Kids Self-Defense: Personal Space

Series Summary

Self defense is a system of combat techniques used to prevent another person causing harm to your person or property. There are many forms of self defense including women's self defense, karate, judo, jujutsu, tae kwon do, and other forms of martial arts. Some forms of self defense teach non-violent techniques like verbally de-escalating confrontations in order to avoid the use of force, but most utilize strikes, throws, locks, punches, kicks, elbows, and other close combat attacks.

When it comes to a child's self-defense, every parent wants to make sure that their kids are well-equipped to avoid dangerous confrontations and defuse any invasion of their personal space. In this free video series, a 4th degree black belt will illustrate how parents can teach their children to defend themselves and stay safe at home or in public. You'll learn how to identify strangers, how to project the voice and confidence, and when to call 911 or employ emergency plans. With these tips and warning signs, every parent will be able to convey to their children ways that they can prevent and avoid danger.

Video Transcript

"Hi, today we are talking about kid's safety, and I'd like to begin by saying that personal space is a real important aspect for you to remember. Today I have Elora helping me, and I want to demonstrate personal space as like your personal force field. A segment around you where you feel comfortable, usually it's an arm's length away. If you have somebody at an arm's length away, you feel comfortable, you feel safe, they're not invading, you don't feel trapped. Once somebody comes into your personal space, then you start feeling a little bit closed in, you feel tight, you feel trapped, and that's when you have to start emphasizing that you want more space. So you are using you arm length as a determinate as to how far or how close you want people to be. So again, with kids safety in mind, kids need to understand that to have somebody too close to them, would mean that they are inside an arm's length away. So you want to make sure that you try to keep people at arm's length, especially if you don't know the person. To be safe means that you're going to need to watch out for yourself and keeping people at arm's length away is going to help you keep yourself safe."