Child sexual abuse cases are on the rise. POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) offences increased 94.47% in six years as per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data. While some of this increase can be attributed to better reporting of the crime, it is clear that the cases of child sexual abuse are also on the rise.

• As per the NCRB’s report in 2021, every third crime against a child was registered under the POCSO Act.
• A total of 53,874 cases were registered under POCSO Act
• 33,348 of the incidents were registered under Sections 4 and 6 (punishment for penetrative sexual assault and aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the POCSO Act
• In these cases, 33,036 were girls while 312 were boys

This also becomes problematic when another NCRB dataset is considered, that of the offender’s relationship to the child victims under POCSO. According to this dataset, the offender is known to the child in 96% of cases under Sections 4 and 6 combined.

These statistics are even more alarming when we understand that most child sexual abuse cases actually go unreported. Either due to the child being unable to speak up and report the abuse or because the parents/family choose not to report the crime. While parents must bear the responsibility to be vigilant, it is also imperative to empower kids with body safety and consent to help them recognize, respond to and report abuse. 

Body Safety Education is a broader, more comprehensive approach that covers various aspects of personal safety.

• Focus Areas: It includes teaching children about their rights over their bodies, understanding and setting boundaries, recognizing and reporting inappropriate behaviour, and understanding consent.
• Empowerment and Communication: This approach emphasizes empowering children with knowledge and skills to communicate their feelings, assert their boundaries, and seek help if needed.
• Preventative and Proactive: It aims to prevent abuse by providing children with the tools and confidence to recognize and react to unsafe situations before they escalate.
• Holistic Learning: Incorporates lessons on self-respect, respect for others, and developing healthy, respectful relationships.

Good Touch-Bad Touch is a highly simplified concept which focuses only on the “touch” aspect of abuse. Deeper research into child sexual abuse has highlighted the need for a more comprehensive method to empower kids with the right information to recognize, respond to and report abuse.

Good Touch-Bad Touch is currently taught in many schools as an abuse prevention method for kids. However, it is not the correct way to empower kids to recognize, respond to and report sexual abuse.

• It is oversimplified – Sexual abuse is not just about “touch”. Even showing pornographic materials to children, inappropriate sexual jokes/talks is ALSO sexual abuse. However, this is not covered in the “Good Touch-Bad Touch” concept.
• The use of “good” and “bad” is problematic – Sexual abuse often involves touching parts of the body that are erogenous zones which can feel physiologically good even when the touch is not wanted. For a child, this can be very confusing. How can the so-called “bad touch” actually feel “good”? This confusion can prevent the child from reporting the abuse.
• It does not talk about grooming behaviours – By talking only about touch, we are missing the opportunity to teach children to recognize grooming/unsafe behaviours which, if reported, can prevent sexual abuse from occurring. Predators have specific tactics like asking kids to keep secrets, introducing inappropriate sexual topics, isolating kids, etc. which we can teach kids to recognize and report to trusted adults.

Our books focus on body safety and consent. Since child sexual abuse is a highly complex issue, the prevention strategies need to go beyond talking about “touch” and also address topics like secrets, grooming behaviours, privacy, trusted adult networks and more.  

• It’s Always There! – Teaches kids about body boundaries and what they are
• Misha Says No – Helps children to learn to set body boundaries and speak up if they feel uncomfortable about specific behaviours
• It’s Private! – Helps kids understand what is private and what is public
• Shaan and the Thief of Smiles – Teaches kids that secrets are unsafe
• Rosh Speaks Up – Empowers kids about speaking up with regards to unsafe behaviour
• Numbers with Body Safety Colouring Book – Covers the basics of body safety along with learning numbers from 0-10.
• My Feelings Colouring Book – Helps children identify their feelings and understand their early warning signs

Our focus is on empowering kids with age-appropriate information about topics like private parts, unsafe behaviour, feelings and early warning signs and body boundaries without scaring them. Through simple and sensitive storytelling, we teach children about body safety while giving them tools to respond to and report unsafe behaviour to trusted adults.

While our books can provide the tools to share the right information in right way, trusted adults in the child’s life need to also be open to having frank and honest conversations about these topics with their kids and also be focused on reinforcing body safety messages with regular conversations. You can read more about this in our blog on proactive ways to keep kids safe from sexual abuse.

Our books are meant to be tools to begin conversations about body safety and reinforce body safety messages with children. Reading our storybooks aloud to kids is a great way to begin, followed by a frank and open discussion with them to see how much they have understood. All our books also come with detailed user guides that empower the adult with the right way to discuss the topics with kids.

Reading the books to children again and again at regular intervals can help to reinforce these concepts in their minds.

The answer is, as early as you can! Body safety and consent is not just one topic, but a collection of many related topics. For a simple age-guide that parents and educators can refer to, read our Body Safety Blog.

It is important for parents to start having age-appropriate conversations with their children from an early age as NCRB (National Crime Research Bureau) data shows that close to 20% of all child sexual abuse cases involve minors below the age of eight.

We publish books intended for children from ages 3 years to 11 years.

For our storybooks, the self-reading age is from 5-6 years onwards while the read-aloud age (for adults to read our books to children) is from 3 years onwards.

Our colouring books are meant for kids aged 4 years to 8 years.

Each of our books is designed to cover a specific aspect of body safety and therefore, can be used independent of any supplementary materials. However, it is beneficial for children if they are taught certain topics together. Which is why we have book sets available.

The Body Safety Starter Book Set contains three books:

• It’s Always There! – Teaches kids about body boundaries and what they are
• Misha Says No – Helps children to learn to set body boundaries and speak up if they feel uncomfortable about specific behaviours
• It’s Private! – Helps kids understand what is private and what is public

The Anti-grooming Book Set contains two books:

• Shaan and the Thief of Smiles – Teaches kids that secrets are unsafe
• Rosh Speaks Up – Empowers kids about speaking up with regards to unsafe behaviour

Use the Body Safety Starter Book Set for covering basic concepts:

• It’s Always There! – Teaches kids about body boundaries and what they are
• Misha Says No – Helps children to learn to set body boundaries and speak up if they feel uncomfortable about specific behaviours
• It’s Private! – Helps kids understand what is private and what is public

Use the Anti-grooming Book Set to talk about more complex issues:

• Shaan and the Thief of Smiles – Teaches kids that secrets are unsafe
• Rosh Speaks Up – Empowers kids about speaking up with regards to unsafe behaviour

Use the Colouring Book Set to help reinforce basic concepts:

• The Numbers with Body Safety Coloring Book – Teaches kids body safety concepts while they learn to write number s 0-10.
• My Feelings Colouring Book – Empowers kids to understand their feelings and recognize when they are feeling unsafe

No. As of now, we only publish physical copies of our books.

Our books are available for purchase on www.kidsonalert.com and on Amazon.in (visit our Amazon Store).

Yes. For bulk orders, please contact us on 8160947839.

Yes! We provide customised training sessions for schools or other organizations that work with kids. For more information, please call 8160947839.