Think about the number of times that we force our children to hug a family member or a friend, even when they don’t feel comfortable doing so, or when this isn’t done spontaneously. Body autonomy is the right for a person to govern what happens to their body without external influence or coercion. This is an important concept for all children to be taught and to understand. A child who knows that they are in control of their body is less likely to fall victim to sexual abuse, sexual assault and later intimate partner violence. The idea of abuse happening to our children is very difficult to accept, but the reality is that it happens all too frequently. Statistics show that one out of every three females and one in every 20 males will fall victim to unwanted sexual contact by their 18th birthday.
The people that will perpetrate this violence, in most cases, is someone that the child knows and trusts.
As adults and even more so parents and caregivers, we could be in a position to help prevent abuse from happening to our kids, and to empower them to disclose if it does.
One of the most important prevention tools is to Raising Girls Who Like Themselves in a world that tells that they are flawed and to teach them body autonomy. This concept is one that adults do a particularly poor job of teaching — in fact, adults often force children into situations in which their body is treated as the property of others.
The book Raising Girls Who Like Themselves details the seven qualities that enable girls to thrive and arm themselves against a world that tells them they are flawed. Its Packed with practical, evidence-based advice, it is the indispensable guide to raising a girl who is happy and confident in herself.
Some of those seven qualities that enable girls to thrive in a world that tells them they are flawed When you raise a girl who likes herself, everything else follows. She will strive for excellence because she has faith in her ability to achieve it and the confidence to pick herself up. She will nurture her physical and mental health because it's natural to care for something you love. She will insist on healthy relationships because she believes she deserves nothing less. She will be joyful and secure, knowing that her greatest friend and most capable ally is herself.
Kasey Edwards and Dr Christopher Scanlon are a husband-and-wife writing and researching team. They also have two daughters of our own and over the past 10 years they have been researching and developing a comprehensive parenting approach to raising girls who like themselves. What they know for certain is if you raise a girl who likes herself then she’ll be confident to live a life where everything you hope and dream for her is possible.
In this podcast Standing Strong Together host Natasha Ferre and Author Kasey Edwards of Raising Girls Who Like Themselves to talk about this practical approach to parenting,