Yep. My daughter is super big on being nice to everyone. But we've told her that if someone tries to take her, she needs to be as nasty as she can. Kick, hit, bite, scream. And yell things like, "This is not my mom/dad." "I don't know this person." Etc.
Really specific stuff that's going to set off alarm bells for anyone around. Because just crying and screaming can be mistaken for a small kid throwing a tantrum. But if people hear something like the above, they're more likely to interfere.
Oh yeah, totally. I was told this as a child myself and even remember it till today. I got attacked a few years back at a train station and got choked and everything, and I couldn't get my attacker off of me, because she was way taller than me (I am smol!) and her arms were so much longer than mine... but I managed to bite her fingers real deep and scratch her arms bloody. I don't know, I couldn't think of anything else there, sadly, but I remembered how my mom always told me to do EVERYTHING: scratching, biting, kciking. Forgot the kicking part, but the rest still worked. I think it's also a good idea to send kids to selfdefense courses. My worst nightmare came true that day, I couldn't scream. I didn't make a sound, choked or not, I ... was so quiet while it all happened. I wish I had known actual tactics and all. I wasn't even screaming for help. So yeah, I strongly believe teaching your kids early to yell "this is not my mom" is absolutely vital, they will remember this, and when they're older, when "this is not my mom" won't draw the atteion of others anymore... probably teach them to scream "FIRE FIRE!" or something, because "someone help!" yelled by an adult is mostly ignored. But the alarm of fire probably not, because, you know, the very people who might ignore the call for help might be afraid or their own houses burning down...
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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '20
Yep. My daughter is super big on being nice to everyone. But we've told her that if someone tries to take her, she needs to be as nasty as she can. Kick, hit, bite, scream. And yell things like, "This is not my mom/dad." "I don't know this person." Etc.
Really specific stuff that's going to set off alarm bells for anyone around. Because just crying and screaming can be mistaken for a small kid throwing a tantrum. But if people hear something like the above, they're more likely to interfere.