How to protect your children from abuse, assault
27-year old David Gomez Diaz posted bail Tuesday . He’s accused ofexposing himself to girls in at least two incidents near La Quinta lastweek. Police arrested Gomez during a sting operation near the schools Monday night. But many parents are now looking for help about how to talkto their children about staying safe from child predators.
“Good people are not going to do something to hurt a child, or that’sgoing to embarrass a child or make them feel bad,” explains Mika Moultonof Indio.
Moulton says it’s devastating to think any kind of abuse or assault canhappen to your child, but “unfortunately, it does. Every single day.”
Moulton talked to her own children about stranger danger after watching aprogram on television.
“Three weeks later, my son was abducted and brutally murdered,” Moultonsays. “I never thought it could happen to me.”
Moulton founded Christopher’s Clubhouse for her son Christopher. It’s anorganization that gives valley children and their parents hands-ontraining to stay safe, and classes to empower families to make goodchoices.
“Children have instincts, and they can trust those. So we tell childrenlisten to the siren in their tummy. That will alert you to a badsituation and that will help you stay away from those types of people,”Moulton explains.
Unfortunately 93 percent of children who are sexually assaulted arevictimized by someone they know and trust.
That’s a point brought up by Virginia Gutierrez, who like dozens ofothers, commented on the arrest of David Diaz on the CBS Local 2 Facebookpage.
“We need to raise awareness on this topic,” writes Gutierrez. “It happenswithin our own homes and families. Talk to your children be open aboutthis topic as it can leave a lifetime of scars.”
“An adult you do know is not going to ask you for help in the bathroom, orhelp you change your clothes,” Moulton says.
She advises:
– Parents need to be honest with their children, but not scare them.
– They should emphasize children should be at least three giant steps away
from a parked car with a person sitting inside.
– Let your children know they can come to you with any question.
– And simplify it to their age group
Mika Moulton will be at the Monkey in the Middle Consignment event this Saturday morning to do fingerprinting and ID kids for children.
https://www.facebook.com/MonkeyintheMiddleConsignmentEvent?ref=ts&fref=ts
Christopher’s Clubhouse offers a variety of classes and educationalprograms for children, caregivers, and their parents in the CoachellaValley. You can learn more about the organization at their website, http://www.christophersclubhouse.org/ or by calling 1-866-546-7464
Christopher’s Clubhouse also posts information about safety education ontheir facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/ChristophersClubhouse
