New book, My Underpants RULE!, empowers kids to protect themselves

With the most common age for child sexual abuse to start being between the ages of three and eight*, former-policewoman and mother of three Kate Power, together with husband Rod, felt there was a huge need for a child-friendly book to educate kids about a tricky topic in an entertaining and non-threatening way.

Child sexual abuse is a major issue in the United States, with a meta-analysis of 22 American-based studies estimating that 30-40% of girls and 13% of boys experience sexual abuse during childhood**.  In international studies, the US is consistently placed at the high end of global averages***.

As a police officer for over fifteen years, Kate Power saw her fair share of the seedy side of life, and found child sexual assault the most disturbing part of the job. After starting a family of her own, Kate felt compelled to take action to not only protect her own children, but to empower all children to protect themselves from the perpetrators of child sexual abuse.

The result is My Underpants RULE! which teaches children a golden rule to empower and protect them if they find themselves in an uncomfortable situation:

My Underpants RULE! has been selected by the UK’s leading child safety organisation, The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) for use in a landmark study funded by the Northern Ireland Department of Education, designed to improve education and combat child sexual abuse. Learn more about this partnership here:  https://myunderpantsrule.com/z-nspcc-use-underpants-in-schools-trial/

“As a police officer and a mother, parents would often ask me for advice on talking to children about confronting topics, such as sexual assault, in a gentle but effective way. As much as I enjoyed police work, I wanted to make a proactive contribution to help children live safely and happily and look after themselves in frightening situations,” Kate explained.

Drawing upon her frontline police experience and her education in the fields of criminology, teaching and psychology, Kate partnered with husband Rod, an experienced corporate educator, to create My Underpants RULE! – a 26-page illustrated book aimed at three to eight year-olds to broach this serious subject in an informative and age-appropriate way.

“While my background is largely in the corporate sphere, the principles of learning apply across all age groups – with repetition and saying things ‘out loud’ assisting to accelerate learning. This was a key factor in the way we wrote the book so that it would be fun and engaging for a young audience, despite the tricky subject matter,” said Rod.

“We readily teach our kids about so-called stranger danger,” said Kate, “but family, friends and even other children are more likely perpetrators of child sexual abuse. If we could get every American child to read this book we could empower them to reduce the stigma – and incidence – of child abuse, and the devastating long-term physical and mental health consequences of this horrendous crime.”

10 per cent of proceeds from books sold via www.myunderpantsrule.com will be donated to charity to combat child abuse.

My Underpants RULE!  is launching via a crowdfunding campaign on the Start Some Good platform in order to raise funds for the first mass printing. It can be purchased online in soft cover ($12.99) or hardcover ($16.99), with a plan to introduce fully personalized books in the near future.

Visit www.myunderpantsrule.com to learn more and order your copy.

Source: ICNW