PARENTS: TRAIN YOUR CHILD AT HOME TO PREVAIL AGAINST PREDATORS WITH “SURVIVAL GAMES!”
IF YOU have kept up with my postings, you know I have been encouraging parents to become Safety or Courage Coaches to teach their children crucial survival skills against sexual predators and even predatory bullies. I teach Escape and Evasion Skills for children and their parents, but I readily concede that my efforts would be fruitless without the involvement of supportive and commited parents.
SAFETY COACHES (parents) can augment or even replace a good self defense program, and, with what I feel can be life preserving Survival Games, Role Plays, and Dynamic Simulations, can actually transcend any self defense program in value. Survival Games can enhance a child’s physical reaction time, awareness, threat recognition skills, and his or her overall self confidence. Games can focus a child’s attention on issues surrounding predators without scaring him/her half to death. Games can also establish and grow a valuable bond between parent and child and can open a valuable line of communication so that the child will be able to talk about threatening experiences he or she may not have otherwise been able to achieve. Games are an excellent, fun way for a child to learn these “unnatural” skills. I can only address a few of these “games” in this limited venue, but let’s look at a few of the best:
- THE COLOR CODED FLOOR: A good way to teach Tactical Movement. Chris Pagotto, a Mixed Martial Artist, teaches his kids how to move quickly and tactically by color coding the floor (with training mats) and playfully grappling with his children. When a child lands on a certain color he/she has only a second or two to move off of that color. On another color the child may perform a “Crabwalk Escape,” etc. An imaginative Safety Coach can easily vary this game and teach any number of evasive or fighting skills.
- THE HULA-HOOP SPACE GAME. Teach your child how to protect or control his/her vital Personal Safety Zone(PSZ). I let the children in my class play with the hoops for a few minutes then begin the drill. Each child places one arc of the hoop against his or her back and allows the front side to form a 2′ arc in front. That is their PSZ, or Hula-Hoop Space. I the present each child with written Hula-Hoop Rules:
- No one is allowed within your Hula-Hoop Space without your permission.
- With or without this Hula-Hoop, you will always carry your (PSZ) Hula-Hoop Space.
- No one is allowed to touch your body without your permission because your body is within your Hula-Hoop Space.
- Your body will warn you whenever a “No” or “Maybe” Person gets too close to your Hula-Hoop Space because your body, which has a Natural Alarm System, will give you “The Creeps. You will know “The Creeps” because you will feel (I then give the class a list of objective feelings The Creeps will give them).
- When your Natural Alarm System gives you The Creeps, Trust Your feelings!
- THE WHAT IF GAME. Teach your child to be a Tough Target Boy or Girl by building a groundwork of tactical thinking through this verbally interactive game. Try not to make this game too daunting or confrontive. Remember to be comforting and supportive, even if your child responds with what you believe is an incorrect response. The goal here is to get your child as prepared to respond as close to automatically (tactical thinking under survival stress is almost impossible to perform for an untrained child) as possible.
“WHAT IF” GAME QUESTIONS (Contact The Hammer, if you would like his insights re the “What If” answers).
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“What if a person whom you know drives up to you as you get off the school bus and tells you your mom has been hurt and she had asked him to pick you up and drive you to the hospital. What do you do?”
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“What if you are playing with some friends in a park and you have to go to the bathroom. There is a nice looking man and a well-dressed woman standing outside the restroom. What do you do?”
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What if you are home alone and a man calls from his cell phone right outside your door and says your father asked him to drop by today to talk about “that business deal.” What do you do?”
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A man says he is giving away free cookies and is handing out packages from his trunk. You watch as several kids come in pairs. The man is friendly and laughs as he gives the kids cookies and they move on unharmed. He waves at you and smiles. “Don’t you want some cookies?” he says. What do you do?”
In conclusion, there are an endless number of great games you can play with your child. You are limited only by your imagination. I will go into more of these in future blogs, including:
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Role Plays. The Safety Coach as the predator playing any number of provocative roles, teaching the child how to Breathe, Run, Destroy The Environment, Crabwalk, and, in some cases, fight.
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COURAGE RUNS. Teach your child valuable skills in eye contact, speaking clearly and audibly, walking with confidence through realistic acts in public (ordering food in a fast food restaurant, for eg.).
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DYNAMIC SIMULATIONS: More on this in a future blog. The key question to consider here, though, is do you want your child to experience a spontaneous, close quarter, surprise attack by a dangerous predator for his or her first time in a real situation or one that is simulated and free of risk?