Teaching children personal safety strategies can help them build confidence and resilience and help keep them safe. This week is National Child Protection Week and it is an opportunity to revisit key safety messages with our children. 

Townsville Catholic Education schools are utilising this week to continue to educate students about their personal safety and rights. Students will be involved in a range of activities throughout the week to help them build important skills in recognising when something doesn’t feel right or safe and talk to a trusted adult without fear of consequences. Townsville Catholic Education has provided over 9000 bookmarks to primary schools to provide to students during Child Protection Week, with key protective behaviours messaging and visual representations. These bookmarks will be provided to students to take home and is a good talking point for parents and their children. It is important to remember that these conversations should occur regularly.  

To assist parents in starting conversations with your children, the below tips provide some useful key concepts:

The 3 rules of personal safety

1. We all have the right to feel safe with people.

This rule teaches children and young people that they have the right to feel safe and secure where they live, play, and learn, and that no one has the right to make them do something that makes them feel unsafe or unsure.

2. It’s OK to say ‘NO’ if you feel unsafe or unsure.

This rule teaches children and young people that it is OK to stand up for themselves and to be assertive if something doesn’t feel right.

3. Nothing is so yucky that you can’t tell someone about it.

One of the reasons that children and young people fail to disclose harm is because they are afraid of getting into trouble. This rule helps to encourage them to speak to a trusted adult, even if something seems scary or terrible.

Protective conversations about online safety is equally important in this digital world.  It is important that parents equip themselves with knowledge about the key issues which impact the safety of your children, to assist in these conversations.  Take the time to educate yourself – check out different sites, games and apps for yourself because the more familiar you are with them, the easier it is to talk to your child.

Parental controls are an important tool for all parents which helps to increase your child’s safety online and prevent access to harmful content.  It is important that parental controls are set up on all devices that you child accesses. 

 This week, I encourage you to ask your child what they learnt at school about keeping safe, this can be a good way to start the conversation.  By working together, we can all play our part in keeping children safe.

Some useful links for parents:

Bravehearts - https://bravehearts.org.au/about-child-sexual-abuse/online-child-expoitation/ 
eSafety Commission – Information for parents - https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents 
eSafety Commission – Parental controls - https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/issues-and-advice/parental-controls
Think You know - https://www.thinkuknow.org.au/resources-tab/parents-and-carers