During Child Abuse Prevention Month, let’s do better for Kentucky kids.

My daughter never had a cookie.

I’ll never forget being called by the daycare center for my then 4- and 5-year-old children asking me to come immediately because there was a problem. As I rushed to the daycare center, a hundred things spun through my mind as to what the problem could possibly be. I never even considered that the issue would be that my daughter didn’t have a cookie.

As an adult survivor of child sexual abuse and former victims advocate, I never gave my children anything but the anatomically correct names for all of their body parts. Including their genitals. Because we know that slang or cute terms for genitalia can lead children to think that part of their body is shameful. Knowing the real names for their body parts protects your child, and empowers them to speak to you if someone does touch them.

This is why I was flying down the road to the daycare thinking the worst. Imagine my surprise when I learned that the staff was all in a tither because my child had argued with another child regarding what their genitals were called. Apparently, the staff was alerted when the discussion between the two 5-year-olds got to thunderous levels that could be heard all over the center. Staff intervened and asked both girls to end the discussion. Well, even at 5, my child was not the type of woman who would be silenced. The conversation continued onto the playground where other children piped in with the names they had been taught. My son, who often tired of his sister’s talking and argumentative nature, decided to join the fray when he declared loudly that he did in fact have a penis. Imagine, if you will, 20 or so children running all over the playground yelling penis, vagina, cookie, pee-pee, and so on.

The daycare staff was not amused. In fact, they demanded that I have a talk with my children and make sure they knew not to use those words in public. Instead, I used the opportunity to have a conversation with the staff about child sexual abuse and safety.

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. I share this story in honor of Child Abuse Prevention Month to encourage all parents to learn more about how you can keep your child safe. You may be thinking that sexual abuse could never happen to your child. You may think that you only expose them to “safe” people. My parents thought so, too. The truth is that less than 10% of child sexual abuse is committed by a stranger. Other shocking statistics provided by the CDC include:

▪ Kentucky has the highest rate of child sexual abuse in the country;

▪ Estimates are that 1 out of every 4 girls and 1 of 13 boys are sexually abused;

▪ 91% of all sexual abuse is perpetrated by someone the child or child’s family knows.

There is hope. That hope is you. Learn more about how to protect your family at kykids.org/resources/.

Angie Bailey is the Director of Development for the Children’s Advocacy Center of the Bluegrass. Since 1994, the Children’s Advocacy Center of the Bluegrass’s mission is to reduce the trauma experienced by sexually abused children by providing services to them in a nurturing, friendly, and safe environment. They coordinate the agencies involved in the treatment, investigation, and prosecution of child abuse cases across 17 central Kentucky counties.