Self-Reliance Is Best For Our Children. Yes, if you have read my background, you know that I have been involved with martial arts since 1982 and have been focused on Hapkido since 1996. I served in the military, worked in various security and bodyguard positions, and continue to teach people practical safety strategies, self-defense and Hapkido through my different classes and programs.
I love and cherish my family, as I’m sure you do yours. And I tell the above to illustrate that I am well qualified to protect my family, just as you may be qualified to protect yours. The problem is that we can’t be there 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Our families must be capable of protecting themselves.
It is important that we prepare our children for emergencies. This is part of being a responsible parent, which is already such a huge task that seems overwhelming at times. While we want to always be there, the reality is we can’t and won’t. Self-reliance is best. This means to truly protect our children, we must teach them self-reliance in avoiding or escaping from danger.
This starts with building your child’s self-esteem. It is extremely important for your child’s emotional health to feel loved for one’s own sake. This is the basis of self-esteem, and a cornerstone for your child being able to successfully learning to avoid and escape danger.
There are many resources available to help you foster positive self-esteem with your children. It is crucial that you help your children with this, as self-esteem is the basis for anyone’s behavior during a crisis.
We must work at preparing our children to face emergencies, and avoid being too overprotective. Overprotection can actually decrease children’s self-esteem. It is sad that parents who mean well and want the best for their children harm them while trying to protect them.
Yes, we must protect our children, but we must help them foster positive self-esteem, nourish their self-worth, and teach them to be aware, to avoid danger, and what to do in the face of emergencies. Self-reliance is best, so give this gift to your children.
I used the book Protecting Children From Danger: Building Self-Reliance & Emergency Skills without Fear by Bob Bishop & Matt Thomas for inspiration and information for this post. Thank you to Bob and Matt for their excellent book. I encourage you to get it and use it if you have children.
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