It’s a scary world out there, parents. I know you don’t need me to tell you this. You probably spend most of your day worried about how your child will navigate school, adolescence and eventually the real world.

With the prevalence of social media and the 24-hour news cycle, we now know more than ever about the evil in the world. This does not help with our parental anxiety.

In recent months, it seems that every day a new case of sexual assault breaks on the news. On one hand, it is good that women are able to tell their stories, find solidarity and, hopefully, closure after enduring such a tragic event. But I know seeing these cases on the news day after day does not do much to ease your fears about sending your child into the world. It simply adds to the long list of things that you worry about.

And for parents of daughters, this is especially troubling. Ninety-one percent of sexual assault victims are female. But I am not writing this to scare you. I actually think that as a parent you can have hope in such scary times.

I say this often because I believe it…