What messages about consent do you share with your child? When and how did you learn about consent?

•  Ooof, I learned about consent far too late. Talking with kids about actions that they want or don't want. Teaching them that it's okay to say no to honor their own feelings, even if that means it might upset someone else.

  
  

• Consent is addressed on an almost daily basis in my house. It is practiced in a very open way and I model it for my kids as much as I can. I don't remember how consent was addressed for me. In consideration of a lot of uncomfortable situations I found myself in during my teen years, I hope I am somehow better preparing my kids to know themselves better than someone else pretends to.

  
  

• "No means no". "stop means stop" Sometime people laugh when they are nervous so it's hard to tell if they are serious and it's ok to pause and check in. When you don't like something being done to your body, say it. You might not know it in the moment but later you might understand more and that's ok too. People who love you will trust and respect your "no". In relationships, no is a complete sentence and in order to show respect and remain open you can follow up with "thank you for saying what you need, if you change you mind let me know"

  
  

• We get a lot of practice with this with siblings, especially rough big brothers. Practicing saying I don't like that and I want space. Tickling is always a good opportunity to talk about consent. I don't really feel like I got the messaging to tell an adult to stop when something was uncomfortable. I also had a lot of weird "obligation "feelings about letting boys/men do what they want even if I didn't want to. I still struggle w finding my voice - in all areas of life not just physical consent. This is something I definitely do not want to pass along to my kids!

  
  

• For my kids consent started as early as being a toddler not having to hug people if they didn't want to. We're now in the boundaries and consent stage "no means no" etc. and what is appropriate contact with others, young or old. I was never taught consent. I learned throughout my 20's while teaching my children what consent was.

  
  

•  I was raped in college, but I was drunk, so… “I asked for it.” Which is why I dated the guy after, for two weeks in-fact, you know, to help me survive it. I never learned about consent until I was in my mid 20’s. WILD. So, talking about consent with my girls has always been foundational: You don’t have to hug people, Stop means stop, Everyone has a right to say no. I still struggle with people pleasing, obviously, I’m in my 40’s! And I’ve never spoken aloud about my rape.