Parents Need to Teach Self Defense to Children

According to Mary Nichols, Assistant Chief Education Officer in the Guidance and Counseling Unit of the Ministry of Education, parents need to start teaching their children self defense tactics early on.

As with any skills, the more they are practiced, the more automatic and effective they are likely to be when faced with a tricky situation. Nichols recommends that parents start early. “We should start teaching our children self defense. We have to really get into some serious self defense techniques and allow our children to practice it at home and when they practice, it will become perfect because children actually do live what they learn,” she said in a recent interview with JIS News.

Nichols cautioned, “We don’t really want to get into this fear factor where we are so fearful that the fear cripples us as parents.” She recommends starting with “… our children (so) that they know what to do.” Otherwise, “… they can’t move because they are paralyzed with this fear, so self defense is right now, the emergency mode that we have to get into with our children.”

With the abundance of self defense clubs around, Nichols strongly recommended that parents start children while they are young so they can grow up in households where it is safe to practice and become proficient at the techniques which could save their lives.