Keeping Children Safe from Predators

I have been reading a book called "Protecting the Gift: Keeping Children and Teenagers Safe (and Parents Sane)" and decided to share some insights I have learned from the book as believe it is an important message to spread. The book is authored by Gavin De Becker, who himself experienced abuse from his own mother when he was a child and now works to help others identify predators and abusive people to prevent harm.

People who do abuse, usually come from abusive families or have been abused in some way themselves.  However as you know, some use their experience to help others prevent abuse such as the author Gavin.  

Gavin discusses the "survival signals" that will help identify predators.  These include:

• Forced teaming
• Charm and niceness
• Too many details
• Typecasting
• Loan-sharking
• The unsolicited promise
• Discounting the word "no"

I will use the pronouns his/her because even though it is mostly males who abuse, it is also important to be aware that females can also abuse others, such as it was Gavin's drug addicted mother who used to bash all her children for hours at a time.   

Forced teaming is when the predator will use the word "we", "both of us", or "we're a team" in his/her conversations.  If this happens when you just met someone then be aware that it is a sign of grooming.

Charm and niceness is used as a strategy to again groom the parent/caregiver and or child to his/her web of deceit. Gavin says that if the person comes across as too nice, then it is probably too good to be true.  The person will be nice to initiate a social interaction, but once he/she develops trust, then it will transform into abusive behavior where boundaries will be violated. 

Too many details will be provided by the predator to again continue the social interaction and also gain further information of the person they want to abuse.  Gavin mentions that when people are deceitful, they will give too many details to assume honesty, however an honest person won't need to include so much detail because of their sincerity.  Too many details may include what his/her own child has as a pet, what type of pet, his/her child's name, where he or she goes to school, etc. The predator may not even have a child, but will mention this to build rapport and trust. 

Typecasting is what predators do to make the parent/caregiver and/or child feel insecure and let the child into his/her own care.  For example, he/she may say that the parent/caregiver is overprotective, so the parent/caregiver will want to prove he/she is not and let the child spend time with the predator.  

Loan-sharking is when the predator offers to help the parent/caregiver, but expects more in return.  For example, the predator will come visit the parents, befriend them, offer to do the gardening, shopping or spend time with them and in return may ask to spend alone time with the child.  

The unsolicited promise is when the predator provides an empty promise to gain trust.  Gavin says to trust your intuition of what the person says, and if it doesn't feel right, then it probably is not right. 

Discounting the word "no" is when the predator will not hear the word no. The predator will keep following and asking in a variety of ways, even though you said no.  

An example Gavin provides is when a parent was shopping with her young son in a busy market.  The predator noticed that the boy could not be bothered shopping with his mum (predator noticed vulnerability here) so approached them to offer to spend time with the boy while the mother shopped (unsolicited promise and loan sharking).  Surprised at the offer of leaving her son with a stranger, the predator kept asking, the mother kept saying no, but in the meantime the predator kept mentioning his own son, his sons favourite pet (too many details and discounting the word no), said she was probably overprotective (typecasting), often used the word "we" (forced-teaming), was too nice, and promised to bring him back (unsolicited promise), while the mother shopped in peace (loan sharking).   While the mother thought this man was crazy with his suggestion, her attention went to shoes she liked.  At the same time the predator took her son away because the boy started to gain trust in this man who had a son his own age.  The mother noticed her son missing, but her son and the predator was too far for her to catch them.  They disappeared out of her sight.  She never saw her son again.

Gavin continually stresses to listen to your intuition to identify a predator.  If somebody does not feel right, then leave without a thought.  Intuition and identifying the signals to survive is what can save you and your child/children.  

Gavin also says to keep your child safe, tell them to go to a nearest woman if they feel there is danger rather than tell them to go to a nearest police station (as the closest one may be too far) or to a nearest male (as most predators are mainly men).  Also females are known to be nurturing and therefore mostly likely to spend time helping.  Also, teach your child how to approach safe strangers so they can learn what is safe and not safe and how to get help.   If they learn stranger danger, then seeking help may be too difficult if every body is considered dangerous.  For example a mother would ask her son to approach a stranger and ask for the time.  One day he did need help, and was able to identify a safe person and ask for help. 

On a last note, even though children who have experienced violence or have been abused will most likely become violent or abusive such as controlling, the experience can actually help them use their adversity into becoming successful.   It is important that when you see a child who is rough on the outside, that they actually need love to be filled on the inside. In summary, look beyond what you see, empathise with them, help them identify where their behaviour is coming from (their past experiences) and that they can become more than what they have learned as a child.  As Gavin says "You and I can give that same gift (help them learn that their violent and/or abusive past can teach them how to be better and may even give them knowledge to teach others how not to behave) to abused children, children who are not, contrary to popular belief, destined to become violent adults.  If we show them that they are the residents of their homes and not the architects, then where they are needn't limit where they go".  Teaching them that it was not their fault the violence occurred, will help them learn they did not cause the unhealthy behaviour, but can learn from the experience to become a better person.