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

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Summary: Riveting, so many great tips, I've underlined most of book!
Review: I read his first book, Gift of Fear, which really changed me. Now this new book is my leading gift to give any new mother or any mother at all. It's like an owner's manual for protecting our kids. DeBecker's first book touched on child safety in a couple of chapters, but this whole book is keenly focused of keeping kids safe and keeping me as a parent from worrying too much. No wonder Oprah did two shows on this book; it's worth it!

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Summary: Priceless information
Review: I read several books a month and this book is easily the smartest book I've ever read in my life. The cases sited by Mr. De Becker are painful and scary to read but I feel much stronger and safer for having done it. It is an extremely important book for those with children and just as valuable for those without.

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Summary: Excellent, but repetition of first book.
Review: Excellent stand alone book, but those who read his first one will find that about half of this new book is pure repetion of the first. I felt cheated that I paid the price of a full book but only half was new.

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Summary: This book should be required reading for every parent.
Review: Although I'm not crazy about Mr. DeBecker's writing style his message hits home time and time again. It serves to teach us not only how to keep our children safe, it also shows us how to prevent them from becoming violent. The personal stories Mr Debecker relates, along with those he interviewed for the book are riveting and eye opening. If you do not read another book all year read this one

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Summary: Great Book!
Review: Gavin de Becker seems to have an ability to communicate in the area of safety I have never seen before. His approach in this book and the Gift of Fear are straight forward, practical, and life saving. As a woman and parent, I wish these books had been available years ago. As a police officer, I believe they should be mandatory reading. As a parent, I will pass on Protecting the Gift to my son for his family. As a reader, I strongly recommend this book.

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Summary: Compelling, Empowering and Life Saving
Review: An excellent book - I've sent several copies to other parents. Statistical, researched information debunks what is beamed into our homes every day by the media. This book will empower you with knowledge and tested methods for keeping you and your family safe. Thanks Gavin for another excellent book !!

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Summary: A Must Read!
Review: As a retired federal law enforcement official and former instructor at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Brunswick, Georgia, I am familiar with Gavin De Becker and his Mosaic systems. So it should be no surprise that I rated "Protecting The Gift" at 5-stars. This one picks up right where "The Gift of Fear" left off. I was especially interested in his chapter on children at school. During my federal career I was intimately involved in training workers in how to deal with violence in the workplace. I also worked part time in youth programs and before it became popular, I was involved in helping public schools develop safety programs. Presently I am working in the "trenches" in a Northern Virginia high school as a Safety and Security Specialist. I help take the kids off the bus, I'm with them all day and I help put them on the busses at the end of the day. Gavin De Becker wrote MY book when he wrote Protecting The Gift. It is that good! It is a book that should be REQUIRED reading for all school administrators and parents. The part of the book that really gave me a "charge" came on page 21 where De Becker says "If we do all we can to protect children and invest them with a deep belief that they are safe, they will be less afraid, and thus less likely to be violent toward others." I have seen this in action. I have over 35 years as a practitioner in keeping people safe. This book by De Becker is a "a must read."

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Summary: The Gift of Gavin!!
Review: He does it again! What an incredible combination--insightful,practical,and useful how-to, mixed with compelling storytelling. Mr. de Becker shares with the reader his razor sharp intellect, intuition and skills of evaluation and prediction, but MOST of all he empowers us to hone these elements in ourselves. The greatest gift of Gavin is the encouragement he provides to unearth and polish the God-given or nature-given instincts that we all posess. I suggest this book for everyone, not just those of us involved with children.

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Summary: Life-Saving Book
Review: Gavin De Becker has done it again! The Gift of Fear, his first book, was incredible. Now with his second, De Becker establishes himself as not only a wonderful writer and storyteller, but as someone who has a major gift to give those of us who are concerned and committed to kids' safety. He imparts practical, sensible approaches to making decisions and judgments about how to keep our children safe. He empowers me when he validates the use of instinct as I'm sure he will any reader. He also inspires and moves me in his vivid and candid account of being physically abused when he was a boy. Protecting the Gift is indeed a gift. Thank you, and bless you, Gavin, for having the heart and soul to write what you know and feel. The world will be better for your commitment to all of us.

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Summary: Powerful! Enlightening!
Review: The parts of this book that were hard to read were the very parts that I needed to educate myself on. I feel much more equipped to recognize danger and to teach my children how to be safe. Most importantly, DeBecker teaches us to trust our instincts. Great reading! ESSENTIAL to parents.