Keeping Children Safe from Sexual Abuse - The Role of Intuition

A child’s ability to utilise her intuition is a crucial factor in  protecting her from sexual abuse.   Intuition helps a child to make independent decisions and to steer away  from potential danger. Intuition can help a child become confident and wise,  knowing that the tools needed to conquer the unknown and unknowable are always  at hand. Parents often dismiss or override a child's natural attempts to  use intuition, but with support and guidance, intuition can be sharpened by our  use of it. 

I  have witnessed time and time again, parents chastising their young children for  shying away from the approaches of an unfamiliar person and then apologising to  the stranger for the child’s rudeness or making some excuse to explain the  “silly” behaviour.  No sooner have we  lectured them about the importance of being polite to Mr Bloggs, the store  owner (and stranger), we then instruct them “Don’t talk to strangers!”  This contradiction is highly confusing and  suppresses the natural instincts of stranger awareness. By telling children it  is socially desirable to interact in a polite manner with strangers despite  their natural feelings of anxiousness, we rob them of a vital safety tool. 

Taught  to dismiss her instincts, the child quickly learns by example and her own  experiences that being polite brings praise and rewards whereas being “rude” or  shying away results in disapproval.   Discounting her own powerful inner feelings and adopting the “Don’t be  rude” messages, she learns to ignore her danger detectors.  Consequently, a vital element in the ability  to make correct judgements of people and to think for herself is lost.

The  cultural drive to compel children to always be polite and sociable towards  adults is a colossal concern when considering the threat from paedophiles.  Children naturally want to do what is right  and to fit in with the culture of which they are a part, therefore,  well-mannered and respectful interactions with others does not need to be  forced upon them as they will learn by your example and apply it accordingly.