to let your child's caretakers know that you are actively teaching your kids about body safety.

Check out below for more info on each of these steps!

Sending you love and strength.

CONSENT LETTERS T...

Your child doesn't OWE you any affection and you are NOT entitled to it from them. This doesn't mean you would deny them safety and affection. It's about modeling healthy relationships, and the most important and significant one is with you!

In this video, a continuation of last week's video- I talk about the HOW to approach teaching about body autonomy and asking for affection/giving affection.

I'd love to hear your thoughts after watching the video.

So you want to hug your child, but they don't want affection. Do you still hug them because you want them to feel that you love them- and deep down, you feel they're YOUR child, you have that right?

Today we're talking about parents who feel 'entitled' to give/receive affection from their child.

No one is entitled to their child's body and in this video I'm going to talk about why.