An award winning campaign by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is helping parents protect their children from sexual abuse.

Tam Baillie, Scotland’s Children’s Commissioner for Young People, is supporting the campaign called Talk PANTS, which helps parents explain to 5-11 year old children, in simple terms, how to stay safe.

Mr Baillie said: “This campaign reinforces the rights of children to be safe and to be heard. It provides parents and carers with some clear guidelines that children can easily understand and also underlines that children’s voices and their feelings are important.

“It is important that children have the confidence to speak up if they feel uncomfortable and also that trusted adults will listen to them and act on their behalf.” PANTS, the ‘Underwear Rule’ guide, breaks down into five key elements: Privates are private; Always remember your body belongs to you; No means no; Talk about the secrets that upset you; Speak up – someone can help.

The campaign is also backed by Wayne Rooney, Sam Bailey, Rebecca Ferguson, Luisa Zissman, Melinda Messenger and Terry Jones.

According to the campaign, one in three people who are sexually abused by an adult don’t reveal what has happened until later, if at all.

The Underwear Rule guide has been designed so parents can talk about staying safe without touching on the tricky subject of sex, which many may want to avoid because they feel their child is not ready yet.

Head of National Services for NSPCC, Matt Forde, added: “Two out of three parents who know about the Underwear Rule have discussed it with their children and while this is impressive progress we want to encourage more to do this.

“It’s a simple, age-appropriate way of covering a tricky subject. Many parents worry that discussing the issue will ruin a child’s innocence, but by using PANTS you don’t even have to mention sex. Once parents have used the rule they are often keen to pass it on to others, which is what this campaign is all about.

“We want everyone to share the Underwear Rule with three other parents to help arm a generation against abuse.

“Even though sexual abuse cases appear frequently in the media many parents find it hard to talk with their child about how to stay safe. We want talking PANTS to be as natural as learning about road safety.” PANTS has been translated to Welsh, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish and Russian and there are also versions for those with disabilities and an autism spectrum disorder as well as a video explaining the rules to deaf children.

To download the guide, visit nspcc.org.uk.