Part 3 and the last part to talking and teaching your little one about “Stranger Danger”. ❤️
Good morning,
We've talked the last few days about the terrifying statistics and what you can do as a parent, how to protect your little online, but what about your little? How do you teach your toddler protective behaviors?
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1. BE HONEST
The first step to Respectful Parenting and keeping our littles safe is just to be honest with them. Why can’t they play hide and seek in public? Why can’t they follow someone without asking mama? Why can’t they let anyone touch their private parts?
Be mindful of their age and how much they can understand, listen to your mama gut and speak from the heart. “Please check with mama before you eat anything anyone gives you because I have to make sure it is safe."
Why does mama have to keep you safe? Because you are so precious to me and I don't want to lose you.
Does your little know and understand your why? Or are we just saying no, stop, cannot, don’t! Think about the times in your life you’ve really understand the purpose and the vision and how it has affected the outcome. It’s the same with our littles too, if they know the why, they are a lot more willing to follow through and do it.
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2. BE CONSISTENT
Do your rules change depending on the day? Ultimately, we want our littles to be so familiar with their routine that they do it without thinking.
Hold mama’s hands when we cross the street. Wait for mama to say yes before going in an elevator. You don’t have to hug anyone you don’t want to - no means no.
Making sure that we are consistent with our boundaries is key to helping our toddlers build their own consistent healthy boundaries.
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3. ALLOW QUESTIONS
Little ones are always so curious because that’s how they learn about how the world works. Do you have a culture in your family where they are safe to ask questions?
Again not only does us answering honestly and them getting to explore and ask questions help them understand the why and get behind it better, it also fosters an open relationship.
Open, honest, intimate relationships with your little is one of the best ways to curb sexual abuse because they always feel safe enough to tell you anything, ask you anything, get excited about anything that they don’t feel the need to keep secrets.
If you lay the framework and foundation when they are young, it will help so much during their vulnerable years as well as again, making them much more less attractive for someone to groom.
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4.EMPOWER
Lastly and most importantly as always, empower your little.
What can you do if someone hurts you and you don’t like it? Give them space to answer and come out with solutions. It will amaze you how much they know. You might have to prompt sometimes but with consistent space and trust, they will come out with amazing ideas.
What this really does is builds up their confidence, gives them the tools to be proactive, puts them in charge of their bodies and decisions. If there’s one thing I’m especially grateful for, it’s this.
This is what’s going to protect her when mama is not there.
Her knowing the danger signs, understanding why they are dangerous, feeling empowered and knowledgeable about what to do or to come out with a solution whether she's 2 years old or 20 years old.
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Please let me know if you have any other questions and I really hope that this series was helpful for you and your little.
If you’re struggling with your toddler and would like a step-by-step and more in-depth walk through, I have a Toddler Wars workshop next week that covers all the hot topics like biting, hitting, sharing, car seats, terrible twos, whining, sibling rivalry, jealousy, dealing with in-laws and many more.
To find out more details or to register, go to https://kidxy.com/rk
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Racheal Kwacz is a Child and Family Development Specialist, mama tribe advocate and writer. As creator of the ‘Racheal Method’, she combines her 20+ years experience working with children in the USA and in Asia with the foundations of ‘Respectful Parenting’, leading parents and teachers around the world in raising kind, confident, compassionate, resilient little ones.
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