I am super-duper excited to announce my next book project:
Raising the Armored Kid: A victim and advocate gives you the tools to help your children stay safe from sexual abuse (working title)
This easy-to-read, easy-to-use book will teach parents, caregivers and loved ones common sense strategies that will help children stay safe from child sexual abuse. I include age-specific tools to empower children—from toddlers to adults—and repel predators.
But that is only part of the book. I also explain predatory behaviors such as grooming, give insight into institutional cover-up of abuse, and show how something as simple as changing a parenting style can make the difference in your child’s safety.
Why this book?
I thought back to the more than 10+ years of conversations I have had about my work as an advocate for adult victims of child sexual abuse. The dialogue is always the same: They ask me what I do. I tell them. They ooh and ahh for a minute. Then every parent ASKS THE SAME QUESTION:
“Gosh, what can I do to make sure that it doesn’t happen to my kid?”
That’s when I realized that there is no easy-to-read “toolkit” type of book for parents when it comes to preventing child sexual abuse.There are websites here and there, but most are written by academics who have never been “in the trenches” with abuse victims. Information is difficult or impossible to find on important topics such as grooming, parenting styles, and institutional rot.
Somebody needed to write this book. But who?
Then I realized—that person is me. I am a victim with a powerful and relevant story to tell. I am a parent. I have worked with more than 1,000 victims of child sexual abuse, read the depositions of hundreds of predators, and work closely with advocates, educators and leaders in the field. I’ve been in the trenches, and it’s time for me to use that knowledge to help stop the cycle.
If you don’t need this book, you love someone who does.
More coming soon!