NY killing of young boy...

That poor little boy killed in NY.

This is why I think it's imperative to start teaching our children self-defense. In school as PE would be perfect, starting in kindergarten even. We need to stop coddling and insulating our children because they will not know how to protect themselves. And lets face it, we cannot be with them 24/7 always. Even if you are a pacifist and do not believe in violence, having the ability to protect yourself and others is important. The act of learning self-defense in any of its manifestations can lead to greater self-respect and self-image and may even see a drop in bullying as it teaches discipline, plus if the kids can protect themselves they won't be afraid of the bullies and the children prone to bullying will not have any victims to pick on.
If that child had been more self-aware and aware of his surroundings, which is also what self-defense teaches, he may not have gotten lost and would have known more who was appropriate to ask when he did get lost.
I am in no way blaming his parents, absolutely not!! It sounds like they were very good parents and were trying to teach self-reliance. I just think there was much left out.
Instead of trying to make all the bad stuff in the world go away and try to live in some type of Utopia, which is a vain hope and just plain blindfolding and acting like an ostrich with your head in the sand; we need to start teaching our children the skills to live in the world that we have and how they can try to make it better.

And that's My 25 cents...