ISSP sharing ways to teach children how to protect themselves in dangerous situations

Regardless of age, children need to be equipped with basic self-defense skills, because parents and relatives are not always around. Moreover, VTV citing data from the Ministry of Public Security, said that in 2020, nearly 2,000 cases of child abuse were discovered. In which, 97% of cases recorded that the perpetrator was close or familiar with the victim. This article from TheTips will introduce ways to teach children how to protect themselves in dangerous situations shared by ISSP – the prestigious international school in Saigon.

Identifying bad people and dangerous situations through safety rules

Research from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) shows that in the two years 2020-2021, more than 90% of child abuse cases come from family members. Thus, the perpetrator can be anyone, a stranger, an acquaintance, a relative, even a grandparent, a parent. Children are not only abused mentally, physically, isolated from everyone around, or lured away, touched sensitive parts, etc. but do not know it and consider it a normal thing and don’t tell parents.

Therefore, it is difficult to explain to children exactly who the bad guy is. Moreover, many experts have also shown that scaring or telling children too much negative information will lead to panic and confusion. Instead of trying to tell children who are bad, according to Kristin Wegner – Advisor, Student Support Coordinator and Head of school Safety at International School Saigon Pearl (ISSP) set up a clear and understandable system of safety rules for children. Anyone who violates this rule and makes children feel uncomfortable can be bad people, immediately the child’s subconscious will turn on alert mode.

Ms. Kristin said some safety rules that every child should know including their body is theirs, no one can touch it without their consent; no one is allowed to hurt children mentally, leave them hungry or hurt; no one is allowed to take their children anywhere or do anything with them without consulting their parents. In particular, children should trust their body’s expressions, when a body shows strange symptoms such as heart palpitations, forehead and palms sweat, goosebumps, stomach upset, wanting to cry, etc. In that case, a child needs to immediately tell people he or she trusts.

“Teaching children to trust their body sensations is one of the important topics in lectures at ISSP. This is a method that both helps children be more proactive in identifying dangerous situations and not lose the innocence of the right age when they have to receive too much negative information provided by adults.” – Kristin explained further.

Calmness is the key to protect oneself effectively

The more confused and frightened a child is, the easier it is for the perpetrator to approach and control him or her. To help children practice calm, in Kristin’s opinion, the most effective way is to expose children to real-life situations. “When talking to students of ISSP – a high quality Saigon international school, I always ask very specific questions. For example, “when someone gives you candy and asks you to follow, how do you react?”, “if someone touches you intentionally, what will you do first?”, etc. then, depending on the age, I will guide students in appropriate responses such as keeping a distance from the other person, shouting loudly to let around people know what they are facing. Putting children in such hypothetical situations will help them learn how to react quickly when in danger.”

With the view that “prevention is better than cure”, Ms. Nguyen Thu Hien (District 10, Ho Chi Minh City) shared: “I always take advantage of all the moments in my life to talk to my daughter. For example, when going to the supermarket, I will show my child who is a security guard, who is an employee and remind him that those are the people he can ask for help if he gets lost. At home, I often teach him how to use the phone and play a game learning relative phone numbers with him. With these skills, when in trouble, I believe even at a very young age, he will remain calm and use what he already knows to seek help.”

Kristin added that it is good for children to learn martial arts or defense postures to improve their health. But parents also remind their children not to mistakenly think that they are safe, or can resist by themselves compared with adults. In fact, some very instinctive methods such as keeping distance, being assertive, or shouting for help are effective ways to help a child out of dangerous situations.

Source: dantri.com.vn