Safe-Guarding Our Children Against Sex Offenders

One of the most uncomfortable
topics that a parent could ever find themselves discussing is sexual molestation or sexual abuse regarding our children. Most parents try as best as possible to shelter their children from this matter. Some may never even talk about this with their children unless they are forced. However, the fact is, I believe that we live in a world that warrants such a discussion among parents and with our children once they are at that age to understand. This discussion is warranted because we live in a world where pedophiles exist, sex trafficking is rampant and where children are being kidnapped and molested by not only strangers, but people that they actually know.

Just recently, a friend of mine disclosed to me that a minor was sexually assaulted by the maintenance man at her apartment complex. Prior to this incident, there were reports of this same man taking pictures of children at the playground. When he was asked about his actions, he explained that it was to notify the parents of the children that they (particular children) were misbehaving. He was asked to desist taking pictures and everything seemed to be back to normal until about a week ago when police arrived on the complex searching for this man for allegedly assaulting a minor.

This hit very close to home because whenever I visit this friend, I allow my children to play with her children at the playground. Thankfully, I never leave them unsupervised but to discover that a person that worked at the complex was possibly a pedophile, was actually quite horrifying. I have actually seen this person and spoken to this person on occasions and he seemed like a really affable person. Little did we know that this man was a potential threat to the safety of our children.

I am sure many of us are familiar with the case of Ariel Castro who kidnapped and sexually tortured three young ladies for a period of ten years. Just recently, a man attempted to kidnap a five year old girl in Pennsylvania. He was still lurking within the community with the young girl in his car when he was spotted and chased until he released the little girl. These are just cases of young girls. Our young boys are also in danger of sexual abuse and sex trafficking. Just recently, Ronnie Johnson, a former principal at Young Leaders Academy in Milwaukee was accused of sexually assaulting three young boys who he would invite for sleepovers to his home. The sad part is, the parents and the young boys were very familiar with this man and they respected him.

As a young girl, way before my pubescent years, my mother was one of those parents that would instill certain "golden rules" into my DNA. Some of which were:

• Do not talk to strangers
• Do not accept gifts from strangers
• Do not let anyone touch you inappropriately 
• If someone touches you inappropriately tell my mom or dad.
• Never go anywhere with a stranger
• Scream and try to run away if someone is trying to touch, harm or kidnap you
• Try to bite them as hard as you can.

She would tell me these instructions as if they were apart of the ten commandments. As a child I believed that if I defied any of these "rules", I was committing a sin and there would be serious consequences. She would also tell us stories of little girls that got hurt by dangerous people.  I suppose it was a scare tactic but it was very effective with my sisters and I.

Of course, we do not want to scare our children but we want to safeguard them against people that threaten their security, innocence and lives. Therefore, it is actually beneficial to sit and converse with our children about the dangers of trusting strangers and to show them how to identify when someone they do know is being inappropriately attentive to them and their bodies. We need to effectively explain to our children what "inappropriate" is and let them know what they can do if someone is trying to harm them or kidnap them.

It becomes even more complicated when the perpetrator of the sexual abuse are family members or worst, the child's own parent(s). In cases like this, we can only hope that the poor child is brave enough to tell a teacher, guidance counsellor or even the police.  

We are living in a world where too many children are falling prey to dangerous pedophiles and sex traffickers. Too many children are turning up missing or dead because of these predators. Too many children are found when it is already too late because they have been prostituted or enslaved for sexual purposes and they are more than likely scarred and traumatized beyond repair.

We need to help and protect our children against these dangers and we need to help our children to help themselves. We need to enable them with knowledge that gives them the option to protect themselves. We need to talk to our children about the "bad seeds" in our world. Thus, creating a safer world where the innocence of our children can be preserved.