It's Back To School Time: Prepare Your Child To Be Safe Through Just A Few Simple Self Defense Steps

We really wish we could provide you with a monitor that would give
you peace of mind as you send your child off to school. We have a
monitor for your toddler, but now you have to let go and send them off
to school without you by their side for a few hours of your day. Self
defense starts with training you can give them.In researching ways to
protect our children we found a number of ways to prepare our children
and ourselves when sending them off to school. If you haven't heard
self-defense steps like this before we are glad to share what we
learned.A. Child Information CardA card kept in the home and regularly
updated will dramatically shorten the response time of authorities in
finding a missing child. Remember the importance of updating this
information at least yearly. How about doing it on every birthday.
Start with their name, nickname, height, weight, physical
characteristics, recent photograph, dental records and anything else
you may think will help. Think about what your child is wearing when
they leave the house, hopefully you will never have to recall it.
Share this card with anyone who will be supervising your child,
including babysitters, relatives and why not their teacher.B. Tell
your children what to do when someone is trying to gain their trust.A
Predator will try the following things to gain your child's trust,
asking for help to find their lost pet, asking for directions, telling
children their parents asked them to pick them up and impersonating an
authority figure, such as a law enforcement officer. How will your
child be able to tell if the person was sent by you? Give them a CODE
WORD. This can be a single word or a sentence. Just be sure the child
and you both know the CODE WORD and they should not go with anyone who
does not know to tell them the word or sentence. Tell them to get away
and go to the nearest safe place they know. If need to call out for
help "He is not my father".C. Attract attention and fight back.How do
they do that, kick, scratch, elbow, poke even hit as they scream.
Fighting will make it difficult for any abductor to pick him/her up or
hold. If they are touched or grabbed by anyone they need to scream "He
is not my Dad", "She is not my Mom", "Stranger, Stranger", or even
"he/she is attacking me". This is where we can help! We can give them
a Screecher or Electronic Whistle to not only draw attention but the
120 to 130 dB alarm will not be liked by the attacker.D. Do not put
child's name in visible places.When marking your child's school
supplies put the names inside, when a predator can know their name it
is easier to gain their trust.E. Remind them of the old rule, don't
talk to strangers. As they start school you need to add t this, they
need to be sure not to stand close to a stranger, always try to be
more than the strangers arm length away. Never take anything a
stranger offers them. It is important to never go anywhere with a
stranger. If someone tries to get them to go with them, and will not
stop trying, remember the rules of fighting back and screaming.F. Grab
a hold onto something.Teach them if they thing they can't get away to
drop and garb a hold onto something anything that looks like it will
not move. This will help them hold on for the longer period of time.
Scream and draw attention to themselves.What do you think? I bet you
can add to this list, self-defense starts the day they head to
school.Linda Merchant
My Protection Products