Prevent Child Abuse: 5 Safety Tips

Seattle, WA, April 10, 2009 --(PR.com)-- How can we protect our children when we’re not around? National Child Abuse Prevention Month, this April, provides an opportunity to help our children stay safe.

Julie Scandora, teacher, speaker, and author of “Rules Are Rules,” offers these 5 tips to help children stay safe.

1. If your child needs help, teach him to seek a mother with happy children. A stressed mother may not look happy, but if she’s doing a good job raising her children, they will be happy.
2. Respect your child. Respecting your child tells him to expect the same from others, gives him self-confidence, and steers him away from dangerous people who have no respect for children.
3. Set the stage for open discussions. Provide opportunities to talk – on drives in the car (no phone calls or gaming allowed) or while doing chores together.
4. Listen to your child with an open mind. If your child believes her parent truly hear her, she will go to them with her problems. Many children do not share abusive experiences with their parents because they believe their parents won’t believe them.
5. Encourage your child to listen to his intuition. When parents aren’t around, “gut feelings” may be all he has to go on.

“Our children can’t completely avoid strangers,” Scandora maintains, “so we must teach them to identify safe situations and what to do if they feel threatened.” Her new book, “Rules Are Rules,” 2009 Reader Views’ first-place winner for children’s fiction, subtly addresses these issues. Parents praise it for “bringing out lots of discussions” and bridging the generation gap.

Rules Are Rules can be ordered from any bookstore, www.AtlasBooks.com, or www.amazon.com. For more information, contact the author and illustrator, Julie Scandora, at 206-525-8359 or scandora@netzero.net.

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