Safety and Self Defense Tips for Kids

Children learning about Stranger Danger with officers as part of a Junior Citizens day.

Image courtesy of Flickr

This September I sent my first born off to school. As I watched him begin his educational career on the color-blocked carpet of his kindergarten class, I couldn’t help but think of all the what-ifs. What if there’s an earthquake? What if there’s a school shooting? What if someone tries to take him? No one likes to think about these things, but moms have to think about them. We think about them and we find ways to best prepare our children for bad situations. And we have to be creative by teaching them these tools without instilling fear.

As a natural worrier, I began searching for safety information early on. Here are a few things I found helpful during my investigation, beyond the basic “call 911”:

The FBI recommends sharing a code word with your child. If a stranger (or even a familiar adult) tells your child you said it was ok to do something or go somewhere with them, your child should always ask for the code word.
Practice the basics. Your child needs to know their full name, your full name, your phone number, and their home address. You should also tell them who they are allowed to give this information to.
Talk about their body. Explain that no one should ever touch them in areas that are normally covered by a bathing suit. And that they should never touch anyone else in these areas either.
Kids should know never to agree to help an adult without your permission. Asking for directions or looking for a lost dog? Adults should ask other adults for help, not kids.
Talk to your child about secrets. An adult should never ask them to keep secrets from mommy or daddy. Advise your child to immediately tell you everything, even if they are afraid or if the adult threatened to hurt you or your child. This is a tough one to discuss but ensure your child that your family will be safe, and keeping the secret is more dangerous than telling.

A few notes on self-defense:

If someone tries to follow or grab your child, they should know to scream and yell as loud as possible and to run away to someplace safe and get help. If a stranger puts their hands on your child, they should know it is okay to scratch, kick, hit, and fight to get away. Practice the “get-away” game – head out to the yard and show your kids how to yell, run, and protect themselves.
Teach your child the sensitive spots that might hurt a bad guy the most, giving them the opportunity to get away. Hitting someone hard on the nose will hurt, and it will make their eyes tear up. Tell your child to aim there and take their shot, more than once if necessary. Speaking of the eyes, this is one time that it’s ok to poke someone in the eye. The soft spot between the ribs, above the belly button is a good place to kick or punch, as is the throat.

It may not feel right teaching your child how to hurt someone, but it could be a life-saving move. Just be sure to talk to your child about the extreme nature of these tactics and explain to them that these are not moves to practice on friends or siblings. If you want your child to have more control and confidence, enroll them in a child’s self defense class or sign them up for karate or another form of martial arts. And tell dad it’s ok to wrestle (carefully). Let your kids build their strength and become familiar with maneuvering around an adult. Also, encourage your child to ask you questions.

Sending our kids out into the world is exciting, but it can also be scary. And as parents, it’s our job to prepare them, even for the scary stuff. It’s our best way to protect them when can’t be there.

About the Author:

Heidi Deal is a WAHM with two amazing children who learned quickly that nature is the best playground. Together, they explore the outdoors, searching for the next best place to investigate.

After the birth of her first child, Heidi was laid off from her job at a major newsgroup and decided to turn her love for writing into a home-based business. As the owner of Copy and Content Pro, she writes content for print and online marketing, websites, blogs, e-books and more for small businesses. Heidi also writes about parenting for various websites and publications, including her own e-book, PlaySpaces: 20 of OC’s Best Places to Play and Explore with Kids. Her true calling is children’s nonfiction and she is published in several issues of AppleSeeds Magazine, a nonfiction social studies magazine for kids 6 and up.

To see some of Heidi’s adventures and for ideas to create your own, follow her PlaySpaces blog at heidideal.blogspot.com.

PlaySpaces e-book link: https://www.amazon.com/PlaySpaces-Places-Explore-Guides-ebook/dp/B00AHJTPB4/ref=pd_rhf_ee_p_t_1

Copy and Content Pro link: www.copyandcontentpro.com