Getting Started With Child Safety: Children’s Preparation

Preparing children for such a scenario boils down to YELL! RUN! FIGHT!

Attract Attention (Yell)
- Tell them to go nuts..scream “HELP!!!” at the top of their lungs, make them understand the attacker does not want attention brought to him, so that must be their goal.
- Also screaming “STRANGER!” and “THIS IS NOT MY DAD!” and “FIRE!” help as well.
  - Screaming anything out of the ordinary is critical to getting people’s attention.
  - The last thing a pervert wants is attention.
- If in a store, tell them to knock items off the shelves by any means they can..make people turn their heads.
  - Breaking glass items if nearby and even pulling the fire alarm are acceptable under such extreme circumstances
- Understand that this is what saved the little girl in the Georgia Wal-Mart in the video above: she made too much of a fuss and the pervert beat feet out of there!
Run
- Escape..Run away!!
- Go where the attacker is not.
  - Fortunately, since this is an innate reaction in most human beings when threatened this is not a hard skill to drill on with kids.
- One thing to teach them is if they are walking and a car pulls up beside them and the stranger engages them in any way, simply turn around and go the opposite direction
  - This forces the attacker to turn around and it changes their game plan..this puts the ball in your child’s favor and also draws more attention to the attacker and their vehicle, going back to the first fundamental.
Fight

If they have done the first two basics and the attacker is still persistent and somehow lays hand on them, now it is time to get nasty.

Make them understand it is NEVER OK for any stranger to lay hands on them.
You must also make them understand that they must never stop trying to do the first two basics: their goal is to get somebody to help them by drawing attention to the situation and keep trying to escape.
The MO in most abductions is the attacker will try to get the child in a vehicle and out of the public eye as quickly as possible.
- Typically the vehicle is the type that they can load another person into easily (such as a van or a large truck).
- Make the child understand a few things:
  - (1) Try to stay attached to an object, like a bicycle, if the attacker grabs them. Whatever they can grab..grab it. The attacker will think twice about taking a child attached to something..once again; it interrupts their plan. It is a lot hard to pull a kid and a bicycle into a car.
  - (2) If the child can stop the vehicle, they can stop the crime.
    - Teaching them to rip out electrical wires under the steering wheel or dash can interrupt the electrical and fuse systems, helping to immobilize the vehicle.
    - In the event the child is put into the trunk, you need to teach kids where the emergency trunk release is located in most vehicles.
      - All cars manufactured over the past 20 years are required to have such a release. It is often glow in the dark.
      - It might seem a bit…unorthodox…to drill this with your child but it would be advisable to make a game out of escaping from the trunk.
      - Also, show them how to rip out the brake and signal light wiring, which screams “PULL MY CAR OVER!” to draw attention to the vehicle. Remember to keep making noise…draw attention!!
It will always be up to the parent how they want to teach actual self-defense methods.
- Most people will choose karate, tae kwon do, or judo and that is OK to an extent, but I would add the caveat to ensure that the instructor teaches real world fighting and not just “point” scoring for tournaments.
- Your time and your kids’ time can be spent much more productively.
  - I prefer a simplified set of combatives that are simple and easy to remember.
  - Techniques such as the face smash (aimed at the eyes), the nut kick, the bite, and the ear slap done non-stop and repeatedly will yield much more effective results than over complicated katas that look cool but cannot be replicated on command with street simple effectiveness.
  - You must remember your child will be outmatched in every way in an abduction scenario..sheer savagery will be their only advantage.
    - Of course, when training, safety is paramount
      - NEVER over do any physical training with young children..their joints, ligaments and bones are still growing and irreparable damage can be done if not careful.
      - Use a soft training dummy for striking practice.
        
        A face smash from a kid can hurt and cut you. Trust me on this! LOL
  - Take frequent breaks and make it Fun!!