subject: Self Defense Techniques To Teach Your Child [print this page] Children are frequently targets of opportunity for criminals simply because most of them don't know any self defense techniques that could be used to make the criminal's life difficult. From the moment that a child starts going anywhere independently, it's important to teach your child self defense. Here are the basics behind this important life lesson:
How to Contact an Authority
Children need to know their own phone number and address so that they can contact home and be taken home by the police or a teacher. They should also have their parent's work phone numbers, their school's main phone number, and the local non-emergency police station main number available in their book bag or backpack. Children may be innocent, but they're not dumb -- they'll know when they need to put these numbers to good use.
How to Identify Danger
It's critical that a child's innocence not be used as a tool against them -- to that end, teach them to recognize when a stranger is trying to lure them away from their parents, or when someone touches them in an inappropriate fashion. Improving your child's ability to understand the intent of other people will provide him a great talent to rely on later in life as well.
How to Fight Back
Self defense techniques for children should be kept simple, but effective. No adult expects a child to fight back, but if your kid knows how to identify an inappropriate touch, he is mature enough to handle the responsibility for his own self defense. Children have very little strength, size, or agility, so the self defense techniques they learn should rely primarily on being underestimated and escaping. Biting fingers, scratching eyes, punching testicles, and kicking shins are a child's best bet for getting away from someone with evil intent.
How to Find The Right Adult
Children can be easily confused when adults tell them in one breath to avoid strangers, and in another to find an adult if they are in trouble. Give your child clear guidelines about what kinds of adults they should approach when they need help. Police officers, fire fighers, teachers, women that have children with them (i.e. other mothers), and friendly neighbors are all good bets.
How to Not Be Afraid
Teach your child to scream for help, run, use a personal alarm or signal whistle, or if they're older, use pepper spray or a stun gun. The disguised personal alarm in the form of a teddy bear or other innocuous toy is a great tool. Knowing what their tools and options are in the face of danger can give your child a great confidence booster.
How to Stand Up to Adults
Children frequently obey adults simply because they are adults. You should make it clear to your young one that some adults' orders should be defied. It might cause a little embarrassment once in a while, but it has a good chance of saving your child from evil as well.
How to Respect Themselves
A key part of standing up to adults is having enough respect for their own thoughts and opinions to value them above those of a stranger. An excellent way to accomplish this goal is to enroll your child in some form of martial art or self defense class. Having just a tiny bit of discipline and knowledge of what they are capable of can go a long way - and the self defense techniques they learn along the way are sure to be useful as well.
by: Bruce Strong
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