Child abuse

As parents and as members of this community we need to ask ourselves what we can do to prevent even one more child from being sexually abused. Research shows that we adults know that children are most likely to be abused by someone they know, trust and often love and admire. But in our own lives it is still hard for most of us to recognize when someone we know could also be sexually inappropriate or abusive towards children. So we ignore that gut feeling we get. Meanwhile, too many children are harmed by sexual abuse because we as individuals, organizations, and communities are afraid to be wrong and don’t know what to do. Most of us don’t know how to even raise the issue or with whom we’d even talk about it.

I urge each of us to decide for ourselves what is okay and not okay around children. Then, decide what words you’ll say to protect a child’s boundaries. Finally, look up who you can call to talk about your concerns.

Muskan Shafiq

Karachi