Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

Findings of the current study suggest that, given their limited ability to protect themselves in
complex social situations, especially those involving sex—an area cognitively unreachable for a young
child—children depend on parents and caretakers to care for them. The consistent identification of social
cognitive vulnerability in both the 1991 study and the current study should serve to alert concerned adults
of the very real limitations which normal development places upon children in terms of protecting
themselves.
While parents, who lecture their children to take precaution, may believe that children already
“know” what to do in a dangerous situation, the children cannot execute what they “know” because they do
not understand. Children seem to be no more understanding of such complexities as they were twenty years
ago, despite the media and technological advances. Media and technology of this day and age may expose
children to ideas of sex and unconventional social situations (e.g., via social networking sites) at an earlier
age than in the year 1991, yet young children remain naïve to the complexity and depth of these situations.
In Purcell et. al.’s study (1990): mature sexual behavior can be a result of sexual abuse, yet such behavior is
not necessarily accompanied by mature sexual understanding. The researcher, studying to be a teacher,
once observed a kindergarten classroom in which the classroom teacher reported to her that recently, the
teacher found a few students were creating a game during their recess, in which a girl and a boy would get
“married.” The “marriage” came with a qualification, however: the children believed that in order to get
married, the boy had to show the girl his private parts, and vice versa—and this is just what the teacher
found her students doing in the back of the classroom! Did the children understand what they were doing?
No. They were simply imitating either their parents or the media.
While adults do not trust children with such tasks and responsibilities as handling money, cooking
meals, or handling matches or weapons, adults often charge children with the responsibility of providing for
their own emotional well-being and physical safety merely armed with the warning: “Don’t talk to
strangers,” “Be careful,” or “Say no.” As parents and teachers strive to arm children with the ability to
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