This coloring book is part of the YWCA Golden Gate Silicon Valley’s Child Abuse Prevention Program. We believe all children have the right to be safe and healthy at school and at home. Our goal is to teach children in an engaging and age-appropriate way to recognize, respond to, and report abuse. We suggest that you and your child work on this coloring book together, to start an important conversation about bodysafety!
Approximately 90% of child victims knew their abuser – it isn’t enough to teach stranger danger. Offenders may be authority figures, friends of the family, or even family members. Young victims often feel a sense of complicity or are afraid to tell someone, offenders use this fear to intimidate children into keepingquietaboutabusiveincidents.
Practicing open and honest communication can significantly increase the safety of your child. One major key to using open communication is to use anatomically and medically correct terms for all body parts, including private/middle parts. Using medical terms for body parts reduces your child’s risk of exploitationbygivingthemthemeanstoaccuratelycommunicateifsomethingharmfulisoccurring.
Itiscommonforparentstofeeluncomfortablewhenaddressingtheseissueswiththeirchildren;however, theseconversationsdonothavetobeintimidating.Whilethesetopicsareimportant,itisokaytohavefun and laugh when talking to children about difficult subjects. Humor is proven to strengthen children’s engagement, create a longer lasting impact, and can also encourage children to be honest with their parents during open conversation. Laughter does not devalue the content of your conversations with children.
We cannot always be with our children to protect them, so we can plan ahead for emergency situations. Manyofusalreadyhavesafetyplansinplaceforothertypesofemergencies,likefiresorearthquakes.We candrawonthoseskillsfortalkingtochildrenaboutchildabuseprevention.
If a child tells you about an abusive situation, we offer the followingguidelines:
Believe the child and thank them for sharing their story withyou.
Assurethechildthatitwasrighttotellandthattheabuse wasnottheirfault.
Donotconfronttheaccusedoffender.Requestassistance from your local law enforcement or child protective services.
use this box to draw a picture of yourself
Hi, I’m Roxie and this is my friend, Dereck! We’re so happy to meet you! in this coloring book, we’ll be exploring ways to keep our bodies safe, happy, and healthy. We hope you enjoy learning and coloring with us!
Basic Rights
“Being and feeling safe is a right that every person deserves. It’s one of our Basic Rights! Basic Rights are things we all need to stay safe, happy, and healthy.”
“You mean like food and water?”
"Yes! Food and water are two very important things that we need to survive and thrive. Some other Basic Rights we all deserve are: shelter and clothing, the right to medical care when you are sick or need to see a doctor, and the right to an education.”
No one should ever take away your Basic Rights! If someone does try to take them away from you, be sure you tell a trusted adult. Now, let's read Dereck's story to see what happens when someone tries to take away one of his basic rights.
Dereck's Story
Sometimes when my parents go out, my neighbor, Tyler, comes over to babysit me. Usually, we have lots of fun together; we eat pizzas, play games on my tablet, and sometimes he lets me stay up late. I really like Tyler and I’ve known him for a long time now, but every once in a while, he does stuff that makes me feel weird and unsure. Like when he wants to play tickle games and it makes me feel uncomfortable.
One night, Tyler started tickling me without asking first. He told me he would let me stay up past my bedtime but only if I let him tickle me wherever he wanted. I really like staying up past my bedtime, but I didn’t want him to tickle me, so I told him, “No.” Tyler didn’t listen to me though; he started tickling me even after I said not to do it. When we heard my parents’ car pull up in the driveway, Tyler told me that this was our secret and not to tell anyone, especially my parents. Now I don’t know what to do.
The next day at school, we had a visit from a Prevention Specialist who works at YWCA Golden Gate Silicon Valley. They were there to do a Child Abuse Prevention Presentation for our class to teach us what to do if someone were to make us feel unsafe or uncomfortable. We learned that our bodies will sometimes give us warning signs when something is wrong like goosebumps on our arms, an upset tummy, sweating, or our hearts will beat faster than usual. This is our body telling us that we might be in an unsafe situation. We should always listen to the warning signs our bodies might be telling us!
Readers:
Keep an eye out for key terms highlighted in orange to test your knowledge at the end of this coloring book!
The Prevention Specialist then talked about forever secrets. Forever secrets are secrets we don’t feel safe keeping; secrets that might make us feel scared, sad, or even embarrassed to keep. This made me think about the secret that Tyler told me to keep from my parents, the tickling game that made me feel uncomfortable. After talking about secrets, the Prevention Specialist then told us that our whole body—from head to toe—is private and belongs to us. No one else has the right to touch us anywhere on our body without permission first. If someone does touch us in an unsafe way, then we have the right to stand up for ourselves by using the Plan for Safety.
The first part of the Plan for Safety is telling the person who’s making you feel unsafe or uncomfortable to “Stop!” Then you can walk away from that person and find a safe place. Once you are safe, you can then find a trusted adult and tell them everything that happened. Before the Prevention Specialist left our classroom, they reminded us that it’s never a child’s fault when an adult makes them feel unsafe or uncomfortable. They then had us think of 2 trusted adults that we can talk to if we ever felt unsafe. I shared that my trusted adults are my mom and teacher.
The next night, Tyler came over to babysit me again when my parents went out for dinner. Tyler and I were watching a movie and eating cookies, but then he asked me if we could play another one of his tickle games. That’s when I remembered that I learned and practiced the Plan for Safety. I told Tyler, “No! Stop it! I don’t like that.” And then I said, “I’m going to go play in my room until my parents come home.”
Afterwards, I went into my room and waited for my parents. When they came home, I told them everything that happened. My parents were really proud of me for telling them what had happened with Tyler; they made sure he never babysat me again!
If a child tells you about an abusive situation, we offer the following guidelines:
Believe the child and thank them for sharing their story with you. Assure the child that it was right to tell and that the abuse was not their fault.
Your whole body—from head to toe—is private and belongs only to you. Some parts of your body need extra privacy; we call these our middle parts! When we go to the beach, we wear swimsuits to cover our middle parts like Roxie, Dereck, and their friends in the picture below. Can you help add some color to the picture?
No one should ever touch you anywhere on your body without getting your permission first. And no one should ever touch the middle parts of your body without a safe reason.
What is a safe reason?
When we are little, we need help with our middle parts like when we’re taking a bath or having our diapers changed.
Sometimes when we visit the doctor, we might need a headto-toe checkup. The doctor might ask to see your middle parts, like if you’re sick and need to get a shot in the bottom. The doctor should always ask you first though, and if you ever feel unsafe or uncomfortable, you can use the Plan for safety!
Say "no, Stop!" Walk Away
Tell someone - trusted adult
What is a trusted Adult?
A trusted adult is a grown-up that you feel safe and comfortable being around. Someone you can trust and talk to when you're feeling upset, worried, or happy.
Dereck & his teacher
Roxie & Her Grandma ____________ ____________ ____________ 1. 2. 3. Can you think of 3 trusted adults you have in your life that help you feel safe, happy, and healthy?
Everyone has feelings, feelings and emotions are how our brain and body react to different situations and experiences. We can learn about how we’re feeling by noticing what our body is doing. If we are having a hard time with our feelings we can always talk to another person about it, like a trusted adult.
this is what i look like when i'm feeling...
sad angry confused surprised afraid
Happy
in the boxes above, draw a picture of what you look like when you're experiencing these different feelings.
word search
look for highlighted terms in word search below
Forever secrets are secrets we don’t feel safe keeping; secrets that might make us feel scared, sad, or even embarrassed to keep.
warning signs are the body's way of telling you when something is wrong like goosebumps on our arms, an upset tummy, sweating, or our hearts will beat faster than usual. This is our body telling us that we might be in an unsafe situation.
trusted adult is a grown-up that you feel safe and comfortable being around. Someone you can trust and talk to when you're feeling upset, worried, or happy.
middle parts are parts of your body that need extra privacy
The plan for safety is a safety plan you can use if someone were to make you feel unsafe or uncomfortable.
Basic Rights are things we all need to stay safe, happy, and healthy.
YWCA Golden gate silicon valley
Weareheretohe eSiliconValleyis dedicatedtoempow alassault,domestic violence,andhumantraffickinginSantaClaraCounty.Ifyouor someoneyoucareabouthasbeenabused,reachingoutforhelp canbethefirststeptowardhealing.TheYWCAoffers confidentialservicestosurvivorsandtheirlovedones.
Toaccessservices,pleasecallour24-hoursupportlineat1800-572-2782.Atrainedconfidentialadvocatecanprovide supportanddiscussoptionsforreporting,medicalcare, restrainingorders,counselingservices,andreferralsto communityresources.Whethertheabusetookplaceyesterday, ormanyyearsago,theYWCAGoldenGateSiliconValleyishere tohelpyounow.
ThiscoloringbookwascreatedbyYWCAGoldenGateSiliconValley's SocialJusticeTeam.Fundingprovidedbythefollowing:
