God Made All of Me: A Book to Help Children Protect Their Bodies

The month of April has been designated Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Child Abuse Prevention Month. It is both necessary to shine a light to expose the sexual assault that goes on around us and to be proactive in protecting children from such abuse. Yet, much of the awareness and preventative steps suggested are directed toward informing adults. A genuine question needs to be asked, “If children are the target of some of this assault and abuse, then wouldn’t it make sense to inform and equip them on the matter?” Of course, it is important to be age-appropriate with the details. Still, because of the current climate of our culture, parents must begin to brace themselves for conversations with their children on these tough topics. To come alongside and help parents do that, Justin S. Holcomb and Lindsey A. Holcomb have written a unique children’s book, God Made All of Me: A Book to Help Children Protect Their Bodies. Writing as a child sexual abuse victim and a board member of GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in Christian Environments), Justin Holcomb’s goal is to place a tool in parent’s and caregiver’s hands. This tool lays down the foundational biblical truth to children that God has made their bodies. Building on that, the book discusses an understanding of private body parts and touches that are appropriate and inappropriate (Parents, please note that the book does use formal terms for private body parts). The book teaches children private parts are not for sharing but if something does happen, what occurred between them and the adult is not meant to be kept a secret. They are also warned about those who may try to trick them into being alone with them. Children are instructed to say, “No!” and to ask for help immediately. God Made All of Me takes a sensitive subject and provides helpful content in a conversational style. Justin and Lindsey Holcomb present this important information by sharing a story of a talk between parents and their two children, Kayla and David. The illustrations by Trish Mahoney further contribute to the engaging manner of the book. Serving as bookends of the story, the book opens up with a letter to parents or caregivers of children who will read the book or who will hear the book read. The book closes with a section on “9 Ways to Protect Your Children from Sexual Abuse”. Because the book is written for 2-to-8 year olds, parents will want to be thoughtful as they use anatomical language to describe private body parts. In the end, Justin Holcomb and Lindsey Holcomb provide parents as well as pastors, educators, Sunday School teachers, and children’s ministry directors with a tool for protecting children with truth from God’s Word. If you are a parent or caregiver of a young child, this book is a must read and a needed conversation starter!

Parents, If you watch the news or are connected to Facebook, you will no doubt know that our children live in a dangerous time. We live in an age where you need to check the sex-offender registry before moving into a neighborhood and do background checks on church volunteers. In this culture, it is paramount to begin educating our children on the dangers around them. No one is insulated from this risk. A recent study of reported child abuse cases shows that only 10% of children are molested by a stranger. That means that 90% of molesters are family members and friends. You may think that your children are not old enough to begin thinking about keeping their private parts, private - but 45% of molested children are under the age of 5. To be honest, that makes me sick at my stomach. So what do we do? Starting this conversation can be a difficult task because it raises questions like “what is age appropriate” and “how much should you share”. We now have a great resource to help us answer those questions and train our children. Justin & Lindsey Holcomb have published a handy little book called, “God Made All of Me”. I love this book for a lot of reasons. First and maybe most important, the conversation is rooted in the fact that when God created people, we were declared perfect, in all of our parts. This is a uniquely Christian approach to the conversation and for parents who have utilized any form of a catechism with their child, this will fit right into that methodology. The second thing I liked is the content for parents is spot on. It starts with a basic introduction to the purpose for the book and gives a simple, but good framework for the need to read the book. The most helpful portion of the book for parents is the very practical section in the back called ‘9 Ways to Protect Your Children from Sexual Abuse’. The third thing I liked about the book was the blending of age-appropriate content with fun artwork throughout the book. Keep in mind that this is a book that you want to read with your child and guide him or her through the content. This is probably not a book you want to put on your four-year-olds shelf and leave it for them to read alone. Half-way through the book there is one page that gives medical names to a child’s private parts - depending on your preference and your child’s age, you may want to augment this. This is a fun little book that may be helpful in starting the conversation with your child if you haven’t already. As a parent of six, this would be on my must read list with my children if they were between two and eight years old.

Facilitates healthy discussion without any body shame! I was not sure how to talk to my 2 & 3 year about body boundaries as they are going to school and I have noticed my 3 year old has had more and more questions about babies and bodies. It really helps guide you how to talk simply to them about their body and protect it. It also give some great tips for parents such as discussing that there are no secrets from you and your co parent and then and that no one should ever touch their private parts other than changing their diapers and if they ever feel uncomfortable to say no and Immediately tell someone.

To my knowledge, God Made All Of Me is a singular and unique book: A book written to help children protect themselves from sexual assault and abuse from a distinctly Christian perspective. The Biblical doctrines of creation (God mad all things good) and protection (It’s ok to say no) are written at an accessible level for children to understand appropriate and inappropriate touch. One of the central lines to the book is: "God made every part of your body and God called every part of your body good. Some parts of your body are for sharing and some parts are not for sharing." Children are encouraged to clearly say No when they do not want to be touched. Additionally, the private parts are defined by bathing suit and underwear lines – a helpful starting point that’s easy for kids to understand. Even Grandma gets told No with confidence to illustrate saying No to kisses (unwanted touch), even to family members. Clear language about body parts and names are used, with good justification which the authors explain in the back. The introduction and final remarks aim to equip parents (and all involved with caring for children) with clear facts about sexual abuse and clear, simple steps to help protect their children. God Made All Of Me is timely and helpful. I would recommend all parents have this and read through it with their kids. It may not take precedence over Curious George, but it wasn’t designed to. It’s aimed to equip our children against real threats to their safety, without making them fearful of everybody. The aim is to equip children, not scare them. In this way, it not only uses Christian categories, but illustrates sober Christian grace.

To my knowledge, God Made All Of Me is a singular and unique book: A book written to help children protect themselves from sexual assault and abuse from a distinctly Christian perspective. The Biblical doctrines of creation (God mad all things good) and protection (It’s ok to say no) are written at an accessible level for children to understand appropriate and inappropriate touch. One of the central lines to the book is: "God made every part of your body and God called every part of your body good. Some parts of your body are for sharing and some parts are not for sharing." Children are encouraged to clearly say No when they do not want to be touched. Additionally, the private parts are defined by bathing suit and underwear lines – a helpful starting point that’s easy for kids to understand. Even Grandma gets told No with confidence to illustrate saying No to kisses (unwanted touch), even to family members. Clear language about body parts and names are used, with good justification which the authors explain in the back. The introduction and final remarks aim to equip parents (and all involved with caring for children) with clear facts about sexual abuse and clear, simple steps to help protect their children. God Made All Of Me is timely and helpful. I would recommend all parents have this and read through it with their kids. It may not take precedence over Curious George, but it wasn’t designed to. It’s aimed to equip our children against real threats to their safety, without making them fearful of everybody. The aim is to equip children, not scare them. In this way, it not only uses Christian categories, but illustrates sober Christian grace.

I love the way this book explains God's authority over us as His creation and showing what it looks like in real life situations. There is thorough and appropriate direction for children if/when they end up in scary or awkward situations. I recommend this book to my friends who have small children because the earlier the better, in my opinion. Of course, revisit the book as a reminder often enough for it to sink in. Well written, great design and color. We all loved it!

What a great and necessary book! As a parent of multiple children, the statistics on sexual abuse are frightening and demonic. My family is at the stage where we need to have conversations with our children about appropriate and inappropriate touching. This book approaches those issues from a biblical, God-focused, embodied perspective. There is a "word to the parents" at the beginning, which provides an excellent introduction to why the book is necessary. The stories of the children Kayla and David and their parents kept my children's attention and are told in ways children as little as three can understand. There are Bible verses spread throughout the story to reinforce how good their bodies are and how God desires to protect us. Little ones need these reminders. At the end of the book is a list of 9 ways to protect your children from sexual abuse. This is a helpful list for parents to read through and apply. I'm so thankful for this book!

It's a book about children and their bodies and appropriate touch vs inappropriate. Which on the surface could seem like a pretty daunting subject. One that many of us might like to shy away from, but this book does a good job of making it natural and not awkward. One of my favorite things about the book is that it incorporated part of the catechism which we have already been instilling in our kids. Q"Who made you?" A"God made me." Q"What else did God make?" A"God made all things." It incorporates scripture. It discusses saying no to unwanted touch that isn't necessarily bad, as well as touch that shouldn't happen. I also like that it talks about the difference between secrets and surprises, that if anyone tells your child to keep a secret that they should always tell mom and dad and that they will not get in trouble for telling mom and dad about things that have made them uncomfortable etc. My 3 year old asked me to read it 3x in a row and she enjoyed answering the catechism questions like we do at night and listing the parts of her body that God made. Some of it is a little above her head but I think it is great to start early and have both parent and child comfortable with open conversation.

I thought this book was forward and simple--much shorter than I expected but I think the repetitiveness and simple explanations helped my child understand the safety issues. I particularly liked the idea of Surprises Vs. Secrets explaining what is a secret and when is it bad and not telling someone vs. a surprise which is usually celebratory...

Such a great book to teach even the smallest child about their body and how God made it. Helps to teach them to know boundaries when they aren't quite sure. It also comes with some great parent reading in the front also which is nice for helping with such a tender subject. My 5 and 9 year old love this book and really enjoy it whenever I read it to them. They also like the pictures because they are very kid friendly and almost cartoonish! I would certainly recommend this book for even the smallest of children.