Child Sexual Abuse Prevention

Child sexual abuse prevention involves a combination of effective parenting, control over media exposure and an awareness of red flags that might indicate potentially harmful adults or other children.

Protecting Children from Adult Predators

• Ignore social, emotional or physical boundaries or limits;

• Refuse to let a child set any of his or her own limits by teasing or belittling the child;

• Continues to hug, touch, kiss, tickle, wrestle with or hold a child when the child doesn’t want the attention;

• Shares personal or private information, participates in activities with the child that they normal would do with adults;

• Brings to the child’s attention sexual images or tells dirty or suggestive jokes while the child is present;

• Exposes a child to adults having sex, either through watching or hearing sounds and noises;

• Secretly plays games, uses drugs, drinks or offers alcohol, or sexual material to children;

• Frequently text messages or calls children or adolescents;

• Demonstrates an unusual amount of interest in the developing sexuality of a certain child or teen;

• Makes it so time alone with a child is uninterrupted;

• Repeatedly baby sits children for free; takes them out on special outings alone; buys them presents or gives them money “to be nice”;

• Walks in on children or adolescents while they are in the bathroom;

• Appears to condone inappropriate behaviors in children or adolescents;

Protecting Children From Other Children or Adolescents

• May experience typical gestures of friendliness or affection as sexua;

• Explores his or her own natural sexual curiosity with younger children or those of differing size, status, ability, or power;

• Wants to spend an excessive amount of time with younger children instead of peers;

• Takes younger children to “secret” places or hideaways or plays “special” games with them (e.g. playing doctor, undressing or touching games, etc.);

• Persists in unwanted physical contact with another child;

• Was physically, sexually or emotionally abused and has not received effective counseling;

• Makes threats or insulting remarks that are sexual in nature;

• Is “acting out” sexually in obvious or blatant ways, as if he or she wants to get caught;

• Doesn’t want or seems anxious to be alone with a certain child, or group of children;

• Is unable to stop inappropriate sexual behaviors with another child after being told to stop;

• Shares alcohol, drugs, or sexual material with younger children or teens;

• Views sexual images of children on the Internet or elsewhere;

• Forces sexual acts on another adolescent or child;

The Role of Parenting

Prevention may require confronting an individual who is demonstrating the behaviors outlined above. It may require reporting to an agency for intervention or recommending counseling.

Prevention may also require basic lifestyle changes. The quality of family interactions and the frequency of those interactions are critical to a child's developing sense of self. Children who are emotionally balanced are less likely to turn to unhealthy pleasure seeking behavior.

Addiction in the family creates emotional instability and is likely to transfer from one generation to another. Drugs and alcohol are a common factor in families dealing with child sexual abuse. Getting help with addiction is a major step toward child sexual abuse prevention and the addiction to sexual stimulation often produced by media exposure.

Four Basic Steps to Protecting Children from Media Sexual Abuse

Here are Four Basic Steps:

1. Realize that children are more likely to do not as you say, but as you do. Get group or individual counseling for any type of behavior that you find yourself preoccupied with such as internet porn, video game addiction, chat addiction, television addiction or any form of online or media addiction.

2. Learn about and commit to safe and appropriate communication: including online communication such as e-mail, chat rooms, instant messaging, video communication, blogging or any other vehicle of the communication industry. If it’s inappropriate online, it’s inappropriate in person.

3. Protect Children: install Internet filtering software, talk to your kids about internet safety, how to recognize inappropriate communication, create with your children an agreement for you and them to sign regarding internet safety.

4. Remove potential triggers for you and your children from the environment: movies, cable or tv shows, video games, magazines or other media out of reach. Think of these things as loaded guns and lock them in a safe place.

Other Child Sexual Abuse Pages on This Website