Age-appropriate guidance on teaching children about body safety, personal boundaries, and consent.
Body Safety is the understanding a child develops about their own body, private parts, personal boundaries, and their right to say no to unwanted touch.
Teaching children about body safety and consent helps them understand personal boundaries, recognise inappropriate behaviour, and feel empowered to speak up. These conversations should begin early and evolve as the child grows, using clear and matter-of-fact language.
Body safety education gives children the vocabulary and confidence to identify and report uncomfortable situations. Concepts such as 'private parts', 'safe and unsafe touch', and 'no secrets about bodies' form a foundation that reduces vulnerability and increases the likelihood of early disclosure.
In your child's behaviour
Use correct names for body parts from an early age
Teaching children the anatomical names for their body parts removes shame and gives them precise language to describe anything that concerns them.
Teach the 'underwear rule'
The NSPCC's PANTS rule is a simple framework: Privates are private, Always remember your body belongs to you, No means no, Talk about secrets that upset you, Speak up — someone can help.
Model and respect consent in daily life
Demonstrate consent through everyday actions: asking before hugging, respecting when a child says they do not want to be tickled, and never forcing physical affection with relatives.
In immediate danger: call 999. For non-emergency police matters, call 101.
Concerned about a child but it's not an emergency? NSPCC helpline 0808 800 5000. Childline for young people 0800 1111.
This is practical educational content to support families. For case-specific concerns about a child's safety, contact the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000 or your local safeguarding team.
Myth: Some parents believe that the biggest risk to their child's body safety comes from strangers, so as long as their child is only ever around family and people the family knows well, there is little to worry about.
Fact: NSPCC guidance is clear that a child is far more likely to be abused by someone they already know and trust, such as a relative, family friend, or someone in a position of care, than by a stranger, which is why body safety and consent lessons need to apply to every relationship a child has, not just encounters with people outside the family circle.
Myth: Some parents assume body safety and consent education matters more for girls, so they focus PANTS-style conversations mainly on daughters and cover the same ground more lightly, or later, with sons.
Fact: NSPCC's PANTS resources are designed for all children regardless of gender, because boys can be abused just as girls can, so every child needs the same clear, age-appropriate teaching about private body parts, safe and unsafe touch, and telling a trusted adult.
Myth: Some parents expect that if something had happened to their child, the child would tell them about it clearly and straight away, so an absence of any disclosure is taken as reassurance that nothing is wrong.
Fact: NSPCC's own research describes disclosure as a gradual journey rather than a single moment: children often delay telling anyone, share only part of what happened, or give indirect clues rather than a clear statement, especially when the person involved is someone they know, so staying calm, patient, and approachable matters more than waiting for a direct disclosure.
Use anatomically correct names for body parts during everyday routines like bathtime and nappy changes, and introduce a simple rule that the parts covered by underwear are private and only a parent or doctor helps with them for care or health reasons. Keep the tone calm and matter-of-fact, and praise your child whenever they assert a boundary, such as saying no to unwanted tickling.
Reinforce the PANTS rule in contexts your child now meets at school, such as changing for PE or swimming, and talk through simple 'what if' scenarios like a babysitter or another child asking to see or touch their private parts. Make sure they can name several trusted adults they could tell, not just you, in case you are not there.
As children start noticing physical changes in themselves and their peers, revisit body safety conversations with a bit more detail about puberty and privacy, including in online contexts such as video calls or photo-sharing apps. Widen the idea of consent too, discussing situations like a friend pressuring them to share something private or do something that feels uncomfortable.
Extend consent conversations to cover early relationships, growing independence, and the fact that consent can be withdrawn at any point even after someone has agreed to something. Make clear that respecting someone else's 'no' matters just as much as expecting their own boundaries to be respected, both offline and in online interactions.
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