Teaching children what is appropriate behaviour when it comes to their bodies and how to protect themselves is the goal behind the Protect Yourself Rules sessions.
Hosted by the Battlefords and Area Sexual Assault Centre Inc. (BASAC) at the North Battleford Library on February 7 and 14, children aged four to eight and their parents are welcome to join in the conversations and learn how to recognize and protect themselves from both sexual and physical abuse.
“The Protect Yourself Rules are six age-appropriate rules for children if they’re ever confronted with an unsafe situation,” said Amber Stewart, executive director of BASAC.
She explained that the “Shout-Run-Tell, Tell a Grownup, Safe Touch – Unsafe Touch, Doesn’t Matter Who It Is, Stranger Safety and Hitting is Wrong” rules teach preparedness, disclosure and appropriate responses.
“It’s done in a way where there’s a little booklet that each child gets where they can colour it in,” Stewart said, noting there are also videos associated with it.
The video series was created by Wonder Media in partnership with the Barbara Sinatra Children’s Centre and are categorized by age.
“[They] are all age-appropriate ways to start to have conversations with the kids about body safety, that their body is theirs and then telling an adult if you feel like you’re in an unsafe situation,” she said noting that it doesn’t necessarily mean just sexual violence.
Stewart said that when the outreach team present the section on hitting, it too is done in a way that offers the information in a digestible manner.
“This is something that we’ve had a lot of success doing with our littles and they get to then take those booklets home and the conversations can continue with their parents,’ she said.
Since the government removed the third-party health organizations from the classrooms, BASAC has developed a partnership with the library and the executive director and the BASAC team believe prevention education is key to addressing sexual and gendered-based violence.
“By teaching our kids young what is OK and what is not OK and that they have a voice and that they have rights with their body,” she said.
“We just believe that is the most important part to actually doing the work within the realm that we do.”
Stewart said that since they were removed from the schools, they often hear from teachers and schools looking for ways that the centre can support their classrooms. In the past if there were issues cropping up, the BASAC team would be invited in to do presentations and address the class as a whole on appropriate behaviour, healthy friendships or bullying. Now, however, they have seen a trend over the last years towards escalation towards sexually violent behaviour with young children in the community.
“That’s something that we’ve been working to address and now we’re just trying to find ways to address it outside of the school setting, while supporting teachers and schools.”
Ultimately, Stewart said the conversations need to be had as not every family thinks to have the conversations or has the ability to do so.
“We just try to be a resource to the kids, to the parents, to the schools to the community as a whole to get that information out there.”
The information sessions will run from 3:45 to 4:30 p.m., at the library (1392 101 Street) and snacks will be provided. To sign up, email: robin.dyck@basac.ca or call the BASAC office at 445-0055.
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