College Bound: Protecting Our Daughters

www.richardking.net

As our babies, we cradled them in our arms when they were infants. We kissed them, nurtured them, supervised them, encouraged them, supported them, loved them as they grew and matured and . . . protected them. As loving parents, protecting our children is not just our responsibility, it's our passion. But how do we protect them when we're physically separated from them and they from us? How do we insure their safety in a world growing madder, more insane, more unstable and more dangerous by the day, ala the Virginia Tech Massacre on 16 April 2007 in which thirty-three people died, mostly college students, a horrible, heart-wrenching event claiming the unwelcomed title as the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history? Even when our little girls are accomplished and mature women, even mothers, they will always be our children and our hearts can never be severed from the angst to protect them and keep them safe and out of Harm's way.

I remember when both my daughters went off to college. It was a transformative experience. All grown up, leaving home and ready to take on the world, they were still more vulnerable than they knew, but I knew it in spite of their comforting, parting words, "Don't worry, Dad. I'll by okay." As parents, "okay" is what we pray for.

Here are some sobering thoughts from OnlineLawyerSource.com:

1. "Sexual assault statistics including female college students have been the subject of various studies. In a 1988 national study involving 32 college campuses, one in four students was found to be a victim of rape or attempted rape. Some studies have suggested sexual assault statistics among college students is so high because of the role of alcohol and drugs. Many women believe reporting a sexual assault against a person if they have been drinking or were intoxicated cannot occur, but this is not right. Sexual assault is a violation, and being intoxicated does not mean the law no longer applies."

2. "Sexual assault statistics show that 17 percent of reported cases against females resulted in injured victims. The 1992 National Victim Center and Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center sexual assault statistics reported 80 percent of sexual assault survivors knew their assailant at least by sight. The impact left because of sexual assault can be physically, psychologically and emotionally damaging, and denial is particularly strong in victims who knew their assailants." (http://www.onlinelawyersource.com/criminal_law/sexual_assault/statistics.html).

So how do we protect our children, especially our daughters, when they're college-bound and away from home, helping insure their peace of mind as well as ours? One way is to give them the gift of a female self-defense workshop. The odds of our girls being attacked, assaulted and potentially raped is higher when they're alone, perhaps walking to their dorm in the evening, going shopping, even studying in a secluded library. There will be times when they will be alone . . . and potentially vulnerable.

Vulnerable that is if they have no skills to defend themselves. The reality is that women who fight back in an assault have a greater chance of survival than those who do not fight back. Predators prey on the weak, not the strong. When confronted with a daunting adversary, predators move on to other prey, weaker prey. Giving our girls the gift of empowerment viz. a viz. women's self-defense lessons helps them protect themselves when we cannot. After all, when our children become adults, it's their responsibility to protect themselves. Having them study martial arts or taking a self-defense workshop (perhaps with Mom) designed especially for females, is one means of helping them help themselves. It is also one means by which we, as loving parents, can help insure the safety of our beloved children and daughters, especially when they're college bound.

~finis~

Kind regards,

Richard Andrew King: Grandmaster, Kiado-Ryu Karate