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[EGP]

Stranger Danger - As parents, this is our biggest fear. The very thought of a stranger stealing our child from us, harming them emotionally, physically or worse makes for a feeling of unimaginable sickness. I have worried about someone apprehending my children from day one.

Over the past month I have received reports from our local elementary schools and the Little League Board about "stranger danger" incidents that have recently occurred in our City of Folsom. To the best of my knowledge and most gratefully, none of these incidents resulted in any actual apprehension or physical injury to a child.

Now about a year ago, I enrolled my son in martial arts for every other reason than "stranger danger." I wasn't really interested in the self-defense aspect of it all as much as I was interested in improving his focus, confidence and self-esteem. However, when his martial arts instructor put on a "Stranger Danger" workshop this past weekend, I jumped at the opportunity to sign my son up. The main reason, in conjunction with the recent incidents, was that even though I had watched my son gain strength, focus, confidence and execute amazing kicking and striking moves this past year, I still wasn't sure if he really knew what to do if he found himself confronted with a "stranger danger" situation. I sensed he felt he could perhaps "karate kick" his way out of anything and my belief was that in many situations, that just wasn't the only answer or best response.

In my view and gratefully shared by the instructor, the main goal is to NOT get to the point of ever needing to physically defend yourself. There is much that you can do and your child can do to prevent the need to ever enlist all those amazing moves they learn in class and that is exactly what this class brought to the table - as well as some kick butt moves any child or adult can easily do to cripple a potential predator.

Now, I can't possibly reiterate all the fantastic information provided during the class because there was so much, but the most critical piece that I feel compelled to share is below.

The VERY best piece of advice I took away from the class was the specific words a child should yell should they be physically apprehended in any way. The instructor asked the students this question if you are in a situation where you need to yell, what words do you yell? The immediate response from the group of children was "Help!" Yes, "Help!" is good the instructor noted, but not complete. We really must instruct our children our children to yell "Help! This is NOT my father/mother!" or "Help! This is a stranger to me!" You know why this is so very important? It is for the rest of us who might be in earshot. Because guess what, as humans we are very reluctant to interfere with another parent's parenting.

With my first son, I can remember many times having to physically carry him away from the park while he was yelling and fighting me at every turn as I was at the end of my rope with my civil attempts to get him to comply with my requests to leave. It wasn't pretty, but at the time, with a strong-willed three year old, I did not have many choices. I think we've either been there ourselves or we have witnessed this uncomfortable display at some point in our lives.

Now, imagine a situation where this is not the distressed mother of a strong-willed child but a stranger - how would you ever know? If we teach our children to yell not just "Help!" but "Help! This is NOT my father/mother!" or "Help! This is a stranger to me!" we fellow citizens know right away this is NOT a parent/child power struggle but a true attempted apprehension.

Now, I know child abductions occur when no other people are around to intervene. Still, if your child is yelling with all of their might "Help! This is not my father, etc.!" might just be enough to scare away the predator - because trust me; they do not want to get caught.

I hope this information helps you as a parent and provides you one more survival tool to equip your children with should they ever encounter a potential child predator.

For more on local classes, you can contact www.folsommartialarts.com and for general tips and information simply Google "stranger danger" to find a wealth of resources to help educate you and your children.