Girl Scouts Attend Self-Defense Course

Standing in line to get her picture taken, 9-year-old Melanie Hinsberger--with her big, blue eyes and slight stature--looks about as menacing as a buttercup.

But just a few minutes earlier on Monday, Melanie looked surprisingly strong, clenching her fists and delivering a sharp kick to a chair. The chair flew into the air and crashed to the ground.

That’s just the image that self-defense teachers tried to encourage among members of a Girl Scout troop at a demonstration in Studio City on Monday, with the idea that an assertive stance and proven self-defense tactics will help thwart the child molesters and kidnappers who are a tragic part of some children’s world.

Fifteen girls and a handful of their brothers participated in the demonstration, which was conducted by instructors from the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women, a private, nonprofit agency based in Hollywood. The demonstration was held at and sponsored by Mr. Watchdog, a security-products shop on Ventura Boulevard.

Store owners also snapped the children’s picture for an identification card that would help police locate a lost or kidnapped child.

Using a Styrofoam head and a device resembling a punching bag, instructors Peggie Reyna and Sharon Hamilton taught them how to scratch an attacker’s face, kick them in the knee and wrench themselves from an assailant’s grasp.

The teachers also talked about the importance of avoiding strangers and of telling an adult they trust when someone has touched them in an inappropriate way.

Reyna said she and Hamilton are careful not to make children unnecessarily fearful, telling them that most strangers are not bad people, but that children should be prepared in case there is someone who tries to hurt them.

Melanie agreed that the class did not scare her but rather made her feel more confident about dealing with a would-be attacker.

Courtney Fortner, 9, another member of the Girl Scout troop from Downey, said she learned “just to watch out and be ready for anything.”