Friday Fun Client Stories

Years and Years ago, I would go into classrooms and do the 20 minute talk to kids ranging from 4th - 10th grades about avoiding the creeps. I always hated doing these talks because I felt like it opened and then slammed shut the door without really giving kids any actual skill or more than the most superficial of information.

I always ask if there are questions - and typically, when I spoke to younger groups of kids - I'd hear all sorts of stories about what they'd heard in the family or seen on TV. One time, while speaking to a group of 4th graders, a child raised her hand and said "Sally (while pointing) was raped by her daddy." (and, of course, Sally isn't her real name either)

I was horrified. I think I said something about being a good friend means not spilling private information about others without their permission.

After the class was over, "Sally" talked to me . . . she told me that what the child had said was true - but that social services got involved and that she and her mother were now living away from her father and that she and her mom were both much happier.

What's fun is that I recognized her story. Earlier that year, I'd gotten a call from a mother whose child had hosted a sleepover the prior weekend. One of the children at the sleepover told the other children in the group that her father was having sex with her. I took the information, and I reported the case to DSS. I was thrilled to hear that it was exactly what the child and her mother needed to make their lives safer and happier.