How to tell a 9 year old about Rape?

What is Rape? And how to tell a 9 year old kid about Rape?
What is Rape? And how to tell a 9-year-old kid about Rape?
He simply asked, "Bhaia, What is Rape?"

It was a shocker for me, how a nine-year-old can ask such a question. But more than this, where in the hell, he got this thing in his head.

I asked him, "What happened, Harsh. Where did you learn this thing?"

Bhaia, I heard it on TV, and when I asked Daddy, he just shouted and said to do math sums, he replied.

Ok, what happened, I asked.

I was watching the Ben 10 and then Daddy came, he switched to India Khabar, and there was news of schoolgirl being raped and people were protesting against the school, he said.

And then.

I simply asked the dad, what is rape and why they are protesting? Because they come up with such news daily, it is something bad. And then, he shouted on me, he asked me to solve those math sums, and when I told him that I have already solved them, he angrily asked me to play outside.

I was a bit surprised with Mausaji's (Uncle) behavior, but this is what you can expect from an Indian parent. There is a bit of hypocrisy left in them. They never talk on such issues and Mausaji was no different from them.

But the question was not that easy and if not answered properly. it can harm a nine-year-old mind.

At that moment, I felt the same hypocrisy which may be felt by Mausaji. So just to distract him from the topic, I asked him to wait till the evening.

When Ma came from the bazaar, I told her everything, and she told me, it is a normal thing with kids, because kids only ask what they see, and it is normal. And in the present world, you only heard of rapes, molestations, and corruption. So what you can expect from a kid, at some point in time, he will ask that question. And about news channels and newspapers, they desensitize this thing so much, that it doesn't look like a serious issue anymore.

Just tell him, when a person badly touches your private parts, it is called rape.

And when evening came, I just told him, what rape means?

But then he asked me, "Do that person get penalized?"

I just said, "Yes! that person gets penalized with  death sentence"

He was about to ask something again, but I changed the topic and started asking him about cricket, school, and friends.

And now, I realize the intensity of the question and the worthlessness of the answer? The question is way more complex, either you need to ignore or you need to deal with it a lot of patience.

After this entire episode, I believe, rape is not about physical assault anymore, it is also mental assault. I think we are raping our kids, women, and good-hearted people if not physically but mentally. And I don't know, who to blame, people who do such heinous crimes, or people who have desensitized the issue.

Just want to know, what do you think? Or what you will answer if this thing happened to you.

Photo Credit: Rape of Europa

7 Comments

  1. Completely agree. When children question about rape, they are ready to know the answer from a responsible adult rather than hearsay. I love the way this issue was tackled in 'To kill a mockingbird'. I don't know about mental assault, but misinformation is more dangerous than an uncomfortable situation.

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    1. Yup, the Mockingbird say about a lot of things in pretty simple manner.

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  2. yes, there must be awareness among children.

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  3. Rape is a very sensitive issue. You can know my thought on this at: http://rvsh.in/indispire23

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  4. Yes, this is very difficult to explain to the kids.

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  5. I agree..it is a sensitive issue which can shatter the innocence of a child. But at the same time it is important to make her aware of the things...so it is never advisable to provide her ant improper or misleading information....rather it's important to handle the situation with tenderness and care...

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    Replies
    1. this is very complex, and yes, you need to handle this issue with lots of patience.

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