Kmart shopper's vital message after disturbing experience in store: 'Don’t you dare'

An Aussie mum has shared the horrifying moment a male stranger approached her young son in Kmart and attempted to touch and tickle him while motioning to the woman to be quiet. The mum-of-three Anueta Madison-Vanderbuilt told Yahoo News Australia she was “in shock” over the incident.

The social justice advocate said the man in his 20s walked up close to the family while they were shopping, looked at her “dead in the eye”, put his finger to his mouth to say “Shhh” and tried to tickle her eight-year-old son.

“So loudly, I said, ‘What the f**k are you doing? Don’t you dare touch my child,' and pulled the kids close to me,” the Melbourne woman said in an impassioned TikTok.

“This is a reminder to teach your children that anyone touching them without consent is inappropriate.

“And this is the most important. Do not just tell your kids, ‘That guy's just creepy, walk away, just leave’ or anything like that. You need to call it out.

“A bad touch or inappropriate touch is anything that a stranger or a person that has not asked for your consent to do so, does. It can be a grandparent, it can be a friend, it can be a teacher or a complete stranger.”

The 32-year-old, who is a survivor of child sexual abuse, urged parents to teach their children about consent and remind them “to be loud, to be crazy, to call it out”.

After confronting the man about his behaviour, which occurred in front of her two other children aged 13 and 7, Madison-Vanderbuilt said he told her he was just going to tickle the boy and didn’t hurt him, before walking out of the Craigieburn store.

“I was in shock at first,” she told Yahoo News. “You don't expect someone to stand that close to you. He looked me in the eye and put his hands out to tickle him.”

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Talk to children about consent 'as young as possible'

She said the man was coherent and had cognitive function so wasn’t a person of special needs. Neither was he someone who grew up in a different era where rules of conduct were different, but a young man in his 20s.

“I think it’s so important to talk to children as young as possible about their bodies and asking before hugging or high-fiving someone,” Madison-Vanderbuilt said. “Making people feel uncomfortable is not ok.”

She said after the incident, she spoke to her three children and while her seven-year-old was “scared” about what had happened, her son was “angry”.

“Consent is taught in year 7 but by then, you’re 12 or 13 years old – that’s too late,” Madison-Vanderbuilt added. “It should be taught in day care, there are age-appropriate ways to discuss it.”

Child sex abuse starts before age 8 in half of cases

According to statistics from child safety advocacy group Bravehearts, more than one-in-three girls and one-in-five boys experience child sexual abuse and among the Australian children who have been sexually abused, for three quarters of them, it has happened more than once.

In 52 per cent of cases, the onset of child sexual abuse is birth to eight-years-old.

A Department of Education spokesperson told Yahoo News: “It’s important that young people are equipped with age-appropriate, evidenced-based education that improves their health, safety, wellbeing and dignity".

“Teaching consent and respectful relationships education helps students develop the social and emotional skills they need to form healthy relationships and ideas about acceptable behaviour,” the spokesperson said.

They said the federal government provides $77.6 million to ensure students from foundation to year 10 receive age-appropriate education on positive, respectful relationships and consent.

'Tickling is horrible': Have flashbacks about not feeling 'in control'

In the comments, social media users echoed Madison-Vanderbuilt’s concerns.

“Actually in tears,” one wrote, “I really wish I had someone, a role model to teach me those lessons when I was young.”

“Tickling is horrible!” another said. “I have flashbacks as a kid being tickled and not feeling in control and hating it.” One more added: “That is so scary.”

“This has happened twice to my child,” a fourth shared. “I need to work on calling it out as I have frozen both times.”

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