Last Thursday, I attended a Healthy Woman event called Safe & Healthy Woman.

I took my 14 year old daughter, her friend and her mother.

I felt like it would be a good thing for my daughter, and myself, to learn a little bit about self defense.

We learned some startling statistics about crime and violent offenders being on the rise in our area.  This shouldn't be surprising with the population shooting up, but I admit, I wasn't expecting a 20 percent increase in registered sex offenders in one year.

As a parent, it is terrifying to think of someone harming your child. I am not sure that the age of the child matters, 3, 12, 21, 35, the idea is mortifying.

I admit, I have been accused of being over-protective. I keep a close eye on them generally and I'm not one to let my kids run around to many places.

But even so, I do recall an event years back. I was standing at the hospital sign in for some blood work for my youngest, who at the time was pretty tiny and in a car seat.  I sat the seat right down beside me while I filled out the forms.  When I turned to grab the car seat, it was gone.  Panic began to rise up and I turned to see my pesky neighbor Jeffery sitting in the waiting room watching me, waiting for me to notice he had my baby.

I certainly learned a lesson that day, a lesson that was a topic at the Safe & Healthy Woman event.  Observation is your best defense against a crime or assault.  Watch what is going on around you. Trust your instincts. 

Tri-City Martial Arts has a self defense class every Wednesday at 8 p.m. I think the fee is $5. Not too high a price to pay for a little bit of confidence, assurance. They are located next to Shell in Pleasanton.

We learned some moves last week that my daughter was able to practice on her brothers. I think she shocked them and they were pretty impressed.

Unfortunately, we can't sit around in a bubble. We teach and learn, pray and trust.