Go Parent Go!!!

It’s that time of year again, time to have the talk.

Next month your children’s school will celebrate National Fire Prevention Week. It’s a good thing. Children are injured and killed by fires every year. I’m so glad we don’t ignore this hot topic (pun intended) and run from it. Our children deserve to be taught to stop, drop, and roll.

But here’s the thing—the chance of your child needing to stop, drop, and roll are slim compared to the chance that they may need to yell, run, and tell.

One out of every four girls and one out of every six boys will be sexually violated by their eighteenth birthday.

Take a few minutes today. Talk to your child about sexual abuse.

If you don’t, who will?



If you need a little coaching, please read my blog series “Protecting Our Kids" beginning Oct., 2010. And picture me with pom poms, cheering for you all the way. You can do it!





Image'>http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=2365">Image: Grant Cochrane / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Lies Survivors Believe – The Significance Game

Another survivor speaks:

“When I finally realized that what I had been trying so hard to keep hidden under the rug was actually sexual abuse, my first instinct was to tell myself that what happened to me wasn't really a big deal—that there were other people who had been abused much worse then I was. I tried to justify that what happened to me, shouldn't matter as much as it did. I even found myself saying "it really wasn't that bad" or "there isn't a lot to tell". Almost feeling like, in the scope of life, my measly little abuse moments weren’t horrendous enough to matter. My point is: abuse affects everyone differently. If your childhood sexual abuse, no matter how minimal it seems, effects how you operate in the world, then it matters.

I don't feel that way anymore, but I'm sure there are a lot of people who have been abused who play that "significance" game.”



I know women who have had one encounter with sexual abuse. I know women who were violated multiple times. All of these women’s lives have been affected.

It’s the consequence of sexual abuse. It’s the power of unwarranted shame.



Image'>http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=5">Image: Andy Newson / FreeDigitalPhotos.net