Good • Strong • Safe

published on July 10th, 10:19 a.m.

There are two kinds of bodyguards - and they work in different ways.

Professional bodyguards are security specialists. They work smart. They try to eliminate threats and keep their clients out of nasty situations.

There are other people, often called bodyguards, whom you’ll usually see in a ring around a celebrity - these guys are BIG and mean looking - they have two jobs. One - provide visual deterrence (who wants to get their spine snapped by one of these guys) and two - reinforce the impression of importance.

While you could hire former wrestlers or football players to form a ring around your child until they’re 21, it may not be the most practical approach. No - let’s try a Secret Service approach. These guys protect the President and other VIPs. And we all know that the President is a very important person, but he isn’t more important to me that my child. So shouldn’t my child have the benefit of that same kind of protection? The bodyguard we’re talking about does his job by trying to reduce his principal’s ‘exposure’ and by providing ‘cover’. As a parent this means that it’s your job to control the availability potential bad guys have to your child - that’s the exposure part. You also provide the ‘cover’ - you are a shield between your child and bad guys.

A good bodyguard works by being prepared - practicing things that could happen, coming up with a plan. Good parents are naturally shielding of their children - from negative influences and people. When we have taught women’s anti-rape course over the years we’ve used this little device to highlight the point. It goes something like this... I tell the women “I’m a black belt, can break concrete blocks with my hands, and I enjoy fighting. If one of you and I get into a fight on a parking lot, who’s going to win?” Almost always the women say that I’ll win. So then I ask a different question. “If you and your child are walking along and I jump out and grab your child, how many steps do I get before you kill me?” NONE is the usual answer. Over the years we’ve called this the Momma Bear Instinct. Any good mom will tear someone to pieces to protect her child. That’s a pretty effective shield.

OK Parents, your job is to keep ‘em close! If the person being protected is out of reach, it makes the job of protecting them much harder. It’s the same deal for the Parent Bodyguard; if your child is out of reach, they are exposed. If you can’t see them, you can’t watch out for them. If you can’t grab them, you can’t pull them to safety. Now it’s impossible to keep our kids in arms reach all the time - but anytime we’re less than totally positive about our surroundings, we should try to keep them close.

Let’s work together to help kids to be good, strong and safe.