Mom shares story of daughter learning Jiu Jitsu to defend herself against bully.
When Margaux Dawn’s young daughter Luna was assaulted at school by a boy who tried to 'lick inside her mouth' and Margaux felt like her daughter's confidence had been shattered, she knew one thing that might help: self-defense classes.
Margaux shared a long Facebook post on the original assault, her daughter's newfound fears on the playground, and how a Jiu-Jitsu class helped Luna fend off another school bully.
The saga began when a little boy would constantly follow Luna around, even into the bathroom.
On the very first day of school my daughter came home and told me about a little boy in class who had followed her around constantly, making her uncomfortable, despite being asked to stop. He had tried to follow her into the bathroom as well.
I advised her to firmly tell him again (without saying “please”— because this was a command, not a request) and to ask her teacher for help in getting him to stop. We practiced loudly saying “DO NOT TOUCH ME.” and “STOP FOLLOWING ME” in the bathroom mirror together.
After Luna's mom taught her to tell him to 'stop,' the boy persisted.
I received a call from the principal of her school — tensely letting me know that an “incident” had occurred. That day, the same little boy had cornered Luna, pinned her to the ground with his knees planted on her chest, and forced her mouth open so he could lick inside her mouth while she screamed and cried for him to stop.
A school employee eventually pulled him off of her. After that, Luna was — unsurprisingly — rattled and scarred from the event.
After only four days of school my confident, bubbly little beansprout was suddenly nervous and unsure of herself.
My daughter timidly told me that she was “worried because she can’t stop bad things from happening to her”.
Margaux and Luna talked it over when Margaux got the great idea to enroll her daughter in a self-defense class.
For the past few months, Luna has been suiting up twice a week in her black Gi at Unicorn Jiu Jitsu -- the only woman-led black belt jiu jitsu school in the state. We kept coming back because after the very first class, Luna beamed radiantly at me and firmly said: “No one is going to touch me like that ever again.”
One day Luna was minding her own business on the playground when a different boy 'yanked' her off the playground and Luna's self-defense instincts kicked in.
An older and larger student didn’t want to wait his turn to climb a play structure. So he yanked Luna down off of it and started to throw her around by the collar. Luna used his own weight to put him on his rear-end in the barkdust but he still did not let go of her.
So she put a knee into his chest until he was flat on his back, and then pressed her shin against his neck until he began sputtering and released her. At that point she backed quickly away.
Margaux shared the transcript from the Principal describing Luna's heroic act of defense, and as for mama Margaux? She's insanely proud.
The baker at the grocery store declined to write “Baby’s First Choke-Out” on a celebratory cake I bought, but that’s alright.
The response has been overwhelmingly positive and even inspired a few parents to enroll their own kids in mixed martial arts classes.
As one commenter wrote: 'Our kids will be in self defense classes as soon as they're allowed to be. They will never feel defenseless a day in their life.' Amen.