Empowering Kids with Body Safety

Claudia, Jia Min, Hong Xiang and Rei Tian were winners of the Sector Design Challenge 2021 organised by National Council of Social Service (NCSS), with the concept of educating preschoolers with body safety knowledge. Their team focused on this topic as child sexual abuse cases were rising during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many families were forced to stay indoors, schools were shut and such cases went undetected. Using the seed grant to produce an animated video on keeping children safe from sexual abuse, they came to David & Goliath Preschool(DGP) to conduct a 1-hour programme with our Kindergarten 2 students.

With the support of Singapore Children’s Society, the team engaged the children with practical tips on how to protect themselves. They learnt to differentiate between a good touch (like a teacher’s pat on the back, or a doctor’s physical exam) and bad touch (like adults exposing their private parts or touching the child’s genitals).

Rei Tian observed that each child had a "unique perspective on setting personal and physical boundaries whether at school, at home or in public”. In addition, DGP students also learned to identify the appropriate terms of their reproductive organs and how to respond when they feel uncomfortable.

Hong Xiang remarked, “It was a great experience to see the children so receptive to the programme. This is a great opportunity to teach children more about the importance of body safety, and we hope that we can continue widening our reach.”

Claudia added, “The children have such inquisitive minds to learn and the session was very heartwarming. At this age, they are very impressionable, so I hope their families and teachers can continue teaching them about body safety, together with Sheli, our mascot!”

Our K2 students were excited to learn and earn the body safety badge.

This is in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and Singapore strives to ensure young children are equipped with body safety skills from early on.

Jia Min feedbacked, “I am grateful for the opportunity to conduct this session in DGP! Quoting from a proverb, ‘train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.’ It is so important to teach the next generation about setting healthy boundaries to protect themselves when they grow up.”

At DGP, our aim is to nurture our students’ social and emotional development, and such curriculum empowers them with life-saving knowledge. Hence body safety training, though newly introduced, will be one of the mainstay programmes in K2 classes.