Mrs. Angie Dalton, a trained Safe Touch instructor, gave her annual Safe Touch presentation to the students of Valle Catholic recently. Each year Mrs. Dalton gives the gentle, non-threatening presentation on personal safety.
The program is taught in the context of Catholic values, and it serves as an important reinforcement to the information parents already share with their children at home.
Program Goals:
1. To provide information at age-appropriate levels to make children aware of the concepts of safe touch vs. inappropriate touch.
2. To stress, in the presentation, the concept that our bodies belong to God and that we must treat them with respect and protect them from harm to the extent we are able.
3. To provide information in regard to:
- having and recognizing good boundaries
- good touch/bad touch and recognizing the uncomfortable feelings we get with bad touch
- how to say NO and be able to get away from bad situations
- how to report concerns to a safe adult
4. To focus on safety.
This program is designated to help children identify situations or events that do not feel safe to them. Many times children (and even adults) fail to recognize the danger of being in situations with someone who is not being appropriate, because they fail to listen to their own sense of what is wrong. This is why this program is strongly focused on helping children to recognize events and feelings that alert them to situations that may not be right.