60 | December 2011 | woman this month Campaign Many parents believe the best way to protect their children from abuse is to teach them to stay away from strangers. However, strangers account for only a small fraction of child abuse, while a majority of abusers are known, trusted and liked by the children they victimise. “Unfortunately, an abuser will likely be someone the child trusts and is closely related to. It could be a family member, family friend, neighbour, coach, religious leader, youth group leader or anyone in a position of power who can wield this over a child and convince them to do things they are not comfortable with”, observes Dr Rana Al Sairafi, manager of Be-Free Centre, the Middle East’s first antichild abuse and neglect operation. The Be-Free Centre is the result of a collaboration between the Bahrain Women’s Society and the United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and works to empower children and adult victims of abuse to regain strength and trust in themselves and others. To date the Centre has provided counselling and healing services to over 2500 individuals including abused children, adults Raising Smart and SafeChildren It seems that the world around us is not a safe place for children these days. Teaching your child some basic protection skills can go a long way towards warding off potential abuse. who were abused in childhood, children at risk and cases where parents want to have a better relationship with their children or teenagers. Although abuse is hard to prevent and even tougher to detect, Dr Rana believes that children do have power over their abusers; they only need to know how to use it. Safety First It is essential to teach children basic protection skills that will help them react more smartly when faced with difficult situations, believes Dr Rana. Children should be made to realise that being “smart” is way better than being “big and tough”. For instance, one of the basic guidelines every child must understand is that their body is theirs and they need to respect and protect it. Being able to tell the difference between a “good touch” and “bad touch” and trusting their instincts is a basic skill all children should know. Another principle, covered under the Centre’s “Essential Protection Skills Workshop” for children, involves teaching the young ones to differentiate between good secrets and bad secrets — that is, the secrets that they can keep and the secrets that they need to tell their parents or someone they trust. It is important that children trust their gut instinct and understand the message of such instincts every time to respond positively. Other guidelines include not accepting rides from strangers, dealing with temptations smartly, choosing a safe path when walking from one point to another, escaping from tricky people and confiding in a trusted adult. Smart Surfing Surfing the internet is fun as there is a wealth of information and entertainment available in
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