WHY ARE TEENS & STUDENTS SOFT TARGETS?
As with most demographics they have little to no personal safety/Real self – defense training. To increase their vulnerability even more this demographic is highly occupied by school, sports and extracurricular activities which lead self – defense training as a very low priority.
- Young children/adults that are impressionable and mostly naive to real world violence.
- They venture away from adult and parental supervision and safety a great deal more than those under 13 years of age.
- This demographic is also not fully devolved mentally or physically.
- They are now entering into the widest category of possible crimes that can be committed on them.
EXAMPLE: As an eleven year old you are most likely not a candidate to be robbed for your wallet and watch at an ATM. This is not the case for teens and young adults.
- A major threat for these groups is their continued and chronic pre – occupation with immediate technology. All too often personal safety takes a back seat to checking social media/text and emails.
- The teen demographic will make decisions based on “group” acceptance instead of what’s really the best course of action for them. This can lead them falling into someone else web of influence.
- The teen and student demographic especially believe they will be kept safe by technology/apps or the police. This leads to letting down our guard and leaning on a false sense of security for safety
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE OTHER REASONS?
Sexual predators, pedophiles and other criminals go fishing for victims. They go out there and throw out bait to try to catch the unwary. If your child is impressionable, or they’re always trying to do the right thing and not hurt someone’s feelings, or they think every adult is nice, quite often they get hooked and then they don’t know how to get away.
It’s very easy for a predator to create a fake profile online. They pretend to be a kid from your child’s school, or a friend of a friend. They start to chat with your child through social media, or they exchange emails. They say “Yeah, I’m in intramural football after school, too. Why don’t you hang out with me?” or “I’m going to be at the mall this Saturday with some friends. Let’s meet up.” And when your child goes there, there’s a 52-year-old man waiting for him.
Another good reason is that children don’t always stop and think before they post something online. For example, your child posts that the whole family is going to be away on vacation, or going to a ball game, or to the movies. Little Johnny down the street, who is friends with your child on that social media site, sees that. Maybe little Johnny isn’t a thief, but he has an older brother who is 16 or 17 who he mentions it to, and big brother and his buddies decide to go rob your house when they know no one is going to be home.
So even though you know your child’s friend, you don’t necessarily know who else that friend might talk to, and now the information is in the wrong hands, because it’s all over the Internet and that’s how criminals work.
Get the best self-defense training for your teen / college student today. Contact a COBRA Self-Defense authorized training center to schedule immediate training.
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