Empowering Children


I think children really need to be given the tools many times throughout their childhood to deal with situations like this. Telling a child "don't talk to strangers" or "don't get into a stranger's car" is absolutely not enough.
I think the number one thing that keeps a child from getting help, even if it's a short window of opportunity, is fear. The attacker/kidnapper threatens them or their family with harm. Kids have to be taught that in those situations, it is better to tell someone, anyone, make a scene, and not fear about being harmed. Even children who are not kidnapped but being abused, they need to be taught that no harm will come to them from speaking up, even if that's what they were told. We need to start empowering kids, teaching them to have a voice, teaching them to physically fight back if harmed, like kicking, biting, scratching, etc. A child with a voice is a powerful weapon against predators.

When I was a child, I had a good friend who was being abused by another friend's dad. No one knew. One day, at 10 years old, she got the courage to speak up, despite the threats, and tell someone. The father may have been the abuser, but, she had the power to stop it, and she did. For that, she will always be my hero, I can't imagine how courageous she had to have been. We have to teach kids about the lies they will be told and to find courage to rise above those lies and find help.

Of course horrible situations like these will happen, but, let's empower kids to give them a fighting chance.

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Well said! I was watching the news last night and a story was reported about a 12 year old who was accosted by an unarmed teenager on a remote street in a Bronx neighborhood in NYC. The boy was in his late teens and not very big-he only stood around 5'2. Anyway, he was able to threaten the girl by telling her if she screamed or ran away, he would kill her. With her in tow, he searched various buildings for unlocked doors so that he could have access for a place to sexually assault her. Finally giving up, he found an alley and that's where the act took place. I was so enraged by this story on so many levels. Neighbors said if she would've screamed, surely someone would have heard. But for some reason, the girl's fear made her irrational. Parents do need to equip their children with knowledge in order for them to be able to think quickly when a predator approaches them. He preyed off of her naïveté.

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My balls itch

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