As martial artists, particularly with our style of Karate, the emphasis is on self-defense. The techniques we teach are designed to stop an attacker and allow us to defeat an opponent of any size and strength. However, there must be a realistic expectation of what is possible. There is no technique I can teach a 3 year old that is going to work if an adult attacks them. Small children are not capable of protecting themselves against adults, so they need the rest of us to protect them.

Over the course of the next several months, I will be addressing ways that we can keep our children safe from all types of dangers. Some of these things will be covered in the Lil’ Dragon curriculum, but these things also need to be reinforced at home.

The first thing I want to address is the child predator. I don’t want our children to live in fear, but we do need to be aware of the dangers present in society. According to a 1994 National Institute of Health survey of 453 pedophiles showed they were responsible for the molestation of an average of 148 children each. This tells you a couple of things. First, they are able to get away with it for a very long time. Second, they don’t stop.

Statistics also indicate another disturbing fact. The vast majority of child molestation, abuse and abductions are done by someone the victim knows. As parents, we cannot exclude anyone from our watchful eyes. I know of one situation with one of our former karate students where they had been molested by a person the family knew and trusted through their church. Most of the people who work with children would never dream of hurting a child, but child predators need to put themselves in positions where they are around children, so we have to be vigilant.

The first thing we need to do is educate our children in an age appropriate manner about what is appropriate conduct between them and an adult. Our children need to know they have a right to say ‘No!’ to an adult, particularly when it involves someone who may be hurting them or touching them in an inappropriate way. After that, we must establish an open line of communication with our children. We need to talk with them. We need to listen when they are trying to tell us something. We should also know where they are and what they are doing at all times. If you are in tune with their lives, it will be much easier to detect a problem if one should arise.

Next, we need to minimize the opportunity for a child predator to interact with our children. By considering the situations where your children might be vulnerable, you can reduce the risks. Are there times when your child is not under the supervision of someone you really know and trust? If so, that is an area of vulnerability. Over the next few months, we will be addressing the methods of the child predator and ways to protect our children. If you would like additional information now, the National Security Alliance provides extensive information on their web site at www.kidsafenetwork.com.

Everything I’ve mentioned so far is merely crime deflection. It forces the child predator away from your child and onto someone else’s child. That is obviously not the full answer to the problem. We need to be on the lookout for child predators and report suspicious activity to the police. We also need to make sure that once we’ve stopped a child predator through the judicial process, they should never be allowed to hurt another child. The rate of recidivism for child predators is unbelievably high. As we learned earlier, they will not stop. We know pedophilia is a mental illness that can never be cured and is rarely controlled. By putting pressure on legislators, judges and other officials, we can make sure known pedophiles are either kept off the street or are so closely monitored that they can never hurt another child.