We Teach Children all the Wrong Things

I came across this video of Emma Jean Taylor’s TedTalk about child abuse the other day and wanted to share it with you. First because, as the title of the video says, we teach kids to be wary of strangers all the time but we don’t teach them to also be wary of people they know, despite the fact that up to 90% of sexual abuse victims know the abuser.

I fell into that category. I remember learning all about windowless vans and strangers with candy. No one ever told me that someone within my own family could also be a sexual abuser. In fact, I went years without even knowing that what happened was sexual abuse, because that was when a stranger abducted you, not when someone close to you and your family threatened and coerced you.

As you might also guess, the rest of Emma’s talk also contains many things I could identify with. I didn’t even define what was happening to me as abuse, let alone what to do about it or how to tell someone about it. So it just continued for years.

So, take some time to watch the video below. You might learn a thing or two, and you might teach the kids around you more than I knew.