“IF YOU TOUCH, I'LL TELL” A Simple, Clear Message From Dr. Shamina Aubuchon
It was a summer full of great books here at Partners in Prevention. If you haven't checked out our Summer Reading List yet, it's not too late! But fall is also a great time to read, especially when a brand-new book is compelling, empowering, and full of valuable information.
That is just the case with Dr. Shamina Aubuchon's new book, If You Touch, I'll Tell, with beautiful art by Mariia Luzina. It's chock-full of helpful tools that kids, families, teachers, and caregivers can use to ensure that children stay safe.
The book encourages open communication about safety, providing kids with the power and tools to set and communicate their own body boundaries...and to protect themselves if those boundaries are broken, or if someone tries to break them.
Dr. Aubuchon was recently featured on CBS Mornings to discuss her book with co-hosts Gayle King, Nate Burleson, and Tony Dokoupil.
In that interview, Dr. Aubuchon talked about her own experience of being abused as a child, and about how she wrote the book in order to provide kids with the tools she could have used at the time to talk about what was happening to her.
“I was 7 years old when it started and I finally found my voice at 14. And at 10 I wanted to tell, but I just didn’t know how to go to my mom and say those words, those words did not come out of me,” Aubuchon said. “When I wrote this book, I put myself back at 10, and everything I needed [at that age], I put in the book.”
When asked how to tell the difference between appropriate and inappropriate touching, Aubuchon said, “An inappropriate touch is any touch that makes you feel uncomfortable. I know there are a lot of books out there that talk about good touch and bad touch. But I think we need to be very careful. For example, I tell my daughter, even though your hand is maybe not a private thing, if you ask your friend not to touch your hands and your friend insists, that is a bad touch because you need to have your body boundaries, and your hand is personal...your mind is personal.”
Aubuchon was also asked how she would encourage parents to have these tough conversations with their kids. “I tell parents: you know what? I am almost 42, and I live with [my abuse] every day. Sometimes when I see my daughter, I think about what she could potentially go through, and that alone is enough: parents should know that your child is so worthy to be saved. And prevention is [essential], especially in the case of sexual abuse, because there is no cure for this thing. You have to deal with it.”
“There are three words that parents can use that are even more important than I love you: I believe you.
When my mother told me that she believed me...even today I get emotional, because she believed me.” —DR. SHAMINA AUBUCHON
WE ARE COMMITTED TO BRINGING YOU RELEVANT FOOD FOR THOUGHT TO KEEP THE CONVERSATION ON CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION TIMELY.
