Having “the talk” with your child about online safety

2019-07-25T13:54:28+00:00May 18, 2016|Empowering girls, Gender-based violence, Guest bloggers|

Girl looking at a cell phoneRaising children to be active and responsible community members is a hard task for every parent. Part of the challenge is that our parenting style comes from the way we were raised. While we try to prepare our kids (and ourselves) for every possible problem that could arise, sometimes we forget about one little detail making kids' life different from our own: the Internet. We’ve become familiar with the Internet in older age, but many kids today are adept with smartphones and tablets before they even learn to walk. They see the Internet as a tool for finding answers to every question they might have. It’s not a bad way to see the global web, but it is crucial for children to understand that the Internet can be as dangerous as it is useful.

Making Waves: Ben’s Story

2016-05-17T13:09:37+00:00May 17, 2016|Gender-based violence, Impact stories, SHE Magazine|

Ben LordIn high school Ben Lord attended “Making Waves,” a violence prevention program that continues to reverberate through his life. As told to Diane Hill.

In my high school, students who attended the Making Waves violence prevention program put on a play called The Many Faces of Abuse.* I saw it when I was in Grade 9 and got chills. The next year, I attended the program. When I graduated, I came back as a Making Waves facilitator.

The program opened my eyes to a lot of things I hadn’t thought about before, like how a lot of relationship problems are about gender.

How to Talk to Your Teen About Healthy Relationships

2017-12-19T17:05:01+00:00May 16, 2016|Empowering girls, Gender-based violence, Posters, Sexual abuse, SHE Magazine|

Mom and son laughingEvery parent has those moments when we’re suddenly reminded how quickly our child is growing up: the first step, the first tooth, the first time they walk to school without us. For many parents, one of the most challenging milestones is realizing our child is interested in “romance” and dating. The best way to prepare them—and protect them—is to teach them how to build strong, healthy relationships.

Our children learn about relationships every day, simply by observing the world around them.  As Director of Violence Prevention at the Canadian Women’s Foundation, I can tell you that most of what they see is not good. Throughout their lifetime, the average child in Canada will witness thousands of examples of unhealthy relationships— at school, on social media, in celebrity gossip magazines, music videos, movies, and TV. If we don’t teach our children about relationships someone else will, and we won’t like the results!

Edelman Gets Consent

2016-05-14T13:00:28+00:00May 14, 2016|Gender-based violence, Sexual abuse, SHE Magazine, Women in media|

Edelman teamThe challenge: Create a thought-provoking campaign about sexual consent that grabs young people’s attention and gets shared across Canada. In six weeks. With a slim budget.

While many would balk at such a proposition, public relations firm Edelman took it on. They created the award-winning Get Consent campaign for the Canadian Women’s Foundation and surpassed all expectations.

“It was an opportunity to help shape awareness about consent and challenge people’s thinking,” says Erin Jacobson, Vice-President, Digital Public Affairs at Edelman in Toronto.