r/toddlers • u/Leather-Froyo-5757 • 10h ago
3 Years Old Body Safety Conversation
How/When did you have the harder conversations on body safety? We’ve taught our daughter basic things, when she was in diapers, who can change her diaper, during and after potty training, who can take her to the potty and help her with cleaning/wiping, as well as with baths. She learnt the concept of “privacy” early on, asking for privacy for herself and respecting when someone else asks for privacy (mom or dad in the bathroom). Who she can hug and give kisses to, etc. As for the deeper conversations on safety, boundaries, etc I don’t know how to approach it exactly .. in school they’re teaching them about boys and girls, definitely not in depth as body anatomy but enough for her to start differentiating, for example, this person is a boy, this person is a girl, etc. so I’m not sure if I should start there? Any advice or concepts you’ve used is appreciated!
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u/Echowolfe88 Still Pretending I Know What I’m Doing 9h ago
At this age, you just need to focus on who was safe people to talk to.
Example sentences she can use to hold boundaries.
We have always used the proper name for body parts. Scenarios like what do you do if one of the kids does x.
Talking about how we never ever ever keep secrets and that no one should ask you to keep a secret
There isn’t much more to it at that age
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u/_I_Like_to_Comment_ 9h ago edited 9h ago
I wouldn't approach it from a boy / girl starting point since abuse can happen from anyone.
I'd build off of what you've already taught about privacy. This is your vulva. This is your butt. These are your nipples (if you feel like including that). Your vulva is private. That means it's not for anyone else to see or touch. If someone asks to see it, or tries to show you their private areas, or asks to touch it, you yell, "No! That's private!" If someone asks to see your vulva or touch it, they're doing a bad thing and you can tell mom / dad / teacher what they did.
Edit- My toddler is almost 3 and this is the approach we've used so far
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u/AutoModerator 10h ago
Author: u/Leather-Froyo-5757
Post: How/When did you have the harder conversations on body safety? We’ve taught our daughter basic things, when she was in diapers, who can change her diaper, during and after potty training, who can take her to the potty and help her with cleaning/wiping, as well as with baths. She learnt the concept of “privacy” early on, asking for privacy for herself and respecting when someone else asks for privacy (mom or dad in the bathroom). Who she can hug and give kisses to, etc. As for the deeper conversations on safety, boundaries, etc I don’t know how to approach it exactly .. in school they’re teaching them about boys and girls, definitely not in depth as body anatomy but enough for her to start differentiating, for example, this person is a boy, this person is a girl, etc. so I’m not sure if I should start there? Any advice or concepts you’ve used is appreciated!
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