Last week Charlotte came home with a note to the parents about an “incident” at her school. Apparently two school aged children from the after school program were caught in the bathroom together. At the request of one of the parents, the police were called and both students were suspended pending an investigation.
OK.
Now I am not sure exactly what the note is implying.
Charlotte goes to private Montessori. Its a very small school, has a pretty strict lock down policy and the teachers are on top of the kids all the time. Its literally only a 2 room building and its open everywhere, separated only by a partition wall. I know they have an after school program, that I believe brings in children form the public schools, but not when Charlotte is in attendance.
Since its in investigation, I am sure we wont be getting solid answers. The way I read it is that one kid is accused of molesting another kid.
Which of course puts me on some major edge.
So we sat down and had a serious talk with Charlotte. Its so hard to get a 5 year old, specifically one obsessed with her own nipples, to be serious about private parts. I talked to her about who is allowed to touch her and how or why and we even practiced how to yell NO if someone tries to touch you.
Is there any advice out there that anyone can give me in talking with such a young child about this? She is barely 5, so this has to be really confusing to her.
~Trisha
I talk to my kids all the time about if someone makes them uncomfortable by the way they talk to them or by touching them. I am scared to death about someone taking advantage of my kids.
I don’t blame you at all for being concerned. My policy is always better safe than sorry! That is really good that you practiced how to yell no. I really like what Creative Junkie said about the bathing suit. I never heard that before but it makes sense.
You need to talk about the good touch and bad touch point blank. I actually learned it because my school had a school assembly in the library when I was in first grade and they did some situational skits and the fact that they weren’t vulgar about it but were honest about the difference between the two helped a lot!
I didn’t have time to read all the other comments, but I reviewed this book and thought it was pretty good. It’s called “My Body Belongs to Me” and written by the Bronx Assistant D.A. http://www.amazon.com/My-Body-Belongs-Jill-Starishevsky/dp/0982121601/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265422925&sr=8-1
You can also use her dolls as an example. There are spots that strangers should not be looking or touching.
I would continue to ask questions at school to find out more details of what did happen and what will be done to prevent it from happening in the future.
Follow your gut and be gentle. I’d just be general with her, you know “these parts are our own and we need to keep them to ourselves.” I have no real wisdom since my little girl is only 2. Oh what I have to look forward to!
I am so scared of having any type of talk, I haven’t been there yet so I dont know what to suggest LOL
It sounds like you did a fine job. you don’t want to scare the heck out of her or anything.