Those are MY Private Parts Paperback – February 20, 2013

I love this book. My husband heard about it from a friend and decided to purchase it. It is a great tool to use to assist parents when talking to your little one about inappropriate touches. One of the things I really love about the book is the way it stresses that "those are my private parts." This phrase is repeated over and over in the book like a refrain. Furthermore, it highlights the fact that inappropriate touches can come from anyone, including a parent. Additionally, the book encourages children to report bad touches to an adult. It is illustrated with cute "little kid" pictures like stick figures and the like. It reads almost like a poem and my children love it. It starts with: This is where the learning starts About boys and girls and private parts. The front is different; the back is the same. And most important of all, there are no private parts games. Those Are MY Private Parts!Usually my husband and I read the lines, and my children will chant the refrain together........actually they like to shout it! I'm sure our neighbors have probably heard them shouting "those are my private parts" on more than one occasion! LOL Every time we read this book we use it to segue into a discussion with our children about inappropriate touching. I usually quiz them where I give examples of a touch in various scenarios and they have to tell us if it's "okay" or not. In each scenario I use different adults, including Mommy and Daddy. I would highly recommend this book to any parent.

My wife and I discussed purchasing this book and after reading some reviews decided to go for it. And it's what we expected it to be. Our intent was to use it in a family setting and discuss this topic openly with our children.This book uses simple verses and rhymes to teach children that private parts are private and no one under any circumstances has any right to touch them, no playing is appropriate, etc. It's a helpful tool to teach children that they should never feel bad or not allow anyone to make them feel bad for keeping them away from their private parts. Each verse is accompanies by a picture related to the topic drawn by children. The book has some very helpful, but scary or shocking statistics on children's exposure to sex, sexual abuse and obscenity in general. This section is intended to educate the parent on how prevalent sexual abuse of children is in our society and what the most common sources are -- relatives or acquaintances.It is true, as one reviewer pointed out that the words "penis" and "vagina" are mentioned in the book. It may seem a bit too much, but if you think about it neither word is an obscene or vulgar one. And we'd rather that our children learn about it from us and learn the proper way to name these terms rather than be blind-sided and learn from others (either in school or somewhere else) who will most certainly use terms much worse than these and leave our children wondering....In other words, if you don't teach your children, someone else most certainly will. And you won't like what they'll teach them. So from our family's perspective, it's better to have a tool that engages the children and teaches them about a very important subject. We recommend it as a helpful tool.

The book repeats the theme that there is no *game* that is ok that involves the private parts and empowers the child to say No, I don't like that touch. So, if your child doesn't want you to wash them then they would say no. It says potty words are pee and poop and it's ok to ask for help to go potty. Also, "rubba-dub is for the tub" "A babysitter, super-star, whoever they may be. Will never, ever play a touching game with me. I do not have to play. Get away I will say"In NO way did I get the impression that private parts were demonized AT ALL! The exact OPPOSITE in fact. This book allows adults to talk to a child about something adults are uncomfortable saying out loud. It encourages the adult to say penis and vagina out loud with no shame. Please don't skip over this book because of one reviewers impression, it is too important of a book! This book EMPOWERS ("I am young and I have a big, loud voice") the child to take ownership of their body and that there are adults to tell and get help to stop the "game" (because usually the abuse is from an adult the child trusted). I would be very cautious of adding any clarification for my kids that no one is allowed to touch thier privates except for mommy & daddy to clean because a child molester would use that and start playing a cleaning game and say "mommy and daddy told me to clean you and will be very mad if you don't let me". And what if the molester is the mom or dad? No, just keep it simple, no "private parts game" & "I can say No I don't like that".

great, children need to know and need to be safe!

If good intentions were enough for a good book, I'm sure this book would get a fairly high rating. Sadly, however, the author overshoots quite badly. "Playing doctor" among peers, for example, is now considered by many a part of normal sexual development. This book, however, demonises all such games. The child's right to say no becomes a duty and I suspect that instead of leading to open discourse between parents and children, a child having engaged in harmless sexual play with his or her peers will be left feeling guilty (for not having said no and having enjoyed the game) and possibly confused.Even should the child become a victim of sexual or physical abuse, the book's oversimplified message including the child being "brave" and saying no, may lead to the child feeling inferior for not having been brave enough, increasing shame.My recommendation therefore is to give this book a wide miss.

Especially liked the diagram on page 3 where the private parts for boys and private parts for girls are illustrated and it also showed by illustration of the back being the same for both boys or girls bottom butt or rear. The visual illustration will no doubt help children understand about private parts .

My kids didn't really enjoy this book. I think they weren't really engaged in the pictures and they checked out from what I was reading

RECOMMENDED!!!