S01E02 - Keeping Our Kids Safe

Episode Details: Season 1 Episode 2
Topic: Keeping Our Kids Safe
Duration: 29 minutes





EPISODE SUMMARY
In  this episode, moms discuss how they talk about body
safety and abuse  with their children, why it’s so
important, and what other measures they  take to safeguard
their children in an increasingly complicated world.





SHOW NOTES


By now, you must have heard of the Me Too movement which swept
across India recently. As stories of abuse in different forms
began to be told, we, as parents, no doubt started to wonder
about our own children and their safety. The Me Too movement
shone a spotlight on the fact that abuse could happen to both
sexes, that it could come from people we knew and trusted,
including relatives or teachers. Whom, then, can we trust? While
the obvious reaction is to get scared and try to protect children
by keeping them close, the truth is, our children are going to go
out into the world someday. So what's the best way to overcome
our fears and know that we've done everything in our power to
keep them safe? How do we educate and empower ourselves as well
as our children to deal with a world which has its dark side?





Coming from a country where sex is rarely spoken about,
especially with parents, we are in unchartered, unfamiliar
territory when it comes to initiating these conversations with
our children. Our parents probably didn't even discuss puberty,
let alone abuse! So initiating these conversations requires us to
do our share of research, and sometimes fight our own
conditioning and awkwardness. Given that, is there merit in
talking about this? If so, at what age do you talk about this to
your children? What do you even say? We hope that you will find
it useful to hear other moms' perspectives, and some of the
things they tell their children.





THE PANEL


For this panel, we invited mothers with varying experiences. A
mother of twin boys who conducts sex education workshops at
schools, Namrata Sadhvani is vocal about the need to embrace
feminism and fight stereotypes. According to her, objectification
of women and messaging to girls that they may need protection, or
be more fragile, forms part of the problem. She talks about the
responsibility involved in parenting boys to believe in equality
and respect, and shares some of the messaging they use at home
and in her workshops.





Shalu 'The Dreamer Mum' also has twins... girls! As someone who
has always been very vocal about her support for the Me Too
movement, she talks about the importance of speaking freely and
giving our children the vocabulary with which to know what is
normal and what isn't. Her straightforward take on what she
herself says to her girls and how it's necessary to do so will no
doubt help in forming your own conversations with your children.





Since both Namrata and Shalu have older children who are capable
of understanding these conversations, we also invited a different
take from Disha who has a just-turned-two year old. What can you
do to keep a child who's so much younger safe? Is there a way to
start messaging about consent and unsafe touches? These are some
of the topics she explores with Namrata and Shalu using their
experience to guide her.





This is raw territory for so many of us, and we’re all learning.
If there’s anything you’d like to ask our panelists, or any
tips/experiences of your own that you’d like to share, please do
so in the comments. Or, if you’d like to remain anonymous, you
can email us at lifeofrealmoms@gmail.com.