WESTFIELD – The YMCA of Greater Westfield is joining the effort to raise awareness and educate the community on protecting youth through the YMCA Five Days of Action campaign.
The Five Days of Action is a week designed to raise awareness and inspire adults to take action to protect children from sexual abuse. Led by the YMCA Guardians for Child Protection, the goal is to engage communities, improve internal operations, and advance policy and environmental change to protect youth from sexual abuse.
YMCA Director Andrea Allard said as a youth serving organization, they want to bring awareness and education to the community through positive messages and information posted at the Y, and through social media.
One of the messages of the campaign is how to keep your kids safe on the internet, especially relevant with the added screen time due to remote learning. Among the suggestions is to keep your kids on a schedule with their virtual learning and online activities so you know when and what they are doing. Be sure to include time away from devices in the schedule.
Discuss the importance of never giving out identifying information such as name, address,
neighborhood, and phone number online and have rules about where devices live and can be used – public parts of the house where you can easily monitor their activity. At bedtime have rules around turning off devices and not having them in bedrooms.
Another suggestion of the Five Days of Action campaign is to start the conversation with your kids about safety by playing the “What If?” game.
The What If? game is a great way to pose possible situations to kids that they may face in life and would need to solve. As a parent or caregiver, it’s important to let your kids know you are always there for them and they can tell you anything. But you can’t always be there, at least not physically.
Allard said by playing the What If? game, you are empowering your children to develop positive decision-making skills and giving them the confidence they need to problem-solve on their own. It helps build resilience, which is crucial for overcoming obstacles.
Check-in with your kids about how they are feeling right now. Ask them hypothetical questions: “What would you do if…?” Mix real questions in with silly questions to keep them engaged. For example, “What if you met an alien – what would you ask? What if you could be a superhero – what would your superpower be? What if someone you don’t like tries to kiss you – what would you do?” Identify age-appropriate, potential safety scenarios.
Be clear it is a game. It’s not that you expect these things to happen, but you’re prepared if it does. Include only two or three scenarios at a time, and play the “What If?” Game over time, not all at once.
Some children may want to write their own scenarios, once they have the hang of it. Let them give it a try, and ask you the questions, too. They can learn from the way you would respond.
For more information on these ideas and others on how to keep kids safe, visit fivedaysofaction.org.
