Body Safety Resources
for Children and Educators

In the tender years of childhood, cultivating an understanding of body safety is paramount. Just as we teach children to look both ways before crossing the street, it’s crucial to equip them with the knowledge of their bodily autonomy. Body safety education empowers children, helping them recognize and communicate about inappropriate behaviors or touch. By fostering this awareness, we’re not only protecting them from potential harm but also setting a foundation for healthy relationships and self-respect as they grow. It’s an essential life lesson that goes hand in hand with their overall well-being.

What is Body Safety Education about?

Designed to empower children to understand the 5 Body Safety Rules to help protect them from harm and abuse.

Developed by educator and author, Jayneen Sanders (AKA Jay Dale), this essential program for educators and parents will help you learn how to use the resources and, most importantly, how to teach and empower children with these important and practical safety practices.

Many people are uninformed as to what constitutes a body safety education program and fear that such a program would discuss sex and sexual abuse with their children. This is not the case. Where young children are concerned, body safety programs should be age-appropriate, non-threatening, and aim to teach children these basic points:

What’s our philosophy to Body Safety Education and Training?

We don’t train children we train the educators of children. There is a really good reason for this.

Part of the Body Safety lesson plans talks about the importance of building a trusted safety network. These are 5 people that the children can trust to talk about anything to especially if they feel unsafe or scared. These are commonly family members, teachers, chaplains, support workers, and friends.

We feel that it is critically important that the educators who spend the most time with the children are the ones to talk about Body Safety and Consent with them. We feel this gives the best opportunity for support and ongoing learning.

What’s included in Educator Training?

In this essential 120-minute educator training for up to 50 teachers, you will learn how to use the resources and, most importantly, how to teach and empower children to understand the ‘5 body safety rules’ to protect children from harm and abuse.

These 10 lesson plans and the included resources can be easily embedded in the school, kinder, childcare curriculums, Sunday school curriculum, or another educational teaching curriculum.

Body Safety Education sessions for Parents

90 min webinar session for parents.

Designed to empower parents whos children are learning the 5 Body Safety Rules to help protect them from harm and abuse.

We believe in a ‘whole of community approach’ which means we also run Parenting Workshops to inform parents of what children will be learning, the need for Body Safety Education in the organisation and how they can support their children at home, so the learning continues. The Parent Workshop is usually run in conjunction with the booking of an Educators Training.

When to Begin Consent and Body Safety Conversations

We regularly get asked by parents and carers. “When should I start teaching my child about consent and body safety?” It’s an excellent question.

Below is an approximate guide on when to begin conversations with your child about consent and Body Safety. 

All children are different, and you know your child best, so also be guided by their ability to focus and the questions they ask. These conversations are ongoing and can happen over years. Use their questions, family discussions, children’s books, and situations that may occur to have open and ongoing conversations. Everyday situations that may arise, can be teaching and learning opportunities.

Birth to 2 years

• Use the correct terms for your child’s private parts from Day 1.
• Tell your child what you are doing to their body and why e.g. ‘I’m just putting your socks on so your feet will be warm.’
• Validate their feelings, e.g. ‘I can see you are sad, but I need to go shopping. I’ll be back very soon. Gran will take good care of you.’
• Note your child’s body language, e.g. if you are playing a tickling game and you can see from their body language they don’t like it, stop immediately.
• Ensure health professionals talk to your child about what they are doing to their body and always ask for consent before entering your child’s body boundary.

2 years to 3 years (verbal)

• Introduce the term ‘body boundary’ — the invisible space around our bodies. Explain that everyone needs to ask for consent before entering another person’s body boundary.
• Let your child know they can say, ‘No’ to kisses and hugs if they want to. How they greet another person is always their choice.
• Let your child know they can say, ‘No’ to tickling games and inform adults (or older children) when your child says, ’Stop!’ they need to stop immediately.
• Ensure health professionals ask for your child’s consent.
• Let your child have choice and agency wherever possible, and if it is safe to do so.

3 years to 6 years+

• Continue to reinforce the concepts of body boundaries and consent.
• Formally (and over a number of sessions) teach your child about: feeling safe and feeling unsafe; Early Warning Signs; a Safety Network; the difference between secrets and surprises; the difference between safe and unsafe touch; private parts are private and what to do if they are touched inappropriately, see inappropriate images or someone asks them to touch their private parts.