Self Defense Against Strangers

We have learned about eight different kinds of strategies and tricks strangers use to abduct and kidnap children. Let’s look back on who these strangers are: Gift Giver, Helpless, Game Player, Scary, Magician, Messenger, Promiser, and Friendly. These are just a few of the strategies strangers use to lure children into going away with them. Of course it is vital for us to teach our children about these strangers so they can be aware and ready if a stranger ever approaches them, but we also need to educate our children on basic self defense so they can protect themselves from persistent strangers who may even try to grab them.
First of all, we as parents, teacher, and caretakers must always keep a close eye on our children and make sure that they are never out of our sight. Doing this will drastically lower the chances of our children getting in the hands of strangers.
Basic self defense for children: when a stranger approaches the child and starts talking to them trying to lure them in, the child needs to immediately use their greatest weapons which is their mouth and their body. The child must immediately step back away from the stranger, put their hands out in front of them, and begin shouting, “Stop! Don’t touch me there! Leave me alone! That’s not my dad! That’s not my mom! That’s not my brother or sister! He has a gun! Fire!” The child needs to yell as loud as they can so that other people around them can hear that something is wrong. This will startle the stranger and the stranger may leave the child alone after this because other people are now watching and aware of what is happening. If the child needs to begin running away they need to run to an area where other adults are while shouting these things. The child needs to know that they must NOT hide in a room or behind a bush because that is a dead end and makes it too easy for the stranger to capture them. They need to keep running until they find other adults.
If after shouting the stranger is still persistent is stealing the child, the child must use their body to protect themselves. If the stranger grabs them they must use their arms to hit the stranger off of them and strike them in the nose. By striking the stranger in the nose, the stranger will be in pain and eyes will being to water because this is a soft part of the body that can be easily injured. The child should also kick the stranger in the groin, bite, stomp on their feet, and gouge the eyes. This may sound violent to teach your child, but these are the most effective ways for your child to defend themselves from a stranger and the most effective way for them to survive.
Teaching our children about strangers and how serious it is that they avoid talking with strangers without their parents around is one of the most important things we can teach our child about; it may save their life. We need to let our children know that no matter how friendly or nice a stranger looks or acts, they could still be a bad stranger. The child needs to know that if a stranger makes them feel uncomfortable in any way, that this is not okay. Even is a stranger does not make them feel uncomfortable, they still need to stay away to be extra safe.
Our children need to know that if a stranger asks them for help or for something else, that they need to tell that stranger, “Let me go ask my mom and dad first.” And they must run straight to their parents or guardians. An adult should never be asking a child for help or talk to them without their parent around.

Let’s work together to protect our children and not allow them to become another statistic of child abduction. I pray that this information has been more than helpful to you and I pray that you pass it on to others who have children under their care. Be courageous in teaching your children about stranger danger.

Please look over this website for information about self defense against strangers that was taught in a local school:
http://www.yellodyno.com/pdf/Stranger%20Danger!%20Program.pdf

Check out these websites for more information about teaching kids about strangers:
http://www.shoppingthevillage.com/stranger.htm

http://www.parenthood.com/article-topics/beyond_stranger_danger_teaching_kids_how_to_avoid_abduction.html

Promiser & Friendly

The seventh stranger is called the Promiser. This stranger tells the child. “I promise I will not hurt you. I promise I’ll take you back to your family soon.” The Promiser promises the child many things to lure them into going with them. Because children believe adults when they promise something and believe that they will keep their promise, the child will feel comfortable going with this stranger. We must remind our children to never believe a stranger even if they promise something that sounds really great. Children need to know that people they don’t know should never promise them anything or even talk to them if their parents are not with them. The Promiser is another very tricky stranger that is a master at kidnapping children. It is super important that we teach our children about this type of stranger as well and do everything we can to keep our children safe and protected.

The eighth stranger is the Friendly stranger. This stranger is very friendly with the child and appears to be the kindest, sweetest person that the child can trust. The Friendly stranger may even begin complimenting the child and helping the child find his/her parents or toy aisle at the store. This stranger even appears to be innocent, clean, and presentable and extremely unsuspicious. Everything about this type of stranger says that they are kid-friendly and trustworthy. The Friendly stranger is also a master at capturing children and making them feel very comfortable, therefore, the child trusts them. We need to always remind our children that no matter what a stranger looks like or acts like, that they are to never go anywhere with them or tell them anything about themselves unless a parent is with them. Remind your kids that a stranger can be a male or female, young or old, mean looking or kind looking; a stranger is anyone that the child does not know or that their parents do not know. Let’s continue to fight hard to keep our children educated, safe, and protected from strangers that do not have our child’s best interests in mind.

Check out this website for more information on how to talk to your kids about stranger danger:

http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Stranger_Danger/

Magician & Messenger

The fifth type of stranger is called the Magician. The Magician appears like he knows magic because he may know the child's name, where they live, where they go to school, and who their friends are. The Magician isn't magic at all; he/she knows this information because they have been watching you. The Magician may hear the parent or a friend say the child's name or they may see the child's name on their backpack or on the car sticker of the family. Then they approach the child saying their name and possibly with some other information about the child. When the stranger does this, the child thinks that this stranger must be one of his parent's friends or someone he/she knows since they know so much about them, so the child will easily leave with this stranger feeling comfortable. Children need to know that even if a stranger knows their name, where they live, where they go to school, or any other information about them, that if they don't know who they are and if their parents did not tell them to leave with that person, then they must never go anywhere with that stranger. Strangers are very tricky and convincing, especially when they know vital and sometimes private information about the child. We must educate out kids about the Magician!

The sixth stranger is the Messenger. This stranger will deliver some kind of message to the child and will tell the child that their parent, aunt or uncle, teacher, or some other adult the child knows sent them to tell the child the message. For example, the child is waiting for their mom to pick them up from school and as the child is waiting a car drives up and the stranger inside calls out to the child by name, "Hey Jimmy! I'm here to pick you up from school. Your mom called me and said she's waiting in a long line in the grocery store so she asked me to pick you up today. Come on and get in the car and I'll take you home." The child may be confused but because the stranger gave such a convincing story, the child will get in the car thinking the child is going to take them home, especially because their "mom" sent the stranger to get them.

It is very heart-wrenching to imagine this happening to our children and it may be scary to tell them about these terrible things happening. However, reality is, if we don't teach our children about the different tricks strangers use, they will be at even more risk for being abducted and kidnapped. It is unimaginably more scary to not tell our children about these strangers and we will put them at even more risk if we keep this information from them. Of course our children may be startled to hear about such things, but the knowledge of knowing they are aware of strangers they will be safer.

Please visit this website to learn more about how to teach your kids about strangers and tips of what they can do to stay away from strangers and to avoid getting kidnapped.

http://www.mychildsafety.net/stranger-danger.html

Game Player and Scary

The third stranger that I will discuss is called the Game Player. This stranger is often one that is overlooked and not talked about with children, however, I beleive that this is one of the momst important strangers to inform children about because it is just as common as the others and can be even more dangerous than the others for many reasons. One reason that this stranger can be even more harmful than the others is because the Game Player will tell the child to not tell anyone about what they did and might even threaten the child that he/she will hurt their parents or someone else if they tell. Also, this stranger can be someone who is a family member, neighbor, or close friend, which makes this stranger even more deadly because his/hers threats are even more real to the child since they are well known by the family. The Game Player is often someone you would least expect, which is why it could be someone in the family but no one ever finds out because it is never suspected.

After the Game Player lures the child in, perhaps using the tactics of the Gift Giver, he/she will tell the child that they are going to play a game. This game is a game of touching the child in private places. Another name for the Game Player is the child molester. This kind of stranger will tell the child that they are going to play a game and even though the child will feel uncomfortable and know that it is wrong for the stranger to be doing this, the child will not stop the stranger because of fear and not knowing what to do. To teach children about this, tell them that no one is ever allowed to touch them where their bathing suit covers, not even family or relatives, and that someone they don't know is not allowed to touch them at all. Also, tell the child that the stranger may threaten them not to tell anyone about what the stranger did to them but that they must tell an adult right away. Assure the child that they will not be in trouble and that nothing bad will happen if they tell an adult about what happened; the stranger was just trying to scare them so they don't get caught for doing the wrong they did to the child. The child needs to know that no one is allowed to touch them and that they must tell an adult what happened so they can stay safe.

The fourth stranger is called Scary because he/she will use loud yelling, a gun, knife, and/or threats to capture the child. They scare the child into coming with them with loud threats so the child thinks that the stranger is going to hurt them if they don't go with them. The Scary stranger may drive up in a car and yell at the child to get in or else; they may have a gun or knife pointed towards the child. Scary will yell, "Come here! Come here now! Don't you run from me! I have a gun! Come here or I'll hurt or kill you!" The child then becomes so afraid that they let the stranger take them. We need to educate children about this kind of stranger and that if Scary approaches them, that they need to run the opposite direction yelling and screaming so some will hear them. They need to run to a place where other adults are and not to hide behind a wall or bush because that is a dead end. The child needs to run to a place where other adults are yelling, "Help! That's not my dad! Fire! He has gun! I'm hurt! I'm in trouble!" The child needs to yell anything that will capture other people's attention so they know that it is serious and not a child playing a game. If the stranger has a gun, the child needs to run in a zig-zag pattern in the opposite direction while yelling. Remember: even though this is scary stuff to discuss with your children, they need to know how to protect themselves and to be aware; they will have a very slim chance of surviving if they get into the car with a stranger.

Let's educate and protect our children about strangers.

Check out this website for a quiz your kids can take to test their knowledge on strangers: http://pediatrics.about.com/od/parentingquizzes/l/bl_strngdngr.htm

Gift Giver and Helpless

Parents, caretakers, and teachers alike desire for their children and students to be safe from injury and getting hurt in anyway. No one wants to see their child hurt in any way or put in the path of danger. It is sad to think that our children may get injured physically or emotionally, so we try to protect them as much as we can. One thing that we need to educate our children about is strangers; it is scary to think about but strangers are real. Many, many children are abducted each day by strangers. This blog will serve to provide information to anyone who works with children so they can educate their children on the different kinds of strangers and the various tricks they use to prey on children. I will discuss information on eight different types of strangers in these next five blogs as well as some basic self defense and preventive strategies to protect the child if a stranger ever attempts to prey on them.
The first stranger I will discuss is called the Gift Giver. Remember, that a stranger can be a male or female, adult or youth. The Gift Giver uses a gift to persuade and lure the child in. This kind of stranger may use something that is of interest to the child like candy, a toy, or a video game to attract the child. Another thing to remember: child abductors always look like someone you'd never expect to be a bad stranger. They are often friendly and caring and appear to be harmless and innocent. When the Gift Giver finds the child alone in a grocery store, for example, they may say, "Hi there. Do you like video games? I have a lot of videos games that I will give you as a present. What kind of games do you like? Oh really! I have games just like that. Come over here with me and I can give you them." Then the child will go out to the stranger's car expecting to get the games, and that's when the stranger grabs the child, throws them in their car, and drives off. It can happen that easily and that quickly. Our children need to be aware and so do the caretakers, parents, and teachers.
The second stranger is called Helpless. This stranger will act like they need help with something and will ask the child to help them. Naturally, children want to help, however, our children should know that adults should never be asking children for help unless their parent is around. For example, this stranger may say they have lost their cat and want help looking for it, or will say they need help carrying groceries to their car. The child will then help this stranger, and that is the stranger's opportunity to lead the child into a place where there isn't anyone around or to their car, and then abduct them.
Strangers and child abductors are serious and they are real. Let's educate our children so they can be safer and more aware of these scary people.

You can check out this site for more information on how to teach children about stranger danger: http://www.moneyinstructor.com/doc/strangerdanger.asp