I conducted my first Kid Escape Seminar this past Saturday (1/25/14). Kid Escape is an awesome child-survival training system that focuses, not on self-defense, but on escape and evasion methodology that makes truckloads of sense. The unfortunate fact is that millions of parents are scared shitless when it comes to the safe passage of their children to, during, and from school (and other activities). Research and surveys reveals that more than 3/4 of parents are fearful that their kids are too naieve, too trusting, to “something,” that, if they (the kids) were to ever be confronted by an adult sexual predator, they would end up in the trunk of a car, tied up in the back seat, being escorted into the nearby woods, which is the same of saying that their child or teen is never going to come home again! Interestinly, over 3/4 of children and teens interviewed confessed that they experience feelings ranging from anxiety to feelings of fear most of the time.
So, what is the answer to this problem for millions of parents? Simple: enroll them in a local martial arts school. Pay a stranger to teach their children how to protect themselves. At first blush, a logical solution, but, in reality, I am here to say that it is as far away from an effective solution to your child’s safety against a desperate, experienced, and determined adult predator as possible.
Well, ok, maybe that’s a little strong. After all, a kid can learn a lot from a skilled, certified instructor. Unfortunately, skills that can win your child a “Match-Fight” will hardly ever work in your child’s personal-combat or a street fight! Really, do you really believe that a three to 16-year old youngster, using skills and techniques designed for a sanctioned exhibition can prevail against a larger, stronger, faster adult who is desperate to whisk that kid away to a secondary and secluded sight before a cop or a witness can intervene?
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SO, HOW DO YOU PROTECT “THE GIFT?”
- The best way I know is for parents to take an active role. I advocate parents becoming their child’s Safety Coach.
- Talk with them every day about their experiences, fears, etc. Research reveals that over 75% of kids and teens have had a “scary” experience but have never talked with their parents about it.
- Play fun games with your child. Games that teach simple, yet effective ways to recognize, react to, and escape the predator.
- Games might include “What If Games.” Ask “what would you do if such and such happens? questions.
- Role Play with your child. Young people will not, believe me, know how to react if they do not have reaklistic experiences.
- Some role plays might involve something like how to open a locked door from inside a vehickle; how to escape from the trunk of a car, how to use his or her voice to alert others about your danger and to disturb the abductor.
- Teach your child how not to be selected as a victim. Teach them how to be a Tough Target, including Walking and moving with confidence; looking around so that a potential predator sees that you are alert and not an easy traget; make noise, etc. Predators scope out the area and are looking for quiet, nice, non-moving children.
ESCAPE & EVASION
Kid Escape is all about escape & evasion and hardly ever about beating a predator in a fight. That is absurd in any cases and almost always ends up catastrophically for the child. Kid Escape is about creating movement with speed and angles that delays a bad guy’s ability to grab, secure, and exit the scene with ease and alacrity. Things like stop-drop-and-roll (rolling on the ground as if the child’s pants were on fire and she/he is trying to put out the flames) and Drop-Lock-and-Roll where teh child hooks onto a stationary object (like a pole, a tree, his or her bike) with his or her arms and feet (or, in most cases, the bad guy himself) so that the bad guy cannot carry your child into whatev er secondary scene he has dsesigns upon delivering your child to.
More in my next post on Kid Escape and the safety Coach.
Until then, stay safe.
Hammer