Scream, Kick, Run and Tell

I cringe when I hear the words, “Scream, kick, run and tell someone when a stranger has grabbed you.” Something inside screams back: “Where does the child go when it is home that is hurting her!”
It is good to teach our children to scream, kick, run and tell. They need to be empowered to control their surroundings, but when home is the most dangerous place they know, they will need something far more than a slogan.
Our most vulnerable are still being raped and abused in their homes. Little voices, full of potential and talent, are silenced by parents, relatives and siblings in a vicious game of hide and seek, catch and release. But it is the victim who doesn’t know what to do with a release scarred by memories and feelings that hide like monsters under their beds.
Statistics maintain that one in every four girls is sexually abused before age eighteen, one in six for boys. That means there are thirty-nine million survivors of childhood sexual abuse in America alone. Every year close to three million children are reported harmed and neglected, picture the size of Chicago. Every year 1,000 children die from violence and neglect in the United States.
For me it was not finding a safe place that made me close in on myself. I grew up feeling unloved and damaged. My low self-esteem made it a huge challenge just to survive each day, and the nights brought their own terrors. My escape was to make the monsters disappear by forgetting.
Our boys and girls need to know there are safe places to run, to find help. They need to know they are not “damaged goods,” and they no longer need to believe such lies. They can draw from their inner strength that helped them survive childhood horrors and begin the process of healing. The earlier that abused and neglected children get help, the greater chance they have to move forward towards the quality life they were meant to have.
Our Children are learning its wrong to be touched in private places and to tell when ‘Uncle Joe’ touched you and it felt bad. I will always applaud, stand up and cheer the child that employs their strength and exposes the perpetrator.
And, I will speak out to help stop violence in our homes until our children feel safe. When every adult is held accountable for harming a child, then our adults will stop harming our children. It is the law to report suspected child abuse 1-800-422-4453