Safety device for teen/college student?

[Anonymous]

Dd will be leaving for college in a few weeks, and I need some recs for a safety device for her to carry. Do you give your kids pepper spray, birdie, or do they use an app? If they have pepper spray, which one would you recommend? Dd really isn’t the most coordinated person, so I worry about her trying to use pepper spray. Anything else I should look into?

TIA!

[Anonymous]

None of that. A cell phone.

[Anonymous]

I gave my son a whistle.

[Anonymous]

I would talk to her about not walking alone at night (at least until she has lived on campus for a few months and knows the area) and about alcohol safety (ie, don't leave friends behind, keep your drink in your possession, limit drinking). You want her to stay out of iffy situations, not deploy mace.

[Anonymous]

I have the Life 360 for my teens. Not sure how much it would benefit your college kid but if something happens you would know their whereabouts.

[Anonymous]

It would be more helpful if you shared your concerns.

[Anonymous]

I’d check before giving her pepper spray, because some colleges don’t allow it in the dorms. My DC has a cellphone and years of self defense training (where the first lesson taught is what a pp already mentioned - to identify and stay out of a potentially dangerous situation in the first place so that you don’t need to defend yourself).

[Anonymous]

Make sure she’s aware of all the things her college has available to keep students safe. Mine had an on-call service that would escort you home safely, if you had to walk alone after dark.

[Anonymous]

Lady Claws

[Anonymous]

For places that don't permit pepper spray, I always had a large maglite flashlight. Big, heavy, and I could use it to light the way, or deliver a blow to an attacker.

[Anonymous]

A whistle will get a victim’s teeth knocked out.

Pepper spray is effective but she needs training. Look for a course locally online. Or at least have her watch some videos.

As PP’s have observed the best thing is to not get into trouble in the first place. DC IMPACT has classes where women get to land full force blows on a padded trainer. There are good self defense books too. But if it tells you to hold your keys between your fingers, forget that book.

[Anonymous]

https://bestreviews.com/best-personal-safety-alarms

[Anonymous]

I took a self defense class in college and found it very empowering. I think about that class almost 30 years later if I’m ever walking alone somewhere and get nervous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would talk to her about not walking alone at night (at least until she has lived on campus for a few months and knows the area) and about alcohol safety (ie, don't leave friends behind, keep your drink in your possession, limit drinking). You want her to stay out of iffy situations, not deploy mace.

New poster.

This, above, times 1000, OP!

The BEST thing you can do before she leaves (or more likely, you'll have to schedule it for her winter break, because time is short now) - is to give her the gift of a good self-defense workshop that has a strong emphasis on situational awareness and techniques for getting out of a situation and getting AWAY. Not a "martial arts" quickie seminar, but a women's self-defense workshop. There are some single-day workshops in the area but you need to look around.

My DD's Girl Scout troop did a self-defense workshop as seniors. It was something the other leader and I really wanted for them. There absolutely were physical techniques taught and practiced, and discussion of using whatever was at hand as a weapon, but that is all last resort. As the PP above notes: learning how to "stay out of iffy situations" in the first place is key. That's situational awareness, and I think most teens just don't have much situational awareness and many girls are still socialized to be polite, "think the best of others," "don't make assumptions that someone who's walking near you is following you" etc.

PP is also right about having a realistic talk about how alcohol makes girls and women FAR more vulnerable, and how they should not walk alone.

Most of all: The instuctor for my DD's self-defense workshop emphasized that pepper sprays, knives, etc. were all things that could very easily be used against the person trying to use them on an attacker. Imagine grabbing your keychain canister of pepper spray and in your fear and rush, you don't realize the spray is aimed at you, not outward. Or the attacker grabs you and sprays you with it. The instructor said he advises never carrying that stuff, but knowing techniques, and most of all knowing where and how to get away, and following your gut if you feel fear. That last one is tough for a lot of girls who tend to think, "I'm overreacting and I don't want to assume that person means me harm" etc.

I'll try to find the name of the company that did our workshop and I'll come back and post if I can. It was two years ago so not sure I still have the info, but will return if I do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A whistle will get a victim’s teeth knocked out.

Pepper spray is effective but she needs training. Look for a course locally online. Or at least have her watch some videos.

As PP’s have observed the best thing is to not get into trouble in the first place. DC IMPACT has classes where women get to land full force blows on a padded trainer. There are good self defense books too. But if it tells you to hold your keys between your fingers, forget that book.

This is ridiculous. I grew up on Long Island and when I started taking the LIRR into the city at 15, I went out and bought myself some pepper spray. After buying it, I opened it in the parking lot, figured out which way the wind was blowing, and sprayed it. Tossed it in my bag and literally never used it again.