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Welcome to the final day of Safe & Sound!

It’s up to us as adults to end child abuse.

Today, we’re talking about what to do if you learn about abuse. No matter how you learn about abuse—there is only one thing you need to do. If the day comes when you suspect a child is experiencing abuse, it’s imperative that you react responsibly and act.

A child’s life could depend on it.

These past few weeks, we’ve talked about how we can prevent abuse before it starts.

Unfortunately, abuse still happens and it’s up to us as adults to end child abuse. How can we recognize when abuse is happening?

Child abusers use a wide variety of tactics—manipulation, shame, blame, threats and more. Today, we’re going to look at one of the key tactics abusers use. We’re also going to share how you can help safeguard your kids against it.

We’re talking about secrets.

Child abuse thrives in secret, and typically happens in hidden spaces out of sight. Yesterday, we talked about learning the facts of child sexual abuse. Today, we’re talking about minimizing opportunities and addressing boundary violations. You can protect your child by looking hard at the spaces your child inhabits as well as setting rules and boundaries to protect your child from high-risk situations.

For this final week of Safe & Sound, we’re focusing on one of the most common forms of abuse: child sexual abuse.

We acknowledge this is a very difficult and sensitive subject.  It can be very uncomfortable to think about, and we will not share any details about instances of child sexual abuse.  Our discussions this week may still feel difficult—especially if you or someone you care about has been impacted by this form of abuse.

We’ve been talking this week about internet safety. Today, we’re turning our attention to the most extreme threat on the internet—online predators. We’ve talked about scammers and hackers…but there’s a special class of “bad actors” who are even more dangerous. And kids are their targets.

Learn how they operate and you’re one step closer to protecting your child.

Today, we’re taking about unsafe online behavior that can have a significant impact on kids.

We’re talking about sexting and other inappropriate posts.

If the thought of your kid sexting makes you cringe, we understand. And while this topic may seem to only apply to older youth, there are lessons in here for the younger set. You can lay the groundwork by talking about inappropriate posts with younger kids. Discuss what’s appropriate to post and send and what isn’t.

Kids can spend a lot of time on social media or connecting with friends through online gaming. There’s a lot to be said about the harms and benefits of socializing online—but that’s a different conversation.

Today, we’re going to focus on a specific safety practice to help protect kids in these social spaces. By paying attention to just one thing, you can keep kids safe from hackers, scammers and others who might do them harm.

As we dive deeper into internet safety for our second week of Safe & Sound, we’re looking at a danger that’s close to home.  According to recent research, a troubling 47% of young people have been intimidated, threatened, ridiculed, or socially ostracized by someone they know.

We’re talking about cyberbullying.

This week, we’re going to focus on internet safety. Each day, we’ll introduce a new topic to help your child be safer online and use technology responsibly.

The internet is a tricky space. We adults can be very good at spotting danger in the real world. But the online world can be more deceptive. Kids can have an even harder time spotting trickery and deception online.

Today, we’re going to learn how to spot bad actors on the internet and teach our kids to do the same.

We’re wrapping up our first week with a topic that may tug at your heart: how do you protect your child when they no longer seem to need you?

Parenting, grand parenting, or caregiving is a journey. Every day, you strive to meet the needs of your child, and those needs change year by year.

But even when your child no longer seems to need you…they still do. And you can still play an important role in keeping them safe.

Today, we’re talking about healthy relationships.

Did you know that healthy relationships (being in one and observing them) are a critical protective factor against child abuse? When your child understands and experiences healthy relationships, they are better able to understand when a relationship is unhealthy. Helping your child recognize red flags can make it much harder for an offender to gain your child’s trust.

You teach your child about relationships every day.

Today we’re talking about consent.

When we say that word, what runs through your mind?

What do you think runs through the mind of a child or teen? Adults tend to think of consent only as pertaining to sex and sex education, but consent can be about more than sexual contact.

Consent is about having control of your body.

It’s Day 2 of Safe & Sound, and we’re talking about an important kind of safety talk many kids miss.

You’ve probably already had many safety talks with your child—like wearing a bicycle helmet or washing hands after using the restroom. As parents and caregivers, we want our kids to be safe.

Sometimes we skip a crucial safety talk because it makes us uncomfortable, or we don’t know much about it, or we just don’t understand how important it is.

We’re talking about body safety.

Today, we’re kicking off Safe & Sound by talking about the biggest protective factor against child abuse: COMMUNICATION. We can already hear you through the screen asking, “How do I do that?” We’ve adapted some strategies—courtesy of Dr. Amy Stoeber, a statewide and national trainer on childhood trauma, trauma-informed care and resilience—to help parents and caregivers really TALK with kids.

It’s called Ten Minute Floor Time!

Developed by Oregon Child Advocacy Centers, Safe & Sound is a prevention education series with tips to help parents, grandparents, and caregivers protect children from abuse.