Protecting the Gift - A Quick View Book Review

Protecting the Gift: Keeping Children and Teenagers Safe (and Parents Sane)

by Gavin De Becker

**** Stars of 5, Highly Recommend!

I really liked this book. It is a book of empowerment for us as parents which centers on enabling to our children of all ages with the authority and tools keep themselves safe. De Becker, a security consultant and survivor of childhood abuse/dysfunctional family, uses his experience in his field, personal anecdotes and the true stories of others to put together a very engaging and informative read. The only shortcoming in this book for me was that it contained a great deal of true-story type accounts. Although they illustrate his points well, I would have liked to see a little more research information and statistical data to back up his experience and theories instead of so many of these. A perfect read for me has a better balance of the two.

The author draws on his personal and professional experience to show us where the more statistically probable dangers for our family are (rather than the more sensationalized top news story type parental worries like kidnapping, YAY De Becker!), how to use instinct, information and critical thinking to assess risk to make the best possible judgment call, while having our kids empowered with the tools they need to keep themselves safe. Being empowered by his philosophy of knowledge and awareness with the triple-protection method described above has made all the difference to my peace of mind!

Contents

Chapter One; The Search for Certainty- Here, De Becker addresses some of the common concerns that parents have and gives a general overview of his views, his work and this book.

Chapter Two; Intuition- The Source of Safety- As the title would suggest, De Becker is a big proponent of intuition as a tool for protecting our children. He claims everyone has the gift of intuition as a tool for prediction of danger, but that other factors, mainly denial, may interfere with these messages. Stories are used to illustrate the many ways we receive and deny subtle signals.

Chapter Three; Worry- This chapter explores true fear vs. unwarranted fear

Chapter Four; Survival Signals- This chapter addresses kidnapping by strangers and outlines the tactics most used by predators to win you/your child's misplaced trust.

Chapter Five; Talk to Strangers- Here, the author explores the ineffective maxims we teach our children (never talk to strangers, etc). De Becker shows more effective things to teach your children to actually produce the desired effect of each ambiguous statement.

Chapter Six; The Changing of the Guard- This chapter introduces "The Test of Twelve" basically, twelve things that your child should know/be capable of before being alone in a public place, and shows how this empowerment is more effective than the old standby of telling your child fearful stories.

Chapter Seven; Babysitters and Nannies- All about how to evaluate the people you will entrust your children to.

Chapter Eight; Children Away From Home- Among other things, this chapter addresses how to evaluate childcare facilities and employees.

Chapter Nine; Sexual Predators- As the title implies, this chapter highlights Sexual Predators. The focus is on family/acquaintance abuse and covers warning signs, how to evaluate the people you choose to include in your child's life, and how to teach your child about boundaries and sovereignty over their body.

Chapter Ten; Children at School- Explores some of the potential dangers of school and includes how to approach the principal regarding the personal safety of your child.

Chapter Eleven; Protecting Ophelia- This chapter is about how to better ensure the safety of teenage girls. It covers boys/dating, sexual predation and a few words on suicide.

Chapter Twelve; Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and Smith & Wesson- Kids and gun safety.

Chapter Thirteen; Friends as Enemies- Covers teen violence. Some topics include warning signs and harmful friendships.

Chapter Fourteen; All in the Family- This chapter looks at violence within the family and explores spousal abuse as a precursor to violence against children, includes a list of warning signs.

Chapter Fifteen; Protecting the Village- A chapter regarding adults reaching out to children at risk.

Chapter Sixteen; Protecting the Gift- A few closing words and anecdotes that again implore us to honor our intuition.

Book ends with Acknowledgements, Appendices, (one strictly dedicated to resources, the others like short guides) and Recommended Reading.

*Please Note*

If this sounds like a book that you may be interested in purchasing, please use one of the links found on this page or below. With no additional expense or effort, you can help to support this site while getting the cheapest price on the net at the same time, a win-win!