- Take action when another adult acts inappropriately with a child or children, such as insisting on spending time alone with the child or not respecting the child’s boundaries.
- Become comfortable talking with children in your life about their bodies and development.
Recognize questionable behaviors in adults, such as:
- Insisting on hugging, touching, kissing, tickling, wrestling with or holding a child, even when the child resists.
- Repeatedly offering to babysit children for free.
- Discussing age-inappropriate topics with a child.
- Trying to spend time alone with children.
- Showing voyeuristic behaviors, such as watching children bathe or change into their pajamas.
Talk with children about respectful relationships, age-appropriate sexual development, sexual abuse prevention and healthy sexuality:
- Teach your child the correct names of all the different body parts.
- Let your child know he or she is in control of who touches his or her body, and how.
- Teach your child appropriate and inappropriate behaviors.
- Help your child establish personal space.
Signs of a healthy/positive relationship
A healthy/positive relationship depends on key elements that clearly express who we are and how we want to be treated in the relationship. It’s important that we learn to identify a healthy/positive relationship from a harmful one.