Occasionally, my daughters’ Tai Kwon Do teacher shows the students how to break the grip of an opponent. But more importantly, she teaches them what to say when someone they don’t know grabs them. “Don’t just scream. Have you ever heard a kid scream in the mall? Those are just tantrums; no one pays much attention to those. Instead shout, I don’t know you! or You are not my mother! while breaking free of the assailants grip.”
One student wanted to demonstrate how loud he could scream. The kids around him hunched over and put their fingers in their ears in anticipation. Yeah, it was pretty loud, but the teacher made him do it again. Instead of a wordless scream, she asked him to shout as he was instructed.
Well he did, and again it was very loud. The kids around him were all angled away, as if to escape that awful noise. Well, after his last shout, the kid looked pretty nonplussed. “That was too loud!” he said, rubbing his ears. All the adults in the room burst into laughter, a kid cowed by his own shout.
Thanks for the laugh kid, I needed that!