The “Talk”: Smarter Parents. Safer Kids Prevention Program
Among the many SARCC services that are provided, prevention and education also fall into these categories. In the prevention world, one of our newest additions to our program is called “Smarter Parents. Safer Kids”. Parents, caregivers, grandparents, and foster parents are all deserving of being able to give and receive accurate information about their child’s development. This research-backed program helps to inform caregivers on ensuring their child’s wellbeing, by covering topics such as healthy sexual development, parent-child communication, and child safety. Smarter Parents. Safer Kids is designed as a universal group-oriented program, focusing specifically on caregivers who have children under the age of 13.
Children naturally have many questions, and are exploring the world such as we. As parents and caregivers, children see us as a source of information, as well as a safe space. Parents and caregivers hold a notable influence on our children, especially in their developmental stages. However, the topic of child sexual abuse is not a comfortable talking-point for everyone. Sexual development begins way before puberty, and caregivers deserve to have both accessible and accurate knowledge about tough topics. With this child sexual abuse prevention program, caregivers are given a parent-focused handbook of tools to both use and learn about whenever it is needed.
Healthy sexual development, the first topic, educates parents and caregivers about different age groups and when certain behaviors begin to emerge. We may all collectively remember being told about swallowing a watermelon seed, however, it is time that we provide accurate and age-appropriate sources of information for our children. Healthy sexual development talks about how and when age-appropriate conversations may arise, as well as discussing any problematic sexual behaviors throughout childhood. Parent-child communication helps to provide skills when offering open and honest communication about these topics. It is not a comfortable topic, but it is a necessary topic. The program ends on emphasizing child safety, offering strategies to promote safety in all of our child’s worlds, such as inside, outside, or online.
SARCC’s prevention team has been implementing this workshop around many of our local organizations, schools, and other community partners. When questions or behaviors arise as children are developing, parents should not have to feel alone or unequipped to handle these scenarios. This completely free, two-hour long workshop enforces that parents and caregivers can both directly and indirectly protect children from child sexual abuse. Prevention starts at home, and our children deserve to be safe. Request a program for free by emailing astetson@sarccheals.org .
This blog post was developed by Ashley Stetson, SARCC Prevention & Outreach Specialist.
