How Parents Can Provide Protection Shields Against Child Sexual Abuse?

Sexual abuse is also known as child molestation. It involves immoral sexual activities. Abusers force children to take part. It is a terrible crime. It poses challenges to parents. They are struggling to protect their children.

The persisting effects of child sexual abuse give rise to spreading awareness. It is alarming to know the fact that about 20% of people become victims of it in their childhood when they are 7 to 8 years old.

Another shocking reveal is the US Department of Child Protective Services against sexual abuse claims that every 9 minutes, people report child sexual crimes.

However, cases still have not been reported due to shame or fear. Acknowledge the importance of highlighting such issues; this article guides you on how parents shield their children from becoming victims of sexual abuse.

The abuser can find their victim easily, as child sexual abuse crimes can occur both online and offline. It does not matter if the abuser approaches your child in the real world directly or in the digital realm. They cause equal damage to children’s well-being.

• Manipulation: Everything starts with friendship. An abuser can foster false friendships through social media or direct communication. The purpose of manipulation is to build trust with minors.
• Allure Towards Sexuality: Through friendship, they can distract children from inappropriate content, like adult gaming platforms, vulgar images, and adult videos.
• Blackmailing: Child molesters know that children are vulnerable and immature. So they frightened them through blackmailing like they were terrifying children by showing knives or violent acts to keep silent.
• Uncomfortable Touches: In the absence of parents or supervision, the child abuser can approach children in solidarity and touch them inappropriately.

The effects of child sexual abuse involve short-term and long-term consequences on their mental health. The short-term impact on children is the immediate changes in their behaviors, like mood swings, sudden outbursts due to triggers, or crying. The victims who face sexual abuse in their childhood can suffer from long-term effects.

It causes post-traumatic stress disorder, low self-esteem, fear of being alone, anxiety, isolation, and depression. Sexually abused children dont have a friend circle and perceive themselves differently from others.

With these traumatic events, they face difficulties in relationships as they are unwilling to trust anyone.

Dealing is difficult with those children who have experienced sexual assault. Because they dont want to share and open up. So, it’s essential to understand the changes in their behavior and attitudes to ensure children’s protection.

• Disconnected Behaviors: Children facing sexual abuse prefer isolation. They are not feeling happy to do the things they did before the trauma. They lock themselves in their washrooms and cry. They show disinterest in school activities.
• Anxiety: Flashback to the tragic event. Abused children avoid social gatherings as they assume people are staring at them. They have panic attacks to visit places that feel unsafe and reminded of trauma.
• Nightmare: Children have nightmares about the person who did wrong to them. Most children fear darkness and don’t want to sleep in a separate room.
• Eating Behavior: Due to fear, stress, and anxiety, they refuse to eat their meal, which causes weight loss. But in some cases, children start overeating.

If parents want to protect their children from the molester, they have to adopt smart parenting. It includes strategies and the use of technologies to protect children from sexual abuse.

• Integrated Communication: We know gadgets replace toys, and children like to spend time with them. So, it’s necessary to strengthen the parent-child bond. Parents should spend quality time with their children.
• Identifying Indicator Behavior: Parents need to observe their children. If they recognize the behaviors, indicate whether their children are facing assault. They can get help from a counselor or therapist to protect their children from the consequences.
• Implementing Smart Parenting: It refers to children’s observing activities using parental control monitoring software. The monitoring features like location tracking, recording, and internet usage monitoring empower parents to control their virtual and real world.

Courtesy: UNICEF: Stop Child Abuse Now!

Monitoring TheOneSpy empowers parents to intervene in the necessary way to safeguard their children.

• Its features allow parents to create protective shields against online predators, molesters, and anyone who could harm their children.
• Implementing TheOneSpy, it is easy to observe the signs of sexual abuse in children by monitoring their behaviors and attitudes, meal & sleep routine, internet interactions, and usage patterns, as well as their whereabouts.
• It helps to protect children from online sexual solicitation. Facts reveal that about one in five children are a victim of online grooming.

It is paramount to counter the child sexual abuse. Parenting plays a significant role in kids’ protection. The consequences of child sexual violation can lead children to face risks such as suicidal ideation and prostitution. So, a unified approach of innovative parenting tools and techniques helps parents to overcome safety challenges.