Child safety education should be mandatory in the Scottsdale Unified School District for every grade

When visiting Lake Hodges in Escondido, CA where 17-year-old Chelsea King was murdered in February 2010, the heart in one’s chest just aches while the body shows physical manifestation of horror as a person contemplates just how something so tragic occurred at such a beautiful, serene place.  Shock then turns to rage when realizing that nobody’s safe, nobody’s privileged and everyone’s vulnerable regardless of age, where they reside or their economic classification.  After a quick perusal of Scottsdale Unified School District’s website, there is no evidence of child safety anywhere, which prompts one to ask, “Why is there not education for our children in school on how to stay safe and alive?”

In an effort to prevent something similar from happening to the youth in the Scottsdale community, the Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) should make child safety education mandatory for every grade level.  In an unofficial survey of some parents in Scottsdale, safety education is nearly non-existent in schools other than the dreadful, flawed “Stranger Danger” instruction.  Parents are not experts in safety education and most don’t know or practice good safety behavior themselves further clouding the issue; they rely on the schools to educate their children on all pertinent subject matter, including safety.

On the home page of the SUSD’s website, there are quick links for “Students Helping Haiti” and the “Census” but where is the link to child self defense classes in Scottsdale or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s educational resources for child safety?  The time is NOW for schools to adopt child safety education and to teach the youth of Scottsdale on how to be safe!

Here are 5 key safety tips for parents to reinforce with children (provided by the NCMEC):

1. Always TAKE A FRIEND with you when running, walking, biking, or standing at the bus stop. Make sure you know your bus number and which bus to ride.
2. Say NO if anyone you don’t know or a person who makes you feel scared, uncomfortable, or confused offers a ride unless I have told you it is OKAY to do so in each instance.
3. Quickly get away and yell, “THIS PERSON IS NOT MY MOTHER/FATHER/GUARDIAN” if anyone tries to take you somewhere or is following you. If anyone tries to grab you, make a scene and every effort to get away by kicking, screaming, and resisting.
4. NEVER LEAVE SCHOOL GROUNDS before the regular school day ends. Always check with the office and me before leaving school early.
5. NEVER take shortcuts or walk through alleys to get to or from school. Remember to call me once you have arrived home.

Click here for more safety information from the NCMEC or contact Shieldher.  Be safe!

How to attack the most vulnerable body part of an attacker, the eye

Whether you live in Scottsdale, Jacksonville or Philadelphia, the odds of a female getting sexually assaulted are still 1 in 6; in fact, a girl within the age range of 18-24 has a 1 in 4 chance of being a victim of sexual assault.  Therefore, it is not only imperative to have mental self defense tools in your hypothetical self defense tool bag, a woman must also know how to attack the most vulnerable body parts of a attacker.  After all, awareness will not help a sleeping woman against the middle of the night home invasion threat.  Remember that self defense does not warrant a single solution, it is about having an arsenal of tools and options to utilize.

Many self defense instructors become obsessed with the technique in which to perform self defense maneuvers but in actuality, the key is to remember that it’s the targets on the body that are most important and not which technique you use.  The eye is the most vulnerable area on a person’s body and there is a plethora of ways to attack it.  The eye can be jabbed, pushed, blinded, dusted and sprayed to name a few.  Let’s explore the eye jab.

The most common manner in which to attack an eye is to jab or poke it.  To maximize the benefits of jabbing an eye, one should use the 3 middle fingers together.  The fingers should be slightly bent to avoid them breaking if the target is missed and the aim should be for either a single eye or the bridge of the nose (you’re likely to hit one eye or the other by aiming for the bridge of the nose).  The motion should be swift and undetectable like that of a Gaboon Viper Snake strike.  When the eye is jabbed, the optical nerve hits the skull and causes immediate pain, temporarily blinding the attacker.

It is possible that, by utilizing this technique, a person could have permanent damage but it is more likely that the cornea of the attacker’s eye would be scratched without permanent injury.  All civilians have the right to engage in violence for the sake of defending one's own life or the lives of others, including the use of deadly force.  By understanding basic human anatomy, it is fairly easy to identify vulnerable targets on a body in order to safely escape most any situation.

Click on this link to learn more about unarmed self defense tactics or contact Shieldher.  Be safe!

Do you know which sex offenders are living in your Scottsdale neighborhood?

This morning, the parents of Chelsea King announced that they are backing a proposed California state law to toughen restrictions on sexual predators after their 17-year-old daughter allegedly was kidnapped and killed by a convicted sex offender, John Albert Gardner III. The suspect in the case, John Albert Gardner III, 30, was arrested on suspicion of murder and rape after investigators found several pieces of unspecified evidence. The Kings said if the laws had been smarter and bolder, Chelsea might still be alive.

Although this horrific incident occurred in California, it absolutely pertains to Scottsdale residents in a multitude of ways. First, many Scottsdale residents are not aware of the convicted sex offenders living in Scottsdale; therefore, one could be living next to a resident with a small child and the parents are oblivious. Additionally, many Scottsdale teens attend college and vacation in San Diego where over 2,700 sex offenders reside and most do not know how to protect themselves nor have they taken a self defense class to learn. Lastly, many Scottsdale residents do not know the laws that pertain to sexual offenders until someone inflicts harm on one of their own children or community members.

The time is now to get educated about who is living in our Scottsdale communities and how to protect our children from becoming a victim or worse, a statistic. Scottsdale parents need to teach their children, or find someone qualified to do so, about the dangers lurking in our communities and beyond. Furthermore, all children should have a basic understanding of who to avoid and how to avoid potential dangers. Parents need to stop using the “Stranger Danger” lexicon without delay as it is no longer an appropriate manner in which to safeguard a child. In fact, parents need to immediately adopt a CODE WORD so that their children can identify safe people in their lives given that roughly 73% of assaults were perpetrated by non-strangers. Don’t let Chelsea King be just another statistic, learn from her and educate your children now.

Click on these links to learn more about Scottsdale sex offenders, to get statistics, to find resources for parents to teach their child about personal safety, or contact Shieldher. Be Safe!