Finally, we are seeing our anticipated summer weather. The prolonged spring of cooler weather and rainy days seems over. The current Amazon jungle heat wave has pounced on us like a panther on its prey, so we need to be careful, but it’s not just the heat that I want to warn families about.
As a lifelong martial artist, I have always been concerned about self-defense in many facets of daily life. I am not talking about ninjas attacking, but about valuable life skills kids need to be safe for everyday living this summer.
As a martial arts Grandmaster, I consider that everything in life can have a self-defense component. Here are a few examples of how to keep our kids safe.
Sunscreen = self-defense against sunburn.
Brushing your teeth = self-defense against cavities.
Making your bed = self-defense against getting yelled at by Mom!
I will start with the sun.
As a teen, I visited a fantastic island resort with my family. We spent all day playing in the pool, and of course, back in those days, we did not use sunscreen. I suffered a severe sunburn that kept me in bed for the night. The next day, I had to cover myself in the pool. This was before modern swim shirts, so I had to wear my long-sleeve sweatshirt (which weighed ten pounds in the water!).
Put water in the kids, not kids in the water.
Kids' metabolisms run hotter than adults', producing more heat. Their water depletion can be dangerous because their sweat mechanism is less developed than that of adults, making it harder for them to cool down effectively and risking overheating. Kids who play hard in the summer may forget to drink, so please keep them hydrated. Recently, on one of our hot days, I became tired and had a rare headache, so I had to lie down in the AC, becoming a victim of dehydration, too.
Self-defense against brain decay.
The brain is like a muscle that needs regular exercise. Summer slide is not a term for kids playing by the swing set. School-age kids receive summer take-home work for a specific reason. Research consistently shows that children can lose two months of reading skills if they don’t participate in summer learning activities. This accumulated loss can put kids significantly behind their peers by the time they reach middle school. Summer exposure to books expands a child’s vocabulary, improves comprehension, and strengthens critical thinking. My wife and I have a technique where one of our seven-year-old grandchildren receives tablet time equal to reading time. Ten minutes of reading gets her ten minutes of tablet time. Seems like a great trade to us. With lots of mental stimulation, kids brains will become super tuned up for September. Developing a love for reading can bring tons of achievement and pleasure throughout a lifetime. I love our Putnam library, which we visit often for our grandchildren and ourselves. They host many kids' activities and even provide lunch all summer. Feel free to pass on one of my most-used tips for kids: Readers are leaders!
Fireworks are fun (and dangerous )
The most fantastic part of Putnam’s Independence Day celebration is the fireworks. I heartily suggest watching the professionals do the work. Did you know a sparkler burns at 2,000 degrees? I have been at cookouts where five-year-olds played with these as if they were toys, and yes, my adrenaline was spiking off the charts.
Water self-defense.
Every year, an average of four people will drown in the state of Connecticut. One summer, when I worked as a lake lifeguard, I had to personally pull kids out of the lake twice who couldn’t swim but ventured into deep water. As kids and families frolicked nearby, I had my eye on one of the kids as he began floundering and struggling, and when he realized his feet could not touch the bottom, he immediately began to panic. As I jumped out of my lifeguard chair and ran into the water, I watched him go under. I didn’t even have to swim to him because the water he was in wasn’t that deep. He had no swimming skills and had no adult supervision. This situation could have turned very badly.
Drowning happens quietly and quickly, so I suggest a watch-watcher. In a crowded swimming situation, one adult should have a designated time where they do nothing but watch the kids, with no phone and no distractions.
On a more serious note, many years ago, one spring, I lost one of my five-year-old students in a home drowning situation. He was playing with his cousin in the backyard. He decided to climb up on the edge of the above-ground pool, which had a cover on it. He stepped onto the cover and was not secured well. In he went. The cover came down over him, and he could not grab onto the side to save himself. His was the saddest funeral I have ever been to.
Let’s be careful out there. Please don’t make me send the ninjas.
Mike Bogdanski
Mike is a martial arts Grandmaster and anti-bully activist.
