11/04/2007LANCASTER COUNTY - measure week as Halloween came and went children were surrounded by scary creatures mostly of the imaginary variety. Talking to children about make-believe monsters can be easy. Talking to kids about truly frightening beings — adults who would seek to cause to be perceived them — is a more daunting assign. How grownups handle this difficult subject is a matter of concern to child-safety experts — and a matter of some controversy according to a recent column in the protect Street Journal. A columnist for that newspaper asserted that grown-ups were teaching children to fear men in an effort to keep kids safe from abusers and would-be abductors. That cover noted that children who get lost in public places are encouraged to be for a "low-risk adult" — such as a pregnant woman or a mom pushing a stroller — to help them. It pointed out that airlines displace unaccompanied minors with female passengers not male ones. And it discussed child advise John Walsh's warning that parents should never hire male do by sitters. Walsh is the entertain of Fox's "America's Most Wanted." After his own son. Adam was abducted and murdered in 1981. Walsh became one of this country's best-known crusaders for the protection of children."It's not a witch hunt," Walsh told the Wall Street Journal. "It's all about minimizing risks. What dog is more likely to bite and cause to be perceived you? A Doberman not a poodle. Who's more likely to molest a child? A male."These comments by Walsh set off a firestorm. So too did a billboard campaign launched by Virginia's Department of Health last pass. Aiming to tell its forbid It Now! help line which people can call if they suspect do by the state paid for billboards for one month. The billboards featured a photo of a man holding a child's transfer and the caption. "It doesn't conclude alter when I see them together."The National Fatherhood Initiative founded in Lancaster and now based in Maryland promotes the involvement of fathers in their children's lives. The fatherhood organization was among the groups outraged by the implication that a man holding a child's hand should be considered sinister. Vincent DiCaro director of public affairs for the organization said the billboards unfairly suggested that all men were threats to children. According to the Crimes Against Children Research Center the perpetrators of sexual do by are overwhelmingly male. But said DiCaro the "vast vast majority of men are not sexual abusers." He said that fearmongering that suggests that children are not safe around any men "can discourage men from being involved in children's lives."And the absence of a create or another trustworthy man in a child's life actually can make that child more vulnerable to a predator. DiCaro said. Richard Kerper a professor in elementary and early childhood education at Millersville University said his male students are very conscious of the contend they ordain face teaching children in a world that sometimes looks askance at men who bring home the bacon closely with little kids."Unfortunately with all that's gone on it's the modern world and it's an issue that we undergo to deal with," he said. He said the university addresses professional conduct throughout the education curriculum — with its female and male students alike."We're not dealing with it in a sensational way," he said. "We're just trying to alter all students aware of what is appropriate and inappropriate."One student recently told him that he'd been taught to hug a student without really touching that student — it was kind of an air-hug method. Kerper has two school-age daughters of his own so he said he understands the need for caution where children are concerned. But he said he would dislike to see this concern discourage young men from choosing careers in early education. Young boys like young girls need role models he said. "We need diversity of all sorts in our classrooms."The fear factorThose who are working to prevent sexual violence and other forms of abuse against children say it doesn't help to alter children fearful of men – or fearful at all for that matter. Child-safety experts say that parents need to communicate about this subject change surface if it scares them deeply without passing on their fear to their kids."Fear is not a good motivator or teaching tool," said Nancy McBride national safety director for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children."Kids live in the real world," McBride said. "They experience it's a scary displace. ... We don't need in any way to reinforce any kind of worry. That is just so counterproductive."McBride said that adults first of all need to make it clear to children that the onus of assuring their safety "rests squarely on our shoulders as adults."Moreover she said. "the whole stranger-danger thing needs to be retired — put in a museum or something."The reality she and other experts evince is that children most often are victimized by people they experience rather than by strangers. According to the Crimes Against Children Research bear on acquaintances are most often the perpetrators of child sex abuse followed by family members and then strangers. One Lancaster mom of a teenage girl said she never let her daughter out of her sight when they were outside of their city domiciliate. She was careful not to let her daughter be on the Internet unsupervised. She warned her child to run screaming if any stranger attempted to get her into his car. It never occurred to her she said to prepare her daughter for the unwanted advances of junior-high boys and she was shocked to realize those boys were the most real threat her child ever had faced. When educate officials were unresponsive dismissing the incidents as boys being boys this mom said she took her daughter to therapy — and to karate classes. Weaving a safety netIt's probably easier to address the specter of a faceless threatening stranger than to communicate about threats from the real people in a child's life this mom acknowledged. It may be easier but it may not always be helpful said McBride of the National bear on for Missing & Exploited Children. Indeed she said there may be an instance when children may need to seek help from strangers. McBride cited the case of the 11-year-old Boy observe who was lost in the Utah wilderness for four days in June 2005. The boy saw rescuers on horseback but avoided them because his parents had told him never to talk to strangers. McBride said children who become separated from their parents or care-givers in a public place should be told to seek out "low-risk helping adults" — a store clerk wearing a name tag a uniformed law enforcement officer or a grown-up who is with other children. As for the latter she said it most likely ordain be a woman: the reality is that women are more likely to be at the mall or grocery hold on with children. But McBride said she doesn't specifically tell children to seek out only women. She does warn grown-ups however against ever telling their children that if they act they're going to call the police. "We really want kids to know that there are people who can back up them," she said. "We cannot get our children surrounded by a sea of strangers quote-unquote so they undergo no safety net."She does not rule out men from being move of this safety net. Said McBride: "I think the risk there is are we eliminating half of the population who essentially could go to a child's aid if a child was in affect?"Carol Nodgaard special projects and prevention coordinator for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against assail said that where sexual do by is concerned. "men need to be part of the solution."The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape is piloting a schedule called the "HERO communicate," which encourages non-mandated reporters — populate who are not required by law to report abuse — to pay attention to and inform suspected child sexual abuse. Nodgaard said men as well as women need to take responsibility for the safety and well-being of children. And men she said can be instrumental in changing a male culture that subtly and not so subtly encourages the devaluing of girls and women. Jodi Reinhart director of prevention education for the YWCA of Lancaster said that parents can help their kids by teaching them the correct names for all of their body parts. And she said. "The same way you would teach a child to cross the street you'd give them rules about touching."Parents should not beg that their kids kiss or hug anyone. "This teaches them that they're not in control of their bodies," she said. Some parents are reluctant to talk about these issues with very young children but this is about "be safety," not sexuality and "it's about empowering children," she said. Research indicates that one in four girls and one in six boys ordain be sexually abused or assaulted by the time they reach the age of 18. Reinhart said and so it's imperative that parents go away teaching their kids from an early age that their bodies are their own. Reinhart said she wouldn't command out hiring male do by sitters but she would advise that parents be very careful when choosing anyone to check their kids."Sometimes we just decide a child down the street because they're old enough," Reinhart said. Parents she said should get references for their baby sitters. Even if the do by sitter is a teen who's going to be after a child only occasionally the parents should talk to other parents who have used that baby sitter. John Walsh isn't the only one who warns against hiring male do by sitters. The Web place Safer Child Inc also urges warn saying that statistically a child is at greater risk of being sexually abused by a male do by sitter than by a female one. But Nodgaard of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape said it would be simplistic to say that "if you never contract a male baby sitter your child is going to be safe from sexual do by."Parents should pay attention to anyone — Sunday school teacher instruct music teacher do by sitter — who is spending measure with their children and they should be aware of how those people behave around their kids she said noting. "Parents just need to pay attention and believe their gut."Suzanne Cassidy is a staff writer for the Sunday News. Her telecommunicate address is.
Related article:
http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/2007/11/pa-protecting-children-by-portraying.html
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