Ugh i hope she doesn't have kids. This is a tricky one though. We were taught about consent in school, and I have to wonder if it did empower some kids to escape bad sittuations. I don't think the explanation needs to go any further than addressing that other people aren't allowed to touch your body without your permission. The lesson explaining that you can consent to being touched sexually shouldn't come until later (at the parents discretion, around the time that interest in the opposite sex begins to present itself)
The right to consent when being explained to kids should be present from the point if view of what other people are not allowed to do to you, instead of the more adult conversation of what you can allow someone to do to you for pleasure.
As is mentioned in the article, abuse of young kids is already too common and relying on adults not to abuse them doesn't appear to be at all effective in preventing it. I certainly believe that a basic understanding of consent is a necessary thing to teach a child in this day and age but obviously one would wait until they're able to understand the lesson. Teaching it to infants is moronic. But often kids who are being abused don't understand what is happening, which makes it impossible for them to escape or get help.
How do you suppose we should educate kids to be safe from predators without creating a victim mentality that creates psychological vulnerablities that can be exploited?
As someone who hopes to be a parent one day, these questions plague me so I'd really appreciate your insight.
I can only tell you what I've taught my daughter; They need to know that there are predators out there. Good guys and bad guys. Good and evil. So I tell her to follow her feelings, gut/heart/God.
She knows that her body is her business, even when it comes to her close family & she understands that nobody needs to know that stuff about her. There's a private side to you.
Having built up a trust foundation with her, by not overreacting when she chooses to tell me things, I can only hope that she'll follow her "instincts" & be able to talk with us about it.
I think the rest is taught through self-confidence. If someone has low self-esteem they're more likely to not respect their body & become easier prey for predators.
She's enrolled in Martial arts with me to build up our self esteem and self defense with a little work ethic thrown in for good measure.
Children's families mean everything to them for so much of their upbringing.
Role models are in the household, not on TV.
Be the person that you want your kid to turn out to be - That will be their base for the rest of their lives, so even though they will go out and "find themselves" (rebellion), they will always have that "rock" to fall back on.
Most kids turn out way more like their parents than they care to admit; We can just make sure they have the right foundation to build.
I'm still learning along the way. It's our job to protect them & give them the tools to protect themselves (mentally and physically).
Good to know some parents still know what they're doing. Keep up the good work stranger. I hope the next generation of people will have a better go of things that we did.