Girl Scouts Offers Parents and Girls Safety Tips

July 22, 2004

By Torri Francesca Eubanks, staff writer

	Girl Scouts learn self-defense techniques.

Summer is a great time for kids. School is out and they can enjoy swimming, ice cream, and fun in the sun. But for parents, summer often can be a time to worry about their child's safety. Girl Scout offices around the country focus on working with parents, community leaders, and girls on safety issues.

Safety First

Committed to safety and the overall healthy development of girls, Girl Scouts founded the Girl Scout Research Institute (GSRI) in 2000 as a center to research girls' ever-changing needs. Over the past few years, GSRI has provided findings on key issues that face girls today. GSRI's latest study, Feeling Safe: What Girls Say, offers parents insight into what thousands of girls ages 8-17 had to say about safety and provides insights to help girls cope with feeling unsafe. The more adults know about how girls perceive safety, the better they will be able to help them develop effective strategies for coping with emotionally and/or physically dangerous situations. The safety tips developed from this study's results can provide valuable help for anyone who cares for girls.

An Ongoing Commitment

To support parents all year long, Girl Scouts provides safe, supportive environments in communities across the country. In March, Girl Scouts of Utah co-sponsored a statewide safety awareness campaign with Ed and Lois Smart, parents of Elizabeth Smart, who was kidnapped in 2002 and returned home almost one year later. The campaign, called Partners in Safety, aims to educate girls on safety and self-defense techniques.

Over the past year, a Girl Scout council in New Orleans, Louisiana, has offered Safe Saturdays, a program through which girls ages 8-13 meet every Saturday for a few hours at nearby community centers. Created in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Safe Saturdays helps girls with self-esteem building activities and establishes peer support systems to help girls cope with violence, alcohol and drug abuse, and other pressing issues in their lives.

Strong Bonds

In central New Jersey, Girl Scouts are able to team up with their mothers to learn some new self-defense techniques. Students are taught everything from jab punches and other attack moves to escape techniques. These popular self-defense classes offer both mother and daughter a chance to boost their self-confidence and bond with one another.

Providing girls with a safe environment is at the core of Girl Scouting. Girl Scouts offers girls of all age-levels opportunities to learn about safety practices such as smoke detection, first-aid techniques, and tips on safe navigation of cyberspace. For more information about safety programs in your community or to become a member, contact your local Girl Scout council. To make a donation, visit Support Us or Commit To A Girl.