SPOTTING DANGER BEFORE IT SPOTS YOUR TEENS

In this third book in his self-help series, Quesenberry draws on his years of professional training and personal experiences to help parents keep their teens safe.

The author is a retired air marshal who spent his working life training new recruits in situational awareness. In these pages, he shares his acquired wisdom and strategies with parents, so they can teach their teens to “identify and process environmental cues to accurately predict the actions of others” and keep safe accordingly. By revealing some of the tactics and behaviors of child predators, Quesenberry hopes to educate readers about the dangers that teens face online and out in the world. He explains “pre-incident indicators” that predators may use to manipulate a potential victim, and encourages kids to pay attention not just to their environment, but also to their intuition. Some sections lean more toward more traditional parenting advice, which isn’t Quesenberry’s area of professional expertise, although he does cite experts and includes a bibliography of sources. He’s clear about which strategies he’s used with his own teens, including teaching self-defense techniques and driving rules. Each chapter has a section of “practical exercises,” which are designed to help parents teach their teens skills to deal with dangerous situations. Many readers will likely take issue with the physical aggressiveness of a “sneak attack” game—agreed to by parents and kids in advance—in which a parent overpowers an inattentive teen, pins them to the ground, and tickles them to teach them a lesson in situational awareness. But although this sort of role-playing seems extreme, the author also stresses the reality of attacks in which kids could find themselves unable to react defensively. Each chapter concludes with a summation of key points, which may serve as a useful refresher for those consulting the book again after an initial reading.

A thorough and well-intentioned safety guide for parents.