Self Defense Moves should be the last thing that you should do to protect yourself


Self Defense Moves should be the last thing that you should do to protect yourself, it's like getting onto an air plane and the last words that you want to hear from the pilot are "Get your parachute out, you're going to need it, we're going to crash."
women-self-defense.jpg
Image: http://blogs.trb.com/features/consumer/shopping/blog/2010/10/
and http://jayadevm.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/keep-that-parachute-open/

What can help women/children be safe?

Sex Trafficking--Modern day

“Sex trafficking is modern-day slavery and is happening in local communities, as well as around the world…”

Even though it was an article about a self defense class being offered, I found the reason that it was being offered very interesting. I knew Sex trafficking was happening in other countries, but those countries in my mind were third world countries without civility. The article opened my eyes to the reality of it occurring in our own country.

Predators are Very Aware of Their Environment and Choose it on Purpose

Animals - Beasts - predatory Lynx wallpaper



Funny but seriously disturbing, human's are the only animal that would ignore it's intuition. Any animal who sees a predator knows who they are and they will flee or fight. But when we see some one in an elevator that our inner voice says yuck, don't trust that person, what do we do---we get into the elevator and turn our backs on our possible predator. How messed up is that? 


Predators rely on their prey to be vulnerable, in the wrong place at the wrong time. Predators are very aware of their environment and choose it on purpose. They choose it because they know that they prey is there and unaware of them

Are You Choosing to be Vulnerable?

Cartoon of predator chasing prey with caption: 'What are you complaining about, it's a level playing field'Lets talk truthfully here ladies and children, we can be vulnerable. We are vulnerable when we choose to be. We choose not to listen to our inner voice that says to stay away from certain places or people. We choose to walk, run, bike in places that are quiet and secluded by ourselves. We choose not to pay attention to our environment. We choose to go into neighborhoods well known for criminal activity. We choose to take a path that's not well traveled....



Being Safe, Lessons to Learn

Disturbing news coming from Washington State (Spokane, Washington-Upper Lincoln Park on South Side) yesterday. 62 yr old women was sexually assaulted in a very popular park. Apparently the park is well used by family's, walkers, runners ...etc. The attacked occurred, during day hours, on a walking path.

Lets study the attack in depth--the attack occurred in a very poplar park, during day hours, the park was empty at this time, the attacker was taking pictures on the path (I guess it's a very scenic area) and than followed the woman and attacked her. Thankfully the women survived. She went to the hospital and they reported it to the police.

It's apparent that this attacker had studied this area before and knew when it was the most secluded. He was like a predator waiting for his prey. His prey walked right into his trap.

What can we learn from this terrible event? Don't walk, run, bike alone. Don't go into areas that are secluded. Pay attention to your inner voice. Pay attention to your environment and people in that environment.

If ever attacked immediately go to the hospital (don't take a shower, don't go to the bathroom, don't change your clothes) and have a rape test done. At the hospital, they will contact the police. Usually it's women nurse who will take care of you that has been trained for this type of emergency.

Please if you have any information about this attack call Crime Check at 456-2233. 


Original news article: http://www.nwcn.com/news/washington?fId=152897815&fPath=/home&fDomain=10222

Escaping Would be Kidnappers

Listening to the news the other night I heard of another child escaping from a would be kidnapper.

The reporter said that the child screamed, kicked and wiggled and the kidnapper dropped the kid and ran away.

Teach your child this technique if you haven't yet--it may save their lives. Practice it at home with your child.

Ladies, it will work for you too, if you're ever in that type of situation.

REMEMBER; scream, kick, wiggle, and bite---DO ANYTHING TO KEEP THE WOULD BE KIDNAPPER FROM MOVING YOU FROM WHERE YOU ARE. Use any part of your body as a weapon, it's no time to be polite, it's time to take control and survive.


Empowering Children

In kindergarten I was taught a very important truth, "don't kick, don't slap and touch any one."

http://www.mybodybelongstome.com/
Every one at every age deserves to feel in control of their own body, it's not ok to touch some ones body if they don't want you to.

Teach your children that any touch to any part of the body done by any one at any age, that feels uncomfortable is a problem, and to tell the person to stop and tell an adult they trust about it.



Who's following your child on Facebook?

It's ok to be a nosy parent if it means that your child is safe

Are you aware of who's following your children on facebook or any social media venue?

Do you know the people personally? Where does your child know their social media friends from?

Unfortunately due to the ability of being anonymous in this computer age, it's easy for people to follow your child that do not have good intentions.

This is the age of illusion too, people can pretend they are a young person (even though they maybe an old man/women) by finding a picture on the internet and copying it and using it as their profile picture.

So be a little nosy and find out who your child is following on facebook.

Image: http://www.brandbuildsell.com/recent-blog-posts/10-internet-marketing-strategies-for-building-brand-awareness/

We Want the Dominant Response to be to Take Care of Yourself, Protect Yourself




Randy Monroe offers self defense classes. He calls it a "mix of education and technique, discussing a variety of situations and scenarios. Monroe hits on 5 areas: avoidance, reaction, escape, reporting an attack and recovery after the fact. He says the success of his program lies in the amount of practice." 

Monroe says, "Doing it once or twice is not going to make it a habitual response. We want the dominant response to be to take care of yourself, protect yourself. The only way that this happens is through repetition, repetition and more repetition."

What we can learn from the past how to keep our children safe

Within the last few months there have been a couple of near child kidnapping situations, gone nationally. 


What can we learn from these? Why didn't the children get kidnapped?


From an earlier post Girl escapes attempted abduction in Calgary Alberta we find out what the little girl did and what the kidnapper did too

"...a man got out of his vehicle and grabbed the nine-year-old from behind — lifting her off the ground." "...The girl kicked and screamed until the man dropped her."


In this situation, the girl kicked and screamed. The kidnapper dropped the girl and took off.


self defense for children,self defense techniques,taekwondo
http://tinyurl.com/6rkpweq 
1) What made the kidnapper drop the girl?

Have you ever tried to pick up a child having a tantrum and kicking? It's difficult if not impossible. As the child is kicking they often (more often than not) will kick the person that is trying to pick them up. Now if you're a man trying to pick up a kicking child, there is a good chance that the child will kick you in a very sensitive area of your body. 

As a child is moving around in your hands it's difficult to keep them in your hands/arms due to the movement.

2) Why did the man take off and not stay around and try to kidnap the other child?

The one thing that a kidnapper is depending on is anonymity,  when attempting their crime. At this point after screaming the kidnapper would believe that other people maybe looking in the direction of the screaming (near by neighbors). The privacy of the crime is no longer private but very public.

He didn't try to take the other child due to the public display of screaming as well as the child that he dropped would be able to ID the criminal---which they did (please look at the link and if you have any information about this person, please contact the police)


Knowledge that Could Prevent You from Ever Being in a Situation Where You Have to Fight Off an Attacker

Reasons to take Self Defense Class

Remember the old adage "an once of prevention is worth a pound of cure"?

Living Well and safe at homeSergeant Juan Rodriquez (said about his self defense class, that some one will take away with them) "...knowledge that could prevent (them) from ever being in a situation where (they) have to fight off an attacker.'"

"If they know the skills to protect themselves prior to the incident then maybe the incident never happens or their so aware of what's going on around them the situation doesn't arise at all." 

He focuses on teaching women to identify a potential attacker by simply paying attention. 

"It's more to make women more aware and make them feel more confident and more assertive in their abilities to defend themselves." he says.

What Would You Do? What Does Your Child Know?

What lessons are there to learn?
What would you do in this situation?
Does your child know what to do if this situation happened to them?

My comment on what the child did in this situation.
 possibly the reason that no one helped out, the adult was acting like a father, like any other father would act if their child was giving them trouble--and the child wasn't doing any thing other than saying "help me, this isn't my father." To a person on the street it may have looked like a child having a tantrum and a father/parent trying to get control of the situation? So what can and should your child do if this, heaven forbid, happened to them?

We can learn from recent near kidnappings what they should do. I will be posting that information in the next blog

The Best Way to Harm an Attacker--Don't be a Victim

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, every minute, 24 people in the United States are victims of rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner.

self defense class(es)…seek to lower that statistic.

Robert Bentley, a mixed martial arts instructor from Quincy, Illinois, said striking a person in the nose or the groin is the best way to harm an attacker.

"I want the women to have an idea of how to throw some basic punches," said Robert Bentley.  "One thing that we always talk about is using your palm instead of your fist so that you don't hurt your hand when you're defending yourself. We're going to be working on break away techniques on how to release, get away, and how to kick or punch or use whatever you can to stop that person, slow them down, and be able to run."

Being Aware of One's Surroundings is Key to Avoiding an Assault


great falls montana



Why Great Falls, Montana Women took a Self Defense Class 

"Our environment is changing," Northeast Montana Health Services spokeswoman Tina Strauser said. "We need to be more aware of what's going on here."

"This is not a scare tactic, but a chance to be aware of what's around us being aware of one's surroundings is key to avoiding an assault.

"We need to be smart, we need to be wise — and always be prepared," said the New York native.

She encouraged the female audience to go to the Montana Department of Justice website and look at the registered sex offenders who may be in their towns or neighborhoods.
With the increasing warm weather, women are going for walks or runs more, and should be prepared when they leave the house. They also should always tell someone a return time and avoid night-time runs, Kraul said.
When shopping at a store, ask an employee to walk you to your car.

"If they say 'no,' ask someone else. Or you could wait for a group of people who are walking out and ask them if you could follow along. There's safety in numbers," Kraul said.
hold your set of keys and form a fist with a key between the fingers. "It's an excellent self-defense tool because you can gouge or scratch," she said.

Kraul also showed various parts of the body that can be attacked when fighting off an assailant. She told class participants to not be squeamish while defending themselves.

"The idea is to never give up (in case of an attack). Keep fighting, fighting and fighting. It's gonna be crazy when you're fighting for your life," Kraul said.

Elder said the workshop helped her realize that a person doesn't need brute strength to fight off an attacker.