Topics: Education, TikTok, World News, Social Media
A teacher has opened up after finding viral fame through her 'private parts' song sang to her students.
We learn a lot in school, from calculus to science and the written word - but what about bodily autonomy?
Well, one teacher is making sure her students know about consent and what touches are good and bad on the body.
Gelda Waterboer is a first-grade teacher in Namibia, and her TikTok video focusing on body safety with her class was popular for a very good reason.
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The clip was posted to her @gelda_waterboer channel and saw her singing a song about protecting their bodies.
You can hear the children following along, and singing through her guided prompts, which teaches them where people can and can’t touch on their person.
“These are my private parts, private parts, private parts, these are my private parts no one should touch them,” the song states.
Waterboer pasted text over the video which said: “Being safe. Make sure they put in the emotion.”
The TikTok garnered over 160 million views, with many people praising her approach to child safety in the comments.
The song is catchy, easy to remember, and it teaches kids to hold boundaries when it comes to who touches where.
Waterboer has now come out to address some comments and speak up on why she feels so strongly about her body parts song.
In another post, she revealed why the topic is so close to her heart.
Waterboer began: “We have over one million views, this makes me realize there is a great need [for] awareness that needs to be spread when it comes to the safety of the kids. I wish I had a teacher like me growing up.”
She continued: “I wish I had a teacher that would firmly tell me that it is okay to say no to people you also trust.
“That you have the right over your body, I take this personally because I wish I knew that growing up.”
“Growing up, we have as Africans, we take these topics as taboo, we put it under the table,” the teacher explained. “It’s something we need to discuss with the kids and that has really made an African child not speak up.”
Waterboer went on to say: “For me, as long as I’m a teacher, I have vowed that I will be the teacher that I never had growing up.”
“Some things need to be loud. Some things need to be aggressive,” she continued. “A young child is going through things every second. Every day. Every hour.”
In a follow-up post, Waterboer shared that the most common response she saw was a question asking, ‘Who wronged the teacher?’.
To this, she said that her song was not made to be polite to others.
It was made to be protective against those who might harm them.
Waterboer explained in the clip: “Teaching our children to say ‘no’ is not just about manners - it’s about protection.”
She added: “Every child must know that their body belongs to them, and no one has the right to touch them in a way that feels wrong or uncomfortable.”
But it’s not just teachers who should be doing this with children.
She said that every adult has a duty of care to create an environment where children are safe to express themselves.
“It is our responsibility as adults, parents and creators to create a space where children feel confident to speak up,” Waterboer noted.
“If someone touches you in a strange way - tell a trusted adult immediately,” she added in the video. “You are not in trouble. You are not alone. You will be heard.”
For her, it’s all about having a strong voice and empowering children to use it.
