Raising PEARLS

At least 100,000 boys and girls are bought and sold for sex in the U.S. each year by ordinary people from ALL walks of life. Some of these children are runaways-often foster children, some are forcefully abducted, and some are betrayed and sold by their own family members and acquaintances. Predators usually build a trusting relationship with vulnerable children over time by showering them with affection, gifts and attention. 1 in 10 children will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday, but only 1 in 3 will tell because they don’t know it is wrong or they don’t know who they can trust with their secret. If you think your five-year old will automatically tell you if someone touched their privates, think again. Predators instill fear and guilt into their victims to prevent them from telling.

In this fast-paced world of drive-through food and finger-tip technology, we are in a hurry for everything and expect to get everything we want quickly. If our kids are in school, they spend more time with their teachers and friends than they do with us. When they are not in school there are other activities to attend including sports, music, parties, church, and so on. How much time do we actually carve out each day to spend just talking, listening, role modeling, playing with, and teaching our children how precious they are and how uniquely God designed them? Before we know it, they are grown, things may not have turned out how we hoped, and we may find ourselves wishing we had taken just a few extra minutes each day when they were small.

This book is designed to sit and work through one activity at a time with your child for even 15 minutes each day as you speak using the prompts provided and listen to their hearts as they respond. Paper dolls are provided in the back of the book for children to personalize by coloring and building into characters that represent themselves, family members and others. They can be used in discussing specific real-life scenarios and developing plans together, as well as for therapy if a child has been abused, or just for fun.

The epidemic of child sexual abuse and human trafficking all over the world can’t be stopped by one individual, but it CAN be prevented in the small world around each of us by Raising PEARLS: Prepared, Empowered, Armored, Restored, Loved & Secure Children. One child at a time.