###### 🔑 Protectors are parentified children [[🔑 Our parts will often surprise us]]. [[💡 Protector Parts|Protectors]] may look older than we are. They might even look scary or monstrous. But if we spend time with them they'll often reveal they're quite young, like a child or teenager, occasionally a little older. They've been over-promoted.[^1] As we get to know them we’ll come to see they’re just kids in over their heads, trying to apply a solution that used to work when we were their age but is now disruptive to our adult lives. They are essentially our younger selves looking [[💡 Exiles]], who are usually even younger. But protectors cannot heal the exiles they protect, they are too young for such a task. [[🔑 Protectors can let go of their roles when their exiles are unburdened]]. [^1]: