Self-defense program teaches safety to youngsters

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

By JENNIFER PICARD

jpicard@repub.com

BELCHERTOWN - Every young child knows the golden rule of personal safety: Don't talk to strangers.

But for many kids, the safety lesson stops there. Adults rarely say, "You're allowed to defend yourself," then show children how, said Belchertown police officer Jeffrey T. Scott.

Enter Stephen M. Daley and his army of radKIDS instructors.

Daley, the founder and executive director of radKIDS and a Harwich resident, groomed another two dozen law enforcement professionals from across New England earlier this month, when he led a two-day training session for radKIDS instructors.

The "rad" in "radKIDS" stands for "Reducing Aggression Defensively."

Local participants included officers from West Springfield, Belchertown, Granby, Palmer, Springfield and Massachusetts State Police.

Belchertown police have taught the radKIDS program to hundreds of 5- to 12-year-olds in town, and are working to weave it into the school curriculum, Scott said.

"What we teach in radKIDS is empowerment, so our children will not be victimized by violence," Daley said. "What radKIDS does is kind of take away the bogeyman."

Taking away the bogeyman means teaching kids how to realize when they are in a dangerous situation and showing them self-defense techniques to get out of that situation, Daley and Scott said.

Both men pointed to an attempted abduction Nov. 15 in Provo, Utah. A man grabbed a 9-year-old girl, but the girl - who had taken the radKIDS class in school - hit him back, ran home and told her mother. It is the organization's 23rd known "save," Scott said.

Empowerment is more than just elbow strikes or blocking an adult's blow and running. At the training session, Daley made sure future instructors will emphasize shouting "No!," will instill confidence in children and will remind kids to seek a safe place after an attempted abduction.

The radKIDS program also shows kids what to do if a bully is picking on them, how to tell a "bad" stranger from a "good" one and about inappropriate touching, Scott said.

Eric R. Koestner of Ludlow was a student in Daley's class. In January, he'll be the teacher, teaching radKIDS with Belchertown police, through the town's Recreation Department program.

"It's definitely a dangerous world out there. Right now, anything you can offer to kids out there helps get it across," he said.

Palmer Police Lt. John J. Janulewicz and officer Raymond L. Tenczar have been teaching the RAD program, short for "Rape Aggression Defense," to adults at the Palmer Senior Center over the past year.

"We had some interest in school expanding the program to the kids ... so we decided to take advantage of the training," Janulewicz said.

He was impressed with the awareness component of the program and how children are taught to handle situations themselves.

"It just gets into a lot of awareness issues, and a lot of things we take for granted that we think the kids should know," he said.

To find a radKIDS program near you, visit www.radkids.org