Over the past decade, the number of picture books that parents can read to young children about personal boundaries and saying "no" to inappropriate touching has ballooned, as attention to preventing sexual abuse grows.
But many of the books contain "key gaps" in teaching concepts experts recommend to help children begin to understand consent, according to a study by a pair of Washington State University researchers.
They analyzed more than 100 picture books for children ages 3-8, comparing them against key tenets of consent education and child abuse prevention identified in past research. Most of the books conveyed messages aligned with some of those tenets, such as the concepts of bodily autonomy and setting personal boundaries, while providing parents a range of options for introducing the subject to their children.
"These books really provide a good resource for parents," said Stacey J.T. Hust, professor and associate dean of faculty affairs and college operations in the Murrow College of Communication, who co-authored the paper. "I think parents should explore these books and identify which ones are consistent with their preferences, and then add them in to their family reading time."
However, most books also fell short in some areas: an absence of specific anatomical terms for body parts, for example, and a failure to depict adults helping to set boundaries. The books tended to place the burden of refusing inappropriate contact on the children themselves, while presenting a "mean world" scenario filled with shadowy threats from perpetrators and lacking in trusted adults.
An accumulation of those messages could create fear, rather than emphasizing personal autonomy and safety.
"As much as it is important to tell children to be aware of appropriate and inappropriate touching, it's also important to tell them not everyone is out there to get you," said Opeyemi Victoria Johnson, a PhD student in the Murrow College and lead author on the paper.
The study, which was published in The Journal of Children and Media , sheds new light on an important question: What are the best ways to begin to teach children about boundaries and consent, so they recognize inappropriate touching and feel empowered to report it? One answer that has gained ground in recent years is to introduce the subject at younger ages, which has led to a proliferation of picture books addressing the topic.
"This market is just ballooning, for a couple of reasons," Hust said. "One, there's a large interest in talking to children about consent arising from the MeToo movement — parents want to protect their children from suffering sexual assault when they're older, so they want to start conversations early. There's also been a movement for parents to acknowledge and talk about consent that's not sexual."
Hust and Johnson focused on this relatively new category of books, many of which address questions of consent in non-sexual contexts—emphasizing the ability to say no to touches like hand-holding or kissing relatives goodbye.
"Consent-oriented books tend to focus more broadly on any kind of touching," Hust said.
For the study, the researchers used a structured coding framework to evaluate 102 picture books published between 2013 and 2023 for key concepts such as body ownership, use of anatomical language, identifying trusted adults, empowering language, and depictions of both perpetrators and parents. While many books supported important ideas like bodily autonomy and boundary-setting, the researchers found gaps in areas such as shared adult responsibility and the inclusion of grooming behaviors, highlighting both the strengths and limitations of current children's literature on consent.
Despite the shortcomings, many offered good general advice, and there was a range of approaches to suit different families. For instance, while researchers would encourage the use of specific anatomical terms for body parts, some of the books used other language, such as "swimsuit region."
For families who want to avoid the specific terms for body parts, such books can still be effective in conveying messages about bodily autonomy. Forty-two percent of the books included specific tips for parents in how to better talk with their children about consent.
