When should a kid learn about consent"
Photo: Tony Lanz and Stephanie Han Kim
In the video, Zuri is lying on her stomach on a bed. The young girl grins, looking directly at the camera as she draws herself up to complete a sentence: ?No means?no!? she proclaims. There?s no grey area here. When Zuri says no, you?d better listen.
For most parents, that combination of easy confidence and clear boundaries is what we dream of for our daughters and sons. Certainly, Zuri?s mother, Staceyann Chin, an activist and writer in Brooklyn, NY, seems to swell with quiet pride as she gazes at her girl. The two are curled up side by side in a recent episode of Living Room Protests, their collection of YouTube videos commenting on social-justice issues that launched last December and went viral shortly thereafter. What might surprise you, though, is this: Zuri is three. Not only is she able to express the broad concepts of yes and no, but she also readily applies them to her own body. Other people, she explains, can only pick her up or tickle her if she gives them explicit permission.
To some, three might seem alarmingly early to broach the subject of consent. But according to experts, it?s easy to introduce the concept in ways that are appropriate for a kid?s specific developmental stage?and may have nothing at all to do with sex. ?There?s so much research out there about how kids learn so much in their first five years,? says Marnie Goldenberg, a sex educator in Vancouver. The earlier we explore the idea of consent?who can enter ...
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