It's time to talk....

As a mother, the recent events in Le Mars left me wanting to talk to my child about safety and self defense, but then again, I'm not really sure what to say. The day it all happened I told her to make sure that all the doors were locked and I still haven't actually talked to her about what happened. How do you start a conversation like that without scaring your child?

I'll probably start telling her the truth. I would love to sugar coat it and say it's never going to happen around here, but we all know that's neither true nor impossible. It would be easy to push it aside and protect her from the harsh realities of life, but that is neither doing her or me a service. So, I'll tell her the truth, ask if she has any questions about it then do my best to try and prepare her for it.

After you get through the talk about how bad things can happen, the hardest part is preparing them for it. Probably the only wrong answer here is not to prepare them at all. In the self defense range, I know she has a good base because she's been in Taekwondo for three years and thanks to this program has learned basics in self defense and bullying prevention. I'm sure there are other great programs out there that teach similar techniques but Taekwondo is the one we are most familiar with.

Though the general rule is if you hit somebody, you're just going to make them madder, in Taekwondo, you learn if you're going to hit somebody (in self defense only, of course) make sure you hit them in the right place. There are certain places on the body - pressure points - that can severely cripple a person when hit right. We have learned many of them ( a blow to the neck - can make a man blank out, some pressure points on the arms and legs, and how to pop an ear drum). But we have also stressed that these are for when you're pinned down and do not have any other option. They will however, help to get you out of the situation and get help from other people.

But physical self-defense is still only a part of this talk. There is also, emergency phone numbers, ways to get out of the house if an intruder comes in (can also be fire exits if you go over these) or places to hide, neighbors that you can go to for help, how to assess the situation if you get caught in it, and how to try to keep a level head. I'm pretty sure I forgot some stuff, but just that amount of stuff is overwhelming for anybody. However, we need to try to have these talks with our kids, and in fact, much of this stuff can be rolled in with disaster drills.

Nobody wants to think this is going to happen in their household, but the truth of the matter is the better we prepare our children for these events, the better they will be able to handle themselves in the situation. And remember to go over and practice every plan at least once a year to keep the memory fresh and then to make any changes that need to be changed. I pray you don't ever have to use your disaster drills, but if you do, just remember, you were prepared!