Child Personal Safety Guide

Protecting Middle- and High-schoolers
Middle and high school students have more experience, but typically overestimate their abilities, underestimate risks, and remain vulnerable to predators. Review the aforementioned (pre-school and grade-school) rules and ask "what if questions" to test their judgment and maturity, e.g., "What if you were at the Mall and a man with a business card from a modeling agency asked you to come outside into the natural light for a few snapshots?"

What to teach middle- and high-school children:

• To understand the basics of sex and sexuality so as to be sufficiently educated as to thwart sexual advances that would exploit her innocence
  

• To avoid drugs and alcohol so as to keep a clear head and be able to avoid molestation, date rape, and other forms of sexual exploitation
  

• To be street smart and "on guard," so as to avoid potentially dangerous situations, e.g., unattended drinks at parties may be spiked with any of a number of "date rape" drugs
  

• To resist the temptation to view pornographic materials - that porn turns women and men into objects, that it over-stimulates the viewer, and that by normalizing casual sex it makes viewers more vulnerable to victimization, sexually transmittable diseases, and unwanted pregnancy
  

• To answer truthfully a parent's accountability questions - "who?" "what?" "when?" "where?" "why?" - as a means of building trust and earning greater freedom and privileges
  

• To check in if he has made a change of plans or if any of the answers to the aforementioned accountability questions have changed (e.g., son okayed to go to bowling alley to meet with friends, but gets there and finds he's hanging out with strangers from another school)
  

• To trust her instincts/intuitions about people and situations, i.e., to tap into and act upon the subtle survival signals that warn us of imminent danger
  

• To remember that potential victimizers need privacy to have control - bestselling author Gavin de Becker says to remind preteens and teens to avoid situations that might isolate them, or get out when control has been lost
  

• To tell someone if she or he has been the victim of a sexual assault or attempted assault and continue seeking help until it is provided
  

• To agree to the terms of an Internet Safety Contract (see Protect-A-Child-Today! Contract for Internet Safety)
  

Safety Guide for Preschool Kids | Safety Guide for Elementary Kids | Additional Safety Tips | Articles | Ask the Director | Recommended Books