Help your children define their relationship with people.

Helping your children define their relationship with people is something I think is very important, I read an article over the night about a man who was abusing kids in his neighborhood and I am glad he was caught. He is a jovial person and no one suspected him because he is kind and has a good relationship with people including kids in his environment.

Children's brains are very fragile and it is one of the reasons why I always encourage parents to be careful of the things they do or say in the presence of their children.

Many parents are part of the reasons why many children have been abused today because they have failed to help their children define their relationships with people, this isn't about failed parenting or carelessness because almost all parents make these mistakes, and it backfired at some while it didn't for some. Because it didn't backfire on you doesn't make you a good parent and it could even be dangerous if such a child gets out of the parent's reach, they might easily jump into every stranger's open arms which could be a big problem as they grow.

As a father or mother, your friend is not your child's friend.

This might sound silly but it is not and the way it looks is why many people do not pay attention to it, I have seen parent tell their kids that a particular person is a friend, a family friend, some even go on to use the words like, "he is your daddy or mommy". It is wrong, you don't know who is who and the devil does not come in form of a man with horns, it will definitely come with a gentle gesture until it wrecks havoc before we know that he or she is the devil.

Let them understand who is a stranger, a cousin, an uncle, a brother, or a nephew, using the word friend or family for everyone gives kids a false mentality about who they are. A friend or family to a kid means a good person, someone I can trust, someone I am safe with which doesn't turn out to be so in the cases of some uncles and brothers out there.

A lot of children have fallen victims of abuse they dare not to mention from people they wrongly took as a family or friends just because of their parent's closeness to those people, those so-called friends or family take advantage of the parent's closeness as access to the children. It starts with having them sit on their leg and caressing them often. When the child feels like it is normal, such child feels very comfortable around that person, and boom they carry out their evil deed.

They are kids for crying out loud, what do you expect from them?

In the article I read, a man abused a one-year-old child. The child wasn't the first but he kept succeeding at it because the parents of those kids had built a wrong relationship idea about those people in their children's heads, and in the man's case, his kindness made parents entrust their kids to him.

The mother of the one-year-old child actually gave him the little girl, I don't know why but it doesn't make sense to me. The world is a delicate place and the people we see as angels might be the devil among us but we are been fooled by the false personalities they put up.

As an adult, it is easier to defend ourselves but what power do these kids have against such people?

As a single mother, because you are dating someone does make your daughter their friend. The relationship between you and the person is different from the relationship between your daughter and the person, it would be a mistake to even allow your daughter to refer to them as daddy when he or she is not legally married to you. Don't let the child get too comfortable with them, no one can be trusted.

The same goes for every woman who makes their children feel safe around colleagues, customers, and even church members. The men are not excluded, it is wrong to make your kids feel comfortable with strangers just because they are your friend, business associates, and others.

The cases of sexual assault involving kids as victims are happening every day and every parent must be on their toes to protect their children's physical and mental health. Teach them the do and don't around people, be close to them enough to an extent they will be free enough to tell you anything.

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