Putting children in the mix puts a whole different spin on things. At least for me, who has been through having a child in therapy. When my daughter started hurting herself and saying things like 'If everyone I love is going to die, why should I stick around?', I would have done anything, given anything, paid any price to help her. Part of the price I'm still paying because of the almost three years of stress and fear that myself and my family went through with dealing with this was part of what caused my PTSD to kick into high gear. Would I do it again-knowing what I know now, knowing what I would have to go through? In a heartbeat and more if needed.

Yes, my parents should have seen that something was wrong with me, that something was different. But when you don't know what to look for...I could point fingers all night and it won't change a damn thing. We were taught to be afraid of 'strangers with candy'. No one told us that trusted family friends (or family) were just as dangerous (or more so) than strangers. Again...now that these issues are being brought out of the dark, so to speak, they can be addressed. But even if my parents had seen something was wrong and wanted to do something about it, there really wasn't anything to be offered during that time. Now there is and that makes all of the difference.

The connotation I got from your initial poll was that this forced councelling applied to adults. Again...you hit a sticking point there. How would you propose forcing an adult to do something they don't want to, don't think they need, ect? Short of damn near incarcerating them, I really don't see how it would work. But I'm also a proponant of having the choice of how I (and others) decide to live.

When I taught school, we would teach children as young as three about 'bad touches' and 'good touches' and telling a grown up if someone touches you in your private places. I didn't even hear the word molestation until I was almost an adult and the meaning wasn't fully understood until later. I agree that educating our children and their children and dealing with situations that arise is as close to prevention of PTSD as we're going to get. Educating adults is a much tougher nut to crack. But at least things are starting to change.

BTW-not rude...truthful.