Protecting Your Children From Sexual Predators

by Leigh Baker

Predators are everywhere and they can strike at any time-- and they come in all shapes and sizes. More than 1.2 million families will report child sexual abuse by the end of this year. Research suggests that many hundreds of thousands more boys and girls from all backgrounds and of all ages may experience abuse that is not reported. To keep your family from becoming part of these frightening statistics, you must read this invaluable book.

Protecting Your Children from Sexual Predators details everything you need to know and everything you need to do to keep your child safe. You will learn how to identify potential sexual predators, how to recognize the signs of the grooming behaviors that come before the actual act of sexual abuse, and how to arm your children with the necessary skills to prevent abuse.

Sexual predators commit the most heinous acts against the more defenseless members of our society. They often are disguised as harmless and caring people; they may interact with your children as their baby-sitters, youth group leaders, clergy, teachers, coaches, neighbors, medical professionals, and family members. What these predators hold in common is their ability to earn the trust of both the children they attack and their parents. In Protecting Your Children from Sexual Predators , Dr. Leigh Baker gives you the unique opportunity to meet these predators up close and to

* The ten most common characteristics they display, such as refusal to take responsibility for their actions, sense of entitlement, and the need for power and control.
* How they lead their victims through the five stages of sexual abuse.
* The four types of personalities they commonly exhibit.
* How female sexual predators can gain access to your child.
* The ways that juveniles offend against other children.
* How sexual predators travel the Internet and the many ways that they can harm your child through cyberspace.
* How baby-sitting can pose a danger to your child if you don't take the necessary steps to ensure safety.
* How to use the sex offender registry to prevent known predators from gaining access to your child.

By allowing parents to identify sexual predators before their children are harmed, Dr. Baker takes the battle to end sexual abuse to the only front where it can ever truly be the home front.

288 pages, Hardcover

First published April 17, 2002

Reviews

[Cynthia Armistead]

I picked this up on a whim because it was on the new releases shelf at the library. Honestly, I don’t usually get far in such books, because they start getting into material that triggers flashbacks for me.

So far, this one hasn’t. There haven’t been any terribly explicit descriptions of molestation, so I’m okay so far. And yes, I did know most of what’s in here, but I found some of the statistics interesting. The step-by-step way the book follows one predator after another, pointing out the warning signs that should have tipped parents off to the dangers their children were in, is interesting. I think it could be very helpful to many parents.

I’ve always been very protective of Katie, and very proactive in talking with her and trying to educate her in ways that might help her avoid predators. Giving her the real names for parts of her body, the whole “good touch/bad touch” thing, making sure that she understands that her body is HERS and nobody, no matter who that person is, has any right to touch her without her consent. If she doesn’t want to hug Aunt Lucy, she doesn’t have to do it—and Aunt Lucy isn’t allowed to push. And, as she’s gotten older, I’ve talked to her (in age-appropriate ways) about what happened to me.

I wasn’t aware that children who have been abused in any way (sexually, physically, emotionally, verbally) are much more likely to be abused again, even by completely different people in a totally different setting. They’re more vulnerable. The same goes for children who have experienced the loss of a parent due to death or divorce, or have otherwise been traumatized—predators seek out the most vulnerable kids as their preferred victims.

And, unfortunately, being the child of an abuse survivor greatly increases the probability that a child will be the victim of abuse. In some, but not all, cases, the abuser is the parent. But in more cases, the abuser is someone who sees the damaged boundaries of the abuse survivor and takes advantage of them to gain access to the child. That’s definitely of direct interest to me as an abuse survivor.

I recommend this book to any parent, but especially those who are abuse survivors or whose children may be especially vulnerable due to other circumstances. Teachers, Scout leaders, and others who work with children may also benefit from reading this book.

[Niki]

Not exactly an enjoyable topic, but the author included lots of stories and case studies that caught my interest and kept me reading at a quick pace. Though I don't have enough background in psychology to evaluate the accuracy of her data, it seems to be a useful book in showing us the general characteristics of sexual predators as well as their typical modus operandi so we can recognize the people and situations that are threatening.

[Franziska]

I didn't give this book a rating. All the details of abuse really disturbed me, and gave me nightmares. So, I can't say in any way that I "liked" the book. However, it did have a lot of useful information on how to recognize potential signs of a predator, how/what to teach your kids, etc. So, useful, but horrible.

[Linda]

This book has excellent information on the four types of sexual predators and recognizing warning signs of a sexual predator.