Krav Maga Boston | Articles On Child Safety

Child Safety

Articles On Child Safety

Child Safety & Security

We naturally think that our children’s safety is most at risk from strangers e.g., there are many “stranger danger” programs that teach adults and children not to talk to strangers, get into cars with strangers etc. However, whilst this is good and necessary advice, it can distract and deflect us from the more likely and common predators who are looking to gain access to our children, and these are the people we know. “Trusted” figures, such as sports coaches, members of the clergy, teachers, and even friends and family members are statistically more likely to endanger our children than people we don’t know. Whilst child abductions by strangers do occur, they are not as frequent as we may imagine, and are less frequent and less likely than child abuse committed by somebody we know. This doesn’t mean that we need to be overtly suspicious of people we are meant to “trust” and/or engage in some for of profiling but instead understand what predatory individuals look for in a potential target.

One of the best defenses we can offer our children is to be active and involved parents. If we look to be meeting all of our child’s needs (emotionally, psychologically etc.), then it prevents predatory individuals from having something to offer a child e.g., if we can present ourselves as parents who care for, and take time with our children, predatory individuals can’t offer themselves as the only person who notices, listens to, and properly values a child etc. The reason that a lot of child abuse goes unreported is that the abuser is able to meet some of the needs that a child may feel is not being completely fulfilled by family members etc., and they don’t want to lose this attention. Simple acts such as dropping a child off at a sports field, without waiting to see that they’ve made contact with a supervisory adult can be a greenlight to predatory individuals who may be observing this; as they make the assumption that a “busy” parent may not be giving enough attention to their children etc.

It's important to note that the majority of sexual predators who target children are not pedophiles i.e., those whose primary sexual preference is for prepubescent children, but those individuals who are primarily attracted to adults. This is important because we may believe that married adults don’t pose a threat to children because they appear to be solely attracted to people within their age range. The media may portray pedophiles, who live alone, as the greatest threat to our children, however statistically from a risk perspective, our children are at a greater danger of abuse from those whose primary sexual attraction is to other adults e.g., a stepfather who is married and in an active sexual relationship, may also be the abuser to her children etc. Such individuals, target children because they are available, vulnerable, and more malleable i.e., more likely to perform sexual acts that an adult may resist etc.

The articles contained in this section on child safety, look to explore and explain some of the oftentimes confusing phenomenon of child sexual abuse.

References

Kitzinger, J., & Skidmore, P. (1995). Playing safe: Media coverage of child sexual abuse prevention strategies. Child Abuse Review, 4(1), 47-56.

Murray, J. B. (2000). Psychological profile of pedophiles and child molesters. The Journal of Psychology, 134(2), 211-224.

Chenier, E. (2011). The Natural Order of Disorder: Pedophilia, Stranger Danger and the Normalising Family. Sexuality and Culture, 16(2), 172-186.