Good touch, Bad Touch.

I have been thinking a lot lately about when to start teaching my children about sex. And what I realized is that an important first step (besides teaching your children to correctly label their private parts) is teaching them about appropriate touching. As much as I wish it were not the case, all children have a risk of sexual abuse and I want to do everything I can to protect my daughter. To this end, I have been looking for a simple picture book (hopefully, geared toward toddlers) that will help her begin to understand the concept of appropriate touching.

The Right Touch by Sandy Kleven is a picture book designed to "help prevent child sexual abuse". The story is about a mother who is talking to her son about "touching problems". The book has pretty cutsey illustrations (I didn't love them) and does give semi-explicit examples. such as, what if a "man tried to put his hand down [a girl's] panties". It is hard for me to review this book because I haven't read any others on this subject but I didn't love it for two reasons. First of all, it seemed targeted for children about 4 to 8 years old. Since my daughter is almost 2, I was hoping for something a little less wordy and more simple. Also, I didn't like the story within a story motif. Although, I can see how someone who is uncomfortable with the topic may prefer to talk to their children about the mom and the boy in the book. For myself, I think I would prefer a more direct route.