Mom of a Boy!

Many times, I have heard this comment from people - 'You have a boy, you do not have to worry much about safety. I am really worried about the safety of my lil girl' or something similar to it. The crux being, the boys are not much in threat of getting raped/abused or molested or teased. Such observations annoy me no end. Why?

Because they think that abuse of boys does not happen and even if it happens it is just a very small percentage and hence, obviously, it can't happen to their boys. Also, many feel that boys can better 'protect' themselves when compared to girls. This is so not true. Abuse of boys is something which is really really under reported. Even if it is reported to the parents, they either do not believe it or many times they just hush it because apparently the stigma associated with it is much greater.

As the mom of a boy, I feel my responsibility is double. To educate, to teach about good touch and bad, to set up an open environment where the child trusts you and is not afraid to report any incident and so on. Other than that, I have to constantly remember that I am raising a boy - who needs to understand how important it is to respect women, to make him understand that most conventional roles are just stereotypes and also that no means no.