Protecting Your Family

Odyne

Odyne

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I just saw the movie, Taken. It deals with a father who is trying to retrieve his daughter and save her from becoming a victim of human trafficking. The father's job, before retiring, gave him the skills to track down the kidnappers and find his daughter.

Throughout the whole movie, I had my hand on my heart, worried and praying that he'd find her. (silly me, I know!) When the movie ended, I found myself thinking, that an average person like me cannot possibly go to such extents to save a family member, even if I wanted to. But what I can do is take preventive measures.

Now I am no mother yet, but I'm very family oriented and hopefully one day I will have children of my own. I just want to ask the fathers and mothers here on the forum, what do you do to protect your children without suffocating them or limiting them from experiencing the world?

I understand that you can't protect your children from harm all the time, but a parent's gotta try, right?


If others here have any good advice or suggestions, please feel free to share. =)
 
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That movie is awesome.

I'm not a parent but I am sort of a protector to various other peers/friends kids. I'd rip things apart to keep them safe. Gotta just let them learn their own way too though.
 
I'm not a parent either.. but I'll tell you what I'd do anyways.
I would teach my kids to always remain aware of their surroundings and to think quick.. and I would instill in them the self-confidence to not appear to be a vulnerable target. I'd also teach them to defend themselves. Outside of that, I'm not sure what more you can do without smothering and making the child too sheltered.
 
Yeah, the best thing you can do for your kid is to empower them. I know my parents taught me to be independent from a young age -- teach them to be confident, how to defend themselves and be resourceful, and how to get help if they ever need it.
 
I am not a fan of killing people, but if anyone ever tried to hurt or abduct a family member or friend and I was able to do something about it, I would not think twice about doing it. I know this doesn't help when they might be at school, at a friends house, ect, but while they are in my presence, I would give my life, or take another's to protect people close to me.
 
Great movie. The wife in the movie is pretty much a big jerk. The husband is also an ass. I felt bad that the hero in the movie wasnt really appreciated like he should have been.
 
Odyne said:
I just saw the movie, Taken. It deals with a father who is trying to retrieve his daughter and save her from becoming a victim of human trafficking. The father's job, before retiring, gave him the skills to track down the kidnappers and find his daughter.

Throughout the whole movie, I had my hand on my heart, worried and praying that he'd find her. (silly me, I know!) When the movie ended, I found myself thinking, that an average person like me cannot possibly go to such extents to save a family member, even if I wanted to. But what I can do is take preventive measures.

Now I am no mother yet, but I'm very family oriented and hopefully one day I will have children of my own. I just want to ask the fathers and mothers here on the forum, what do you do to protect your children without suffocating them or limiting them from experiencing the world?

I understand that you can't protect your children from harm all the time, but a parent's gotta try, right?


If others here have any good advice or suggestions, please feel free to share. =)
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Gotta love taken, definitely a good movie.

I would probably consider a little GPS tracker in their shoe or something, I wouldn't use it to track their every move or anything like that, but just in case that they get lost alone or taken by someone at an early age I could use it to find them, plus it would give them a little more freedom and give me a little more reassurance.

At a certain age...like 12, I would tell them about it and explain why I did it.

In the movie.....I think she was....around 18? maybe a year younger because she needed parental consent. at that point you've really gotta trust that they have the common sense to not make silly decisions, I reckon I would let my kid travel the world a bit definitely, the age would more depend on his/her mental development, if they're reckless or not and so forth, also who they are with would be quite a big factor.

I would entirely be bricking it though, letting my kid go to another country that doesn't speak the same language, but at that age there isn't much more you can do than what the father did (list of areas not go to go and so forth). I do understand how important travelling the world is, there is such a big difference/change in people who have traveled than those who haven't and I'm all about encouraging personal growth in others and at that point you've just got to trust your kid and what you and others have taught them.
 
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I refuse to watch the movie. Its stresses me for some reason. My husband keeps trying to get me to watch it but I can't, it would probably break my heart.
 
My mother and father did a good job protecting me... in fact, perhaps too good. They drove me anywhere I needed to go, and I spent the rest of my time in the house (they still basically do so, in fact). They were divorced, but the same basic thing happened in both homes.

As a result, I never really participated in the world. That's fine with me as an Introvert, though I wonder if perhaps their contribution to my natural paranoid instincts (by telling me not to talk to strangers, telling me all the things that could happen) for so much of my life was really healthy for me.

My Dad owns a company and expects that I will have to spend the rest of my life living with and working for him, because he doubts the economy will recover enough for someone like me (who requires security and predictability, can't deal with a lot of rapid complexity and maintaining connections, doesn't like to bend the rules or take risks) to survive on their own in this society.

If you just want to keep your kids safe, I guess that's a good approach. If you want them to have self-confidence and be a part of the world... maybe it's not. That's all I can share.
 
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Shai Gar said:
It has a happy hollywood ending.
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Yes, I cannot remember the specifics or find information on it, but I have heard that Taken is based on a man who set out with a large sum of money to find his daughter who had been lost in the slave trafficking system. She was killed before he could find her- in a way too grotesque for a PG 13 hollywood movie.
 
Dragon said:
Yes, I cannot remember the specifics or find information on it, but I have heard that Taken is based on a man who set out with a large sum of money to find his daughter who had been lost in the slave trafficking system. She was killed before he could find her- in a way too grotesque for a PG 13 hollywood movie.
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I do not remember that ending... In fact, I think it ended up to be too happy for what the story was leading up to. That being said, your ending sounds more realistic.

As to the original questions of the topic, not being a parent (that I know of at lease (this is a joke btw)), I can't comment based on my personal experience. However, my humanities teacher would say that it's best to act like a watch dog for your kid. He believes it's absolutely necessary for kids to explore the world, make mistakes, and stand up again on their own. Yes, the parent's needed to be there for the kid in case they fell too far in a mistake, but he didn't believe in smothering the child. Once they reach that point where they need help, then the parent needs to act in their full capacity.
 
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