This question was posed in class, “How many of you in here have ever taken a self-defense class?” Interestingly enough, not one student raised their hand. We take classes for everything else; avoiding and/or surviving an attack should be at the top of the list, right?
It seems we are educated about every possible thing from the moment we have recognition of our caregiver’s directions, to the time we enter Kindergarten. We learn how to help save the rainforests, we learn how to ballroom dance, we learn about the solar system, and we learn about history. Did we learn how to protect ourselves in school? Of course not, it did not make the list in the Education Department’s list of valuable information to learn I suppose.
Take a look at the statistics at this site. It concludes that someone is sexually assaulted every 107 seconds in America. This is shocking! If more motivation is needed, this site is spreading the message that one in four college women report surviving rape or attempted rape at some point in their college career. You can find many statistics about crime particularly against women all over the Internet. Why do so many ignore this?
Isn’t it best to be proactive and educate our children about their personal safety so they have a fighting chance if put in a terrible situation? Personal Safety Training should be high on the list for everyone.
The next question in the class was, “How many of you know what to do if a creepy person approached you in the parking lot?” No one could answer this question.
There are answers to these questions! We are failing our children in a big way because we work so hard to educate them to have great professions, but what happens to their lives and psyche if they are harmed along the way? Shouldn’t they know basic measures to protect their lives? Skills everyone can learn, not just black belts in the martial arts?
It was shocking to see what most of the people put on their surveys as to why they were taking the class. If you don’t think crime happens here in Bismarck, guess again.
This group was full of life, smiles, love, and promise of having great futures. The Youth Life counselors who set up the class and the mothers who attended are being proactive and not failing these young girls. We need excellent role models like this everywhere.
People who take classes to protect their lives are not the average individual. They love their lives and will take the time to educate themselves to protect it. Kristen, Miranda and I hope our students never need the skills we taught them, but we are glad they have the skills now.
Remember, it is better to have the skills and not need them, than need the skills and not have them especially when YOU are the first responder.
Thank you to Anthony Humes at KFYR TV for supporting us and spreading the message! Once again, thank you to Scheels Sports for wanting to make the community safer and letting us use their conference room.
If you want to take action immediately, you can get our Online Safety Training and can view with your entire family.
Be Safe. Be Empowered. Be LOADED with skills and knowledge about your Personal Safety Plan.
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Beth is the founder of Pretty Loaded. On a mission to install strength, awareness, and confidence, Beth began her journey as an educator and National speaker after a close encounter with a would-be predator. She has trained thousands of people in person, and through her online training and videos around the world. Her safety videos reach millions globally! She is responsible for starting the National Situational Awareness Day and this was approved by the registrar of the National Day Calendar. Beth has been featured on Consumer Reports, Reddit, Yahoo!Finance, Elite Readers, BuzzFeed, ViralNova, and many more networks. Beth loves spending her time reading, playing tennis, cooking, and painting. She is married and has four wonderful girls, a supermicro pig named Clover Smalls, and lives on an organic produce farm and vineyard.
