The Scottsdale, Arizona School District has removed a controversial “grandfather card” from use in a curriculum on child sexual abuse awareness called C.A.R.E. This is one of those programs used in Kindergarten through second grade that are sometimes referred to as “incest” programs because they scare little children about the possibility of sexual abuse by their own family members.
Parents objected that the “grandfather card” taught little children to be afraid of possible sexual abuse from their grandfathers. The parents also asserted that the genitalia terms used in the Kindergarten discussion were not age-appropriate for 5- and 6-year-olds, and the school has agreed to stop using them.
The picture on the grandfather card shows an older man with an obviously embarrassed little girl. At the time the large picture was to be displayed to the children, the teachers was supposed to read the following from the back of the card: “Someone might try to talk you into touching that is wrong.”
The card instructs the teacher to tell the children that Susan’s grandfather liked to give her a big hug and kiss whenever she came to visit, but Susan didn’t like the way Grampa always patted her bottom over and over again when he hugged her. It made her feel confused and upset.
So one day when Susan went to her grandfather’s for a visit, she told him she didn’t like it, and grampa said, “Don’t you love me anymore?” Susan felt very embarrassed. The five- and six-year-olds are then supposed to discuss this situation.
Repeated requests by parents to buy a copy, to take home a copy, or to make a copy of the C.A.R.E. curriculum for evaluation were denied. When parents called the home office of the C.A.R.E. Association in Vancouver, Canada, a spokesman refused to sell them a copy, saying that the C.A.R.E. kit “is a school-based program to be used by trained professionals and not designed for home use.”
After identifying a state law that guarantees parents the right to have any school curricula for 48 hours, the school finally allowed parents to take the C.A.R.E. kit home to study it.
The C.A.R.E. kit is an elaborate box of materials including 12 colored “message cards,” 7 “discussion cards,” a children’s book called Trust Your Feelings, a cassette with a song to be sung every day called “Trust Your Feelings – Your Body Belongs to You,” three puppets, two colored posters, and a 50-page Lesson Planning Guide for teachers. The kit sells for $166 each and the Scottsdale school district bought at least 40.
C.A.R.E. has also produced controversy in its local area in British Columbia. In the spring of 1988, C.A.R.E. was piloted in two Catholic schools in Vancouver, and then completely removed after parents registered vigorous complaints.
C.A.R.E. has been used in a few Canadian public schools at the option of the principal. Many letters have been written from parents who complained about the behavioral changes in their 5- and 6-year-olds as a result of being exposed to the program.
Parents claim that the course confuses children as to whom they can trust, arouses a curiosity about their bodies which is unnatural at their ages, and above all is not suitable for such young children. They also fear that C.A.R.E. may have long-term negative effects that would prevent them from having a normal sexual life because it presents sex as dangerous and frightening.
A scholarly paper on this subject presented by school psychologist Dr. James J. Krivacska at the National Association of School Principals conference in Chicago in April 1968 point out that child abuse courses “tend to prevent a genitalized view of sexuality and ignore an understanding of childhood sexuality. They tend to provide very strong negative messages associated with the genitals.”
Dr. Krivacska reported that one study found that “20 percent of the students exposed to a CSAP program suffered some negative effects.” He said these were of two types: (1) behavior (withdrawal from certain types of physical contact) and emotional (heightened levels of worry or anxiety).”
Dr Krivacska criticized the concept of “body ownership,” which is a key part of most child abuse awareness curricula. Telling the small child that he owns his own body and has the right to control access to it by others creates problems, Krivacska explained, when instructing the child to take a bath, receive an inoculation, or go to the dentist.
Child sexual abuse is a terrible thing. But so is confusing and frightening the overwhelming majority of little children for whome incest is not a problem.
