Unorthodox Childhood Sexual Abuse Prevention

03/14/19 • 45 min

Warning: I talk about sexual abuse in this episode. But it's important. Take a break if you need to. Feel your butt in your chair, when you need to. Wiggle your toes. Press pause, but come back.

Statistics for childhood sexual abuse are abysmal, with some stats reporting 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 8 boys under the age of 18 experiencing childhood sexual abuse. Stats like that are enough to bring on a sense of powerlessness in the face of an epidemic like that; it's little wonder why it's one of the top concerns mothers have. But we are far more powerful than we realize to influence the prevalence of this experience. I'm on a mission to help women and mothers (and anyone who cares for children) realize just how powerful and influential they actually are to create the kind of environment in which this experience is far less likely to happen. Like all of what we do; it starts with us. It puts the power back in our hands to act and to act effectively. Listen until the end of this episode for a special call-out to hear from women and moms like me, who want to know what makes a child vulnerable to this experience and what makes the experience far less likely.

Find the resources I refer to in the episode here: https://www.karinebell.com/iglearnmore

Other resources can be found at: https://www.karinebell.com/podcast

And come share your thoughts/experiences with me over at: https://www.karinebell.com/share

Warning: I talk about sexual abuse in this episode. But it's important. Take a break if you need to. Feel your butt in your chair, when you need to. Wiggle your toes. Press pause, but come back.

Find the resources I refer to in the episode here: https://www.karinebell.com/iglearnmore

Other resources can be found at: https://www.karinebell.com/podcast

And come share your thoughts/experiences with me over at: https://www.karinebell.com/share

Previous Episode

Emotional Development

At the heart of what we often struggle with most as mothers is how we can provide for our children something we didn't have as kids. This is not a matter of blame more than it is taking an honest look at our lives and experiences. One area we often struggle most is in how we think about and work with our own emotions. We often either shut down and avoid “difficult” emotions, or we become emotionally volatile or easily triggered; both indicators what we don’t have an equanimous relationship to our own emotions. And we likely didn’t learn how to be with and relate to our emotions in healthy ways. It’s endemic in our culture and so our parents likely didn’t know how either. This imbalanced relationship to emotion can create havoc within us, and until we learn another way of being with emotion, we’ll likely pass on these patterns to our kids.

In working with emotion, self-regulation techniques can be extremely helpful. I have a couple of practical resources to share with you today as well. You can find them here!

Also, learn more about the Bold Love Cure, my signature 12-week program helping mothers do the work of changing their own and their children’s legacies. Check out the program here (and join the waitlist for information about enrollment).

Next Episode

Beyond the Book (trusting self)

I'm not dishing out any parenting advice in this episode - but I'm also not against parenting advice and parenting strategies per say - what I am promoting in this episode is a parenting beyond the books approach. You don’t need the outside world to tell you how to parent. When we learn to trust ourselves everything else falls into place. And when you have reached a place of self-understanding and you’ve learned more about what it means to be a human being in this world through studying your own life; you will come to trust and to know in your bones what each next step; each next response; needs to be.

*Funky audio issues ahead!

Find additional resources here!