SAFE and Unsafe Touch
It is normal for young children to explore touch in naturally curious ways and it is vital to teach them what is safe and unsafe when touching or being touched by others. This includes touch from friends, family and strangers.. It is always our goal to keep children safe and thus we teach them how to identify safe and unsafe situations through guidance lessons across the grade levels.
For the lessons on personal safety, we use the Second Step Child Protection Unit to teach personal safety skills including safe and unsafe touch.
In these lessons, students learn:
A parent letter is sent home at the beginning of each Ways to Stay Safe unit, informing you of the upcoming lessons so that you can discuss them with your child. Family Link handouts are sent home with students each week during the unit to use as a guide to your discussions.
Please contact me if you have questions or concerns about this or other safety lessons shared with your children. For further support, you can find resources to talk with your children about keeping safe from sexual abuse, at Second Step - you can get a free code from me to register and access all the resources.
Cindy Cleary
Elementary School Counselor
American School of Bombay
For the lessons on personal safety, we use the Second Step Child Protection Unit to teach personal safety skills including safe and unsafe touch.
In these lessons, students learn:
- Personal Safety. We talk about important safety rules, such as safety with weapons, sharp tools, fire, and when riding on wheels or in cars. We also teach how to always ask a parent or the person in charge first before going somewhere, doing something, or accepting something from someone. Students learn how to use the Ways to Stay Safe to recognize when something is unsafe, report anything unsafe to an adult, and refuse to participate.
- Touching Safety. Students learn about safe, unsafe, unwanted touches, and rules about touching private body parts. They learn to say no to unsafe or unwanted touches, and to tell an adult if someone breaks the rule about touching private body parts. In the older grades we talk about how to use the Private Parts Rules to identify possible sexual abuse.
- Assertiveness. These lessons give students a chance to practice asking an adult for help, telling an adult about an unsafe situation, and being assertive to get out of unsafe situations.
A parent letter is sent home at the beginning of each Ways to Stay Safe unit, informing you of the upcoming lessons so that you can discuss them with your child. Family Link handouts are sent home with students each week during the unit to use as a guide to your discussions.
Please contact me if you have questions or concerns about this or other safety lessons shared with your children. For further support, you can find resources to talk with your children about keeping safe from sexual abuse, at Second Step - you can get a free code from me to register and access all the resources.
Cindy Cleary
Elementary School Counselor
American School of Bombay