Book Review: Protecting Your Child From Predators

About the Book:

Keeping a Child Safe Requires More Awareness Than Ever.

Even aware parents often underestimate the dangers their children face. Research indicates that 1 in 4 females and 1 in 6 males are sexually abused before age 18. In most cases, the enemy is not a faceless stranger, it's someone you know and trust--a neighbor, a coach, or even a family member. 

This book provides practical steps to ensure you're doing all you can to reduce the risks of abuse. But since you cannot be with your children 24/7, the authors teach you how to help your child develop awareness and strategies in the face of potential dangers--without making them fearful. 

Dr. Robinson, whose decades-long practice focuses on abused and endangered children, calls on her own case studies to show age-appropriate conversation starters for parents, teaching them how to ask the right questions and provide the right boundaries.

This book will help you move from fear to confidence on this critical topic that is just too important to ignore.

Learn more abour the book and read an excerpt from Protecting your Child from Predators: How to Recognize and Respond to Sexual Danger on the publisher's website.

My Thoughts:

I recommend Protecting Your Child from Predators: How to Recognize and Respond to Sexual Danger by Beth Robinson, EdD, and Latayne C. Scott, PhD, to any caregiver.

Protecting Your Child from Predators was a surprisingly quick read. The authors presented information in a clear and concise manner.  Heartbreaking stories are included for a purpose, not superfluously, but may be triggers for readers who have experienced sexual abuse.

The chapters in Protecting Your Child from Predators do not need to be read in order. However, I do recommend reading it through once as the parts about younger children lay a foundation for the chapters about older children. Because the book is meant for the reader to be able to jump into whatever chapter/topic is needed, certain information is repeated at the end of each chapter.

Although I have already taught my children most of what it recommends for their ages, the book did provide information I wasn’t aware of in the chapters on technology and regarding the common ways a child may be sexually abused by another child.

Protecting Your Child from Predators unabashedly affirms that Jesus hates abuse, especially child abuse, and that you can and should say no to evil instead being overtaken by it. I appreciated the strong stance of the authors. This healthy mindset should be a given for any Christian, but as recent headlines have revealed, sexual abuse not only occurs within churches, but the church sometimes mishandles its response. I appreciated that the book addresses situations involving the church.

This book is written for parents and caregivers who are adept at setting boundaries, being able to stand up and confront someone in the moment. Due to my past history, I really struggle to set boundaries, especially in a situation that is unexpected.  I found myself sometimes wanting more examples on “how” exactly to set those boundaries. So, if you’re like me and struggle with setting boundaries in general, this book will encourage you toward that, but you may need another resource specifically on the topic of boundaries.

I give Protecting Your Child from Predators: How to Recognize and Respond to Sexual Danger by Beth Robinson, EdD, and Latayne C. Scott, PhD, 4.5 stars and I recommend it to every caregiver.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own.