Parents Urged To Talk To Their Children About Sexual Predators
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NORTH TEXAS (CBS 11 NEWS) - The lengths that two suspected child predators in Hurst would go to are hard for adults to fathom. Which is why when it comes to talking with their kids about predators it's hard for some parents to know what to say.
"We use the term 'child predator' in our family," said Kim Rocha, with Alliance for Children in Arlington. "There are people out there whose job is to hurt kids. So we use that term in our family."
Rocha is a parent of two pre-teens and works as an advocate for children. She says avoiding conversations about predators with your child actually puts them in more danger.
"The number one thing that we do when we try to educate adults is to talk about you have to talk with your kids about this," Rocha said. "Because if you don't then you're creating environments that allow this to occur."
While experts suggest parents be blunt with their children, they should be sure not scare them. The biggest hurdle for parents is knowing what words to use when describing what sexual predators want to do to children.
Rocha says the more knowledge your child has, the safer they will be. "You know in a lot of the adult education that we do we talk to parents about using proper names for body parts. And the looks on the faces of people in the room when we bring that up is just beyond belief for them -- to say those words to their kids. When in reality the predator will make a game out of it and they name those private parts something funny so when a kid tries to make an outcry about somebody doing something to them they don't have the words to describe it."
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