Children’s Self Defense

Physical self defense for children is a tricky subject. Because of their size, they are pretty easy to grab and carry away even if they are kicking and screaming. But that doesn't mean that they are helpless. There are many things children can do to decrease their odds of being kidnapped. As always, the first thing we want to look at is awareness. 

The first step of awareness is to teach your children to recognize when a stranger is taking inappropriate interest in them or acting weird, like in the story with my sister where the man was in Target, but wasn’t shopping. The other thing that man did was follow them around the store. Another thing to keep in mind is that the image of the "scary looking man" is not always correct. Predators are always coming up with new ways to fool people so you should look at behavior, not appearances. Handsome, clean cut men as well as women and even children are used every day to trick potential victims into a trap. No matter who they are, if they are acting in a way that doesn't fit the norm, that is a red flag. Children should be taught to be aware of these things and point them out to a trusted adult or be taught to go find security.

The next strategy is to teach your children how to avoid getting grabbed. My personal safety zone is about two meters. If a stranger that I have a bad feeling about gets any closer than that, my awareness jumps up and I start looking at my options. So if your child can be aware of a stranger getting too close, they can try to duck and run and wiggle away, find a safe adult or squirm into a spot where the adult can’t fit. Practice trying to grab your kid and have them practice being slippery. One thing little kids are great at is wriggling and worming their way into spots a larger adult can’t get to.

If the attacker does manage to lay hands on them, while screaming and shouting, they can:

-Bite

-Grab a finger and break it

-Beat on their attacker’s face, especially the nose and eyes. Hitting the nose as hard as possible and pushing the fingers into the eyes as far as they will go (gross, I know) are the best ways to induce pain and hopefully distract the attacker long enough for the child to escape. Also, if you can get a really good grip on the ear and rip with as much force as possible, it will certainly cause pain and in some cases cause the ear to become partially detached.

-Put their mouth as close to the attacker’s ear as possible and emit a bloodcurdling scream right into their ear (as kids are so good at).

-Grab something heavy and/or sharp and hit the attacker with it

-Grab things and throw them at the attacker (anything they can get their hands on, sand or rocks, any small object nearby, just throw everything at them). 

-Kick the knee backwards. If done with enough force, the knee will break and the attacker won’t be able to get up.

-Groin shot may or may not work, but it’s worth a try. For a little kid who can’t kick that high, they can grab the testicles and squeeze and twist. Cause as much pain as possible

The idea is to be a difficult victim. Cause as many problems as possible for the attacker and hopefully they will decide you are too much trouble.  Don’t just flail, learn how to identify targets on the body that are weak and exploit those. And the biggest key is once you have an opening, RUN! 

As caretakers of our children, it is important for us to be aware and protect them as much as possible. But we can teach them to look for signs of danger and stay out of trouble themselves as well, and they will take those skills with them for the rest of their lives.