091: Keeping Kids Safe: Teaching Body Safety, Boundaries and Consent with Rosalia Rivera

Mar 1, 2023

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In this episode, Rosalia Rivera joins me to talk about teaching children about body safety, boundaries and consent.

One of the key takeaways from our conversation is the importance of empowering children with knowledge and tools to recognize and communicate boundaries. Parents can help their children understand the difference between safe and unsafe touch, and good touch/bad touch.

When it comes to teaching children about consent, Rosalia suggests starting with modeling consent in everyday life. This can include asking for permission before giving a hug or sharing personal information. Additionally, parents can teach children about body literacy and the foundational blocks of sex ed in developmentally appropriate ways.

Balancing a child's natural curiosity with their safety is a delicate balance. Rosalia shares some strategies that can help parents strike this balance effectively. She also talks about the importance of reinforcing 'stranger danger' and building strong relationships with children.

Rosalia Rivera is a consent educator and child sexual abuse prevention specialist, sexual literacy advocate, TEDx speaker, Chair of SAGE (Survivor Advocates Globally Empowered) representing the BRAVE Movement, and the founder of CONSENTparenting™, the host of the AboutCONSENT™ podcast and creatrix of CONSENTwear™. She is also a CSA (child sexual abuse) survivor, turned thriver.

She helps busy parents go from fearful and anxious to confident and empowered, about teaching their kids about body safety, boundaries, and consent to prevent sexual abuse.

We talk about:

[3:10] How Rosalia helps parents teach their kids about body safety boundaries
[4:15] The greater risk for survivor parents when it comes to this work and having hard conversations with their kids
[7:25] Where to start when it comes to teaching about consent
[12:10] Teaching kids about body literacy and the foundational blocks of sex ed
[12:50] The difference between safe and unsafe touch, and good touch/bad touch
[16:05] Helping kids learn that they should never say yes to something that doesn't feel good for them
[20:00] How to balance letting your child explore with also teaching concepts to keep them safe
[21:30] The opportunity to reinforce 'stranger danger'
[24:30] 'Grooming' signs and red flags
[29:55] Why kids with challenging relationships to their parents can often be easily targeted
[32:10] When would you explain what grooming is and what to be aware of
[35:55] Rosalia's advice to her younger parent self

As a CSA survivor and parent, from a family of survivors, she discovered how triggering it was to learn about abuse prevention when it was time to educate her own kids once she became a mother. Determined to break the intergenerational cycle of abuse, Rosalia dedicated herself to her healing so she could overcome the anxiety and triggers that kept coming up when learning about abuse prevention so she could teach her kids.

Rosalia is certified in the Canadian Centre for Child Protection® COMMIT TO KIDS® Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Training Program and is a Certified Facilitator of the Stewards Of Children® Training by Darkness to Light, as well as OnWatch™.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Free ‘How to Stop Yelling’ Course: www.sarahrosensweet.com/yelling
Join us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/peacefulparenting
Private Part Safety Workshop: https://www.consentparenting.com/getting-started

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