I was lying in\u00a0bed and began to contemplate the idea that the children are our future.\u00a0\u00a0As the thought lingered, I\u00a0became saddened by the fact that we, as a society, don’t seem to consider what this really means.\u00a0 After all, we take precautions like purchasing car\u00a0seats, child proofing the house, and feeding our children green leafy vegetables so they grow up to be healthy and strong.\u00a0 We are warned to be on the look out for conditions like obesity, dental caries, and adolescent diabetes.\u00a0\u00a0We even have\u00a0programs aimed at preventing drug use,\u00a0teen pregnancies, and\u00a0sexually transmitted diseases.\u00a0 But….when do\u00a0we take the precaution of\u00a0preventing child sex abuse?<\/p>\n
If the children are truly our future, shouldn’t we take\u00a0better precautions to ensure that their\u00a0emotional and psychological health\u00a0are protected just as much as their physical health?\u00a0\u00a0This involves\u00a0taking the time to understand the behavioral cues and\u00a0grooming patterns\u00a0of sexual predators.\u00a0 Because,\u00a0as we all know, they don’t walk\u00a0around with a big red\u00a0scarlet “A” for Abuser\u00a0on their chest, nor\u00a0do they announce their intentions.\u00a0 Quite the contrary! They insinuate themselves into our lives ever so cleverly, and\u00a0most of us are oblivious to their motives because we are caught up in the familial and social connections that we have\u00a0with them.<\/p>\n
In fact, the statistics speak louder than my words ever could.\u00a0 Research tells us that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be sexually abused by the age of 18.\u00a0 90% of the abusers will be someone the child knows and trusts.\u00a0 And, these children\u00a0are at\u00a0greater risk of suffering from depression, eating disorders, sexual promiscuity, and\u00a0mental disorders etc. than children who aren’t sexually abused.\u00a0 So if this is true, what kind of future are we creating for them when we don’t protect them?<\/p>\n
Now some might say that they don’t have children so this isn’t “their problem,” but\u00a0I beg to differ.\u00a0 This is an issue that affects us all because we are talking about the emotional, psychological, and spiritual well-being of those who will be tasked with running our country, raising the next generation, and caring for us in our old age!\u00a0 So whether\u00a0one has children or not, we will all\u00a0depend on these kids at some point in our lives.\u00a0 That said, we ALL have an obligation to protect our children – our future.<\/p>\n
Protecting them starts with educating ourselves and creating a circle of safety for our children; teaching children boundaries and giving them permission to create boundaries for themselves, and speaking up when we see someone exhibiting\u00a0potential problem behavior.\u00a0\u00a0This includes\u00a0trusted friends\u00a0and family members,\u00a0teachers, clergymen or neighbors.\u00a0 Anytime you see someone\u00a0exhibiting behavior that places a child at risk for sex abuse, say something.<\/p>\n
As the song says, I believe the children are our future.\u00a0 The question is, what type of future are they going to have if we don’t protect them today?\u00a0 Rest assured, our collective\u00a0failures as a society\u00a0today, can and will have\u00a0devastating and long-lasting effects tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was lying in\u00a0bed and began to contemplate the idea that the children are our future.\u00a0\u00a0As the thought lingered, I\u00a0became saddened by the fact that we, as a society, don’t seem to consider what this really means.\u00a0 After all, we take precautions like purchasing car\u00a0seats, child proofing the house, and feeding our children green leafy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8,9,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-for-dads","category-for-moms","category-survivors","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/comfortinthestorm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/comfortinthestorm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/comfortinthestorm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comfortinthestorm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comfortinthestorm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=212"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/comfortinthestorm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":214,"href":"https:\/\/comfortinthestorm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212\/revisions\/214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/comfortinthestorm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comfortinthestorm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/comfortinthestorm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}