Talking about feelings
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Gut feelings are a crucial part of the fight against sexual assault. Teach children to trust their gut instincts eg yucky feeling but also trust your own gut feelings about people who may take an extreme interest in your child creating opportunities to see them alone including in other rooms eg computer rooms, sheds or garages, or who have access to your child eg relatives, friends, babysitters. Trust your child's reactions. Children may be too afraid to tell but they may communicate in other ways, eg a little girl of 4 who was assaulted by her grandfather was violently car sick when going to visit him although she was never car sick any other time.
Another child suddenly refused to stay overnight at her best friends house even though she had always loved going there.
It can benefit children in many ways to discuss a whole range of feelings and how they are expressed. This gives validity to how children feel and can help them be more aware of how they react and more able to trust those feelings eg butterflies in the stomach, fast breathing when they are scared, clenched fists and getting shaky when angry, feeling uncomfortable, wobbly knees etc.
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Disclaimer
Copyright Updated: 15 Feb 2010
The South Eastern Centre Against Sexual Assault acknowledges the traditional Aboriginal owners of country throughout Victoria. We pay our respects to them, their culture and their Elders past, present and future.