A child does not need a long list of moves. They need simple actions they can use under pressure. Lesson five of a child self-protection course brings together movement, striking, recovery, awareness, and trust. The session revises key physical skills from earlier lessons, then adds a new defensive posture called the cover. It also develops a vital soft skill, knowing who belongs in a child’s circle of trust and what healthy boundaries look like.

Children need more than stranger danger. Most risk does not arrive wearing a label. A good self-protection lesson teaches children to notice behaviour, protect space, use their voice, move early, and recover if they fall. This lesson covered awareness, boundary setting, simple movement, and pressure-tested ideas from respected self-protection teachers and writers, including Gavin De Becker and Geoff Thompson. The aim is not to frighten children. The aim is to give them

Some children cannot be trained through contact, impact, or pressure-testing. That does not mean they cannot learn self-protection. Hour three with my child client forced a useful problem onto the mat. He has a medical condition that prevents him from taking part in activities where collision is a risk. That removes a large part of how I usually test self-defence. It does not remove the subject.

Hour three of my child client’s self-protection course focused on that difference. We balanced the soft skill of fear management with the hard skill of getting up from the ground under pressure. This is where children’s self-defence must be clear. It cannot be built on slogans. It needs simple thinking, honest language, and physical actions the child can repeat.

18.10.2025 Here are a selection of photos from the recent Animal Instincts Children's Self-Protection Teaching Programme - "Bear" (11-16 year-olds) Complete Physical Skills Syllabus.