For Parents

Prevention Education Begins at Home

As parents, one of the most important responsibilities we have is to keep our children safe and happy. When it comes to their personal safety, the best way to prevent child exploitation is to have open, honest discussions on a regular basis. These conversations begin at home.

Child Lures Prevention's 30 years of research shows the same lures have been used by sexual offenders generation after generation to exploit our nation's youth. Today, these lures are also used electronically, but their essence remains the same. The Think First & Stay Safe™ Parent Guide is an invaluable resource to prevent crimes against children.

Parent Resource:
Think First & Stay Safe™ Parent Guide

Talking about sexual exploitation is an uncomfortable subject for most parents and caregivers. The 20-page illustrated Think First & Stay Safe™ Parent Guide is designed with this in mind. The Parent Guide gives parents and guardians current, relevant personal safety information - including proven prevention strategies - to sit down and share with youngsters. The Parent Guide provides the words and illustrations to ease personal safety discussions.

The Parent Guide is heralded by parents, educators and law enforcement alike as the ultimate resource for keeping youngsters safe from sexual exploitation. It also comprehensively addresses abduction, Internet luring, bullying, harassment (electronic and offline), drugs, and school violence. The Guide is continually updated to reflect the latest issues and safety concerns facing today's youngsters.

The Think First & Stay Safe™ Parent Guide includes:

  • Helpful Safety Tips for parents and caregivers
  • Explaining the concept of law to children
  • Debunking the Stranger/Danger Myth
  • Detailed explanations of the 16 lures commonly used by child molesters & abductors
  • Evidence-based prevention strategies for each lure
  • Essential Online/Electronic safety information & family safety pact
  • Strategies to combat bullying, sexual harassment, school violence, & bias crimes
  • Drug resistance education, as it relates to personal safety
  • What to Do if Your Child Discloses Sexual Abuse
  • What to Do if Your Child is Missing

View Parent Guide Sample

By reading the Parent Guide and having face-to-face discussions with children, we can change the unacceptable current statistics: 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be sexually exploited by the time they graduate from high school. The good news is that many of these crimes are preventable with increased awareness and knowledge of sexual offender behaviors.

As Child Lures Prevention posed at the most recent White House Conference on Missing, Exploited and Runaway Children, "If sexual offenders are using Lures, shouldn't we be teaching our children those Lures?"

A Community Effort for Safety

Encourage your child's school or organization to distribute the Think First & Stay Safe Parent Guide, in a coordinated effort with implementation of the Think First & Stay Safe School Program. When all community members are educated about child personal safety, the community as a whole is better prepared to protect its children from sexual crimes. This approach sends a strong message to would-be offenders that your community is on guard and will not tolerate such crimes against its educated children.

Why teach personal safety education at school?

Schools are a natural forum for teaching personal safety education. It's where students gather among caring adults who are also mandatory reporters. For most students, school is a safe, nurturing environment where procedures are in place for reporting abuse and school counselors/nurses are readily available for victimized children. Sexual crimes and the issues surrounding them are an excellent fit with the overall health curriculum and reaches children being abused at home.

Bulk Orders

The Think First & Stay Safe Parent Guide is available for mass distribution to schools, churches, youth organizations, cities, counties and states. The Parent Guide can be visiting ordered individually or in bulk and is available in English, Spanish, Polish and Braille.

For orders of 20,000+ copies, Child Lures Prevention offers customization of the publication (with logos, advertisements, letters, and/or photographs) for organizations. This is particularly popular with corporate sponsors who recognize the public relations power of so valuable a gift. Order the Parent Guide.

Additional Helpful Information For Parents:

Peer-to-Peer Abuse

Nearly 30% of child sexual abuse cases involve juvenile perpetrators. Fifty percent of juvenile sexual abusers were abused themselves as children.

Parents should keep in mind that the average onset of juvenile sexual assault behavior is 12-14 years old. Also noteworthy to parents: the average age of alcohol and marijuana experimentation is now 12 years old.

Parents should closely monitor children during play dates and multi-family gatherings, especially those involving multi-aged children. Abuse tends to occur while adults are socializing and youngsters are playing unsupervised in separate areas.

Many children are sexually abused during sleepovers, by both peers and adults. If you choose to allow sleepovers, supervise and monitor all activities closely. Discussing personal safety on a regular basis and reminding youngsters to keep their behavior appropriate will go far in preventing sexual crimes.

Grooming

Most kids are slowly lured into abuse with grooming behaviors. Secrets typically play a significant role in the grooming process. Stress to children that there should be no secrets from you ever, even seemingly innocent ones, as they often lay the groundwork for future abuse.

The following are grooming behaviors, which on the surface, can appear innocent. A potential offender may:

  • Spend time befriending the youngster and doing things busy parents may neglect or be unable to do.
  • Slowly gain the trust of the youngster and his/her family.*
  • Give gifts, money, trips, and/or performs special favors for youngsters.
  • Encourage harmless secrets, laying the foundation for future sexual secrets.
  • Take pictures/video of your child.
  • Introduce pornography to initiate sexual interest.
  • Cross the line from affection to abuse.

* Keep in mind that most sexual offenders are someone we know and trust. They are notoriously friendly, nice, kind, engaging and likeable. They often target victims, insinuating themselves into that child's life – their family, school, house of worship, sports, and hobbies. Sexual offenders are professional con artists and are expert at getting children and families to trust them. They will smile at you, look you right in the eye and make you believe they are trustworthy.

Beware Single Moms!

A special word of caution to single Moms: please be careful. Single Moms and their kids are easy targets for sexual offenders. With schedules oftentimes overloaded, it is tempting to accept offers of babysitting - especially if it is someone you like and trust, and they constantly offer to help.

Be extremely cautious of offers to take your children overnight. If it seems too good to be true… it probably is. Many children are abused by boyfriends of single Moms. Recognize, listen to and trust to your instincts. Encourage your children to do the same. Again, the best way to prevent child exploitation is to have open, honest discussions on a regular basis.

Parents of Teenagers

Most teens view themselves as independent and invincible. Crime statistics on teen sexual assault, however, reveal a different reality.

Teenagers are the primary target of sexual crimes. They account for 51% of all reported sexual abuse, and teens aged 16-19 are three and a half times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault. All too often, it's a peer who takes advantage.

Leave your copy of the Think First & Stay Safe™ Parent Guide out for your teen to read. They'll either read it on their own or ask you about it. Either way, having ongoing conversations about sexual crimes lets your teens know you are available and willing to talk. Encouraging teens to talk openly about sexual crimes and sexual abuse prevention can help ensure they don't become victims.

Consider visiting TeenLuresPrevention.com for more information about preventing sexual crimes against teenagers. Your teen may be interested in participating in the Teen Lures TV Newscast.

Today's teens can help change the world!

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