Teaching Children to Protect Themselves

160 Pages·2001·1.934 MB·English

by  Freda Briggs, Michael McVeity

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Teaching Children to Protect Themselves
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Teaching Children to Protect
Themselves
A resource for teachers and adults
who care for young children
Freda Briggs with Michael McVeity
Illustrations by Monica Love
ALLEN & UNWIN
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This paperback edition published in 2000
Copyright © text Freda Briggs and Michael McVeity 2000
Copyright © illustrations by Monica Love 2000
Copyright © photographs by Freda Briggs and Mary Sofka 2000
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted
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National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:
Briggs, Freda.
Teaching children to protect themselves: a resource for teachers and
adults who care for young children.
Bibliography.
Includes index.
ISBN 1 86448 992 8.
1. Child sexual abuse—Prevention—Study and teaching. 2. Sexually abused
children—Protection. 3. Child abuse—Prevention—Study and teaching.
I. McVeity, Michael. II. Love, Monica. III. Title.
362.767
Set in 11/13 pt Garamond by DOCUPRO, Sydney
Printed by South Wind Productions Pte Ltd, Singapore
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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CONTENTS
Teaching children to protect themselves
Contents
About the authors vi
Part 1 Guidelines for teachers and care-givers 1
1 Why all children need a safety program 3
2 The importance of care-givers and parents 18
3 Responding to actual or suspected sexual abuse 33
4 Integrating safety education into the wider curriculum 38
5 Strategies for teaching safety skills 44
6 On-line safety 51
7 Protect yourself 58
Part 2 Themes and activities 63
Theme 1: It’s my body 67
Theme 2: Some parts of our bodies are private 83
Theme 3: Talking about touching 105
Theme 4: Staying safe with strangers 125
Theme 5: Secrets 141
Revision: Problem-solving exercises 149
References 150
Index 153
v
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
About the authors
Freda Briggs is Professor of Child Develop- Freda received the inaugural Australian Hu-
ment at the University of South Australia. She manitarian Award (Education) in 1998.
has a long professional history in the child
Michael McVeity is a qualified teacher with vast
protection field; first with the Metropolitan
expertise in teaching personal safety skills to
Police in London, second in residential social
children. He became aware of the size of the
work, and third as an early childhood teacher
child abuse problem during his fourteen years’
in schools in disadvantaged areas. She pioneered
experience as a primary school teacher in
education and research for child protection in
Adelaide.
Australia and established the first term-long,
multi-professional tertiary course in 1980. In Michael served as a Child Protection Adviser
1990, 1991 and 1995 she evaluated Protective for two years before winning the position of
Behaviours in Australia and the New Zealand State Child Protection Curriculum Officer with
school-based national safety curriculum, Keeping the Department of Education and Children’s
Ourselves Safe, with children of 5–8 and 10–12 Services, South Australia. He held that post for
years. Her research projects have involved children, seven years until it was phased out in 1999 and
parents, victims of sexual abuse and offenders. then returned to the primary school as a student
This is Freda Briggs’ tenth book on the topic counsellor.
of child protection. Others include: The Early During his employment as a curriculum spe-
Years of School: Teaching and Learning (1999 cialist, Michael had responsibility for the
with Gillian Potter), Child Protection: A Guide production of a wide variety of child protection
for Teachers and Childcare Professionals (1997 teaching materials (print and video) to use with
with Russell Hawkins), Developing Personal children. His role included supporting teachers
Safety Skills in Children with Disabilities (1995), and schools in the implementation of the
Children and Families: Australian Perspectives Wisconsin Protective Behaviours program.
(ed. 1995), From Victim to Offender: How Child Michael wrote and co-authored child protec-
Sexual Abuse Victims Become Offenders (1995), tion articles for the Department’s in-house paper,
Why my Child? (1993), Keep Children Safe X-press, on topics such as touching children,
(1988) and Child Sexual Abuse: Confronting the secrecy, assisting abused children in the class-
Problem (1986).
room and domestic violence. He was also closely
Since 1985, Freda has acted as consultant to
involved in evaluations of child protection cur-
the New Zealand Police and Ministry of Educa-
riculum and related research conducted by the
tion on the national school-based child protection
University of South Australia.
curriculum (Reception class (R) to Year 12)
Keeping Ourselves Safe. She performed a similar Monica Love is an early childhood teacher
function for the Department of Education and whose sensitive child protection illustrations
Training, New South Wales, writing Child Pro- have been tried and recommended by teachers
tection Education in 1997. using Freda Briggs’ earlier books.
vi
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PPPPaaaarrrrtttt 1111
Guidelines for
teachers
and care-givers
Guidelines for teachers and care-givers
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1111
WHY ALL CHILDREN NEED A SAFETY
PROGRAM
Why all children need a safety program
It used to be argued that we should not have Ourselves Safe, covers all aspects of safety for
to provide personal safety programs in children from school entry to Year 12. Similarly,
schools because adults should take responsibil- the Department of Education and Training for
ity for children’s safety. Few people would New South Wales has produced curriculum
disagree. However, the sad reality is that adults, guidelines to be used with children from pre-
and families in particular, have an abysmal school to Year 12 (Child Protection Education:
record in child protection. Evidence of the 1997–98). The first edition included separate
extent of their failure came to media attention modules for use with children under five
in the early 1980s and led to the adoption of years, parents, communities and children with
school-based child protection curriculum by disabilities.
education authorities throughout the English- In South Australia, the Wisconsin program
speaking world. Protective Behaviours was adopted by State and
Two extremes of parenting styles are evident Catholic schools as core curriculum in the mid-
in Western society. Some parents accept that the 1980s. Catholic Education included aspects of
child’s world is unsafe and they respond by Protective Behaviours and sexuality education in
over-protecting and over-supervising children. ‘Family Life’ curriculum. Unfortunately, several
Then, when an emergency arises, the children studies have shown that teachers use programs
lack the experience, knowledge and skills to spasmodically and selectively, omitting the
stay safe. At the other extreme are the negligent essential concepts relating to children’s rights
parents. Some think that they can protect chil- and the need to reject and report sexual
dren’s ‘innocence’ by depriving them of misbehaviour.
knowledge about their bodies and their rights. Some child protection programs are vague,
At the other extreme, some allow children to assuming that children will know instinctively
grow up in overly sexualised, unsafe—if not what constitutes reportable sexual abuse. Pro-
abusive—environments. tective Behaviours assumes that sexual
Children find themselves in many different misbehaviour will feel unsafe and, therefore, we
kinds of potentially unsafe situations. Tradition- only need to teach children to recognise unsafe
ally, schools have accepted responsibility for feelings to keep them safe. By omission, Pro-
teaching safety skills. At pre-school, children are tective Behaviours gives the impression that ‘if
shown how to stay safe while using electrical it feels OK, it is OK’. International research has
equipment, heat, knives, scissors and woodwork subsequently shown that these assumptions are
tools. They are taught how to stay safe in traffic wrong and dangerous.
and near water. They learn safety and hygiene South Australian teachers argued that a
in cooking. It follows that school is the best major reason for their avoidance of essential
place for teaching children how to stay safe information in Protective Behaviours was the
with people. shortage of ‘developmentally appropriate’ spe-
Most American and Canadian schools have cific teaching materials for the sensitive parts of
long had access to comprehensive personal the program (Briggs 1991a, 1991b; Briggs and
safety programs. In New Zealand, a national Hawkins 1994a, 1997; Johnson 1995).
developmentally appropriate program, Keeping This book has been written to fill that gap.
3333
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4444 Guidelines for teachers and care-givers
Given that there are many publications available and less well-informed the child, the greater the
relating to developing children’s self-esteem, vulnerability to abuse.
understanding and expressing feelings, practis-
ing road and other forms of safety, the authors
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have specifically focused on the protection of
children from sexual abuse.
Five-year-olds are fearless. Without a child pro-
This book provides ideas for teachers and
tection program, they implicitly trust adults to
parents as well as counsellors and therapists
keep them safe. From five to eight years, they
working both with children at risk of abuse and
worry about violence, strangers and imaginary
children who have been abused. The authors
creatures, shadows, the dark and being at home
have taken account of recent research findings
alone. Nightmares are among the worst prob-
and evaluations of programs by children and
lems for children aged six and even the most
parents.
negligent and abusive parents are trusted
Unfortunately there is no quick and easy fix
because they provide comfort and take fright-
to the problem of child sexual abuse. Safety
ened children into their beds in the middle of
skills cannot be taught in a single session or a
the night. From eight years upwards, fears tend
single day. Teaching has to be ongoing, with
to be more experience-related, focusing on bully-
opportunities for regular practice and reinforce-
ing and adult violence. Adults are perceived as
ment. The safest children are those who possess
safe because they provide protection from bul-
sound safety knowledge. They have teachers
lies and violent children (Briggs and Hawkins
and parents who model safe behaviours and are
1993).
open and honest in their relationships with
children.
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aaaasssssssseeeessssssssiiiinnnngggg aaaadddduuuullllttttssss’’’’ mmmmoooottttiiiivvvveeeessss
AAAALLLLLLLL CCCCHHHHIIIILLLLDDDDRRRREEEENNNN AAAARRRREEEE VVVVUUUULLLLNNNNEEEERRRRAAAABBBBLLLLEEEE
TTTTOOOO SSSSEEEEXXXXUUUUAAAALLLL AAAABBBBUUUUSSSSEEEE Child molesters use coercion, tricks, bribes,
threats, blackmail, secrecy and sophisticated
seduction techniques to manipulate their victims
All children are at risk of sexual abuse regard-
(Briggs 1995a; Elliott, Browne and Kilcoyne
less of their age, gender, social class, race,
1995). Piaget’s theory of moral development
religion or ethnicity. Most child victims are
(1965) tells us that children under seven or eight
abused by people they know and trust.
years of age cannot assess adults’ motives. Chil-
Children have certain attributes and beliefs
dren judge people as good or bad by their
that put them at risk.
appearance, demeanour and the outcome of
their actions. As a consequence, paedophiles
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are often perceived by their victims as kind and
loving because, in the seduction process, they
All children depend on adults to meet their are attentive and flattering, they make children
basic needs. Ultimately, they also depend on feel important and provide treats. Victims often
adults to protect them. Child sexual abuse is accept painful abuse as the price they have to
about the abuse of power. It involves the strong pay for an emotionally or materially rewarding
and well-informed using the powerless and relationship. Children who lack an affectionate
uninformed for sexual pleasure and degradation. father figure are especially vulnerable because
Offenders gain satisfaction from planning their of their need for a male role model, male
conquests and manipulating trusting victims. attention and male approval.
Some manipulate victims’ parents and some Without a child protection program that tells
abuse children when parents are in the same children explicitly what is unacceptable and
tent, room or car. The greater the risk, the reportable behaviour, abuse victims are likely to
greater the excitement. believe offenders when they say things like:
Children are especially powerless when they
are deprived of an open and honest protection ‘It’s OK. It’s fun. It’s what guys do.’
program which provides safety knowledge, ‘This is what people do when they love each
opportunities to practise safety skills, infor- other. Would I ask you to do something
mation about their rights and what constitutes wrong when I love you? You’re safe with
unacceptable, reportable behaviour. The younger me.’
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