Children's Advocacy Center Encourages Kid's Safety by Speaking Up, Speaking Out

October 10, 2018 - It’s October, which means that Halloween is lurking just around the corner… which also means that it’s time to talk about safety! We’re not just referring to the kind of safety that keeps you from buying and eating an entire bag of mini Snickers before October 3 or the kind of safety that we tend to talk about when Halloween rolls around.

As soon as the costumes begin appearing in the stores, we start to hear about trick-or-treating safety, food safety, even dental safety (if you’re prone to cavities). But our question to you, the community, is why can’t this conversation be a “yes, and?”. In other words, why can’t we have the conversation about why it’s a bad idea to eat ten candy bars in one sitting AND talk to our children about body safety and speaking up and speaking out if anyone or anything makes them feel uncomfortable? And why can’t we do this all year round-- not just on Halloween?

The answer, of course, is that we CAN. We at the Shelby County Children’s Advocacy Center do that work every day in prevention education to both caregivers and children, for a total of 1.9 million individuals trained last year by CACs across the state of Texas. Safety from child abuse is something that we ought to be talking about every day, in a way that is as commonplace and free from taboo as talking about why it’s a great idea to brush your teeth in between bouts of Halloween candy-eating. Let’s make this Halloween one that is safe for all the little ghosts and goblins, princesses and superheroes, as well as for those same children once the costumes are packed away. We urge you as parents to take the opportunity this month to talk about body safety. Let’s keep them safe today and every day.

Serving our Community one child at a time,
Your Shelby County Children’s Advocacy Center