There is no doubt that we have a huge responsibility in making sure we teach the children to the best of our ability. I have always been a stickler in ensuring that even the youngest children learn effective personal protection skills. So many martial arts for children programs are game heavy and just because the children are young the martial arts effectiveness is diluted or even non-existent. The techniques that you teach the children should be adapted to suite their age. They do not encourage violence and a strict moral code needs to be taught in conjunction with the personal protection moves, so the children do not see this as a game.
No martial art is guaranteed to work. But if you include the support of the parents, it just makes the message so much more powerful. The most important aspect of personal security is not getting too close, having space to move quickly. For, once someone gets close, they can easily just grab the child picking them up. When this happens children should bite, scratch and pinch, just enough to make the person put you down.
But how do we stop someone intruding onto our property, snatching your loved one from a tent, a front yard, or a hotel villa. I must say this, it comes back to the parents. There is evil all around us, just waiting for an opportunity, this is not about being hyper vigilant, this is about taking responsibility.
No child is safe, and it is up to the closest family members to ensure that the best possible care is taken all the time. It would be a world of never-ending pain having your child taken, I can only imagine the heart ache this would cause. Our children trust us as parents, and it is up to us to not let them down. I just do not understand the stupidity of a parent leaving 2 young children in a room with an open candle burning close to the children. Was the father so self-indulged that he failed to see the danger? Both the children died of suffocation.
We cannot just faff around and mollycoddle our children. Sometimes we need to be direct and to the point. It is up to us as parents to protect our children. Unfortunately, some parents let their children down. I have always said, you don’t need a certificate to be a parent.
Northstar Ju Jitsu is also taught by senior Black Belts at their own studios'.
These are independently run from the Headquarters .Andy Dickinson Sensei is the head of and founder of Northstar Ju Jitsu and oversees the teaching of his program.
All Black Belts are graded by Andy Dickinson Sensei.
