Navigation

Shark to 14-Year-Old Girl: Okay, Okay. You Win!

February 2, 2010

"I thought she'd be my chum!" PHOTO CREDIT: miusam-ck

Hi kknszkbire
Readers — Not quite sure what this has to do with Free-Range other than: Never underestimate the power of a 14-year-old girl! The one in this New Zealand incident gave her attacker a whack and lived to tell the (shark) tale.  — Lenore

9 Responses to Shark to 14-Year-Old Girl: Okay, Okay. You Win!

  1. Lola February 2, 2010 at 10:41 pm #

    Well, we could advise all parents who fear child molesters to arm their children with boogie boards. If it worked with this sort of predator… ;-D

  2. Robin February 2, 2010 at 10:57 pm #

    They are free-range because they were in the water by themselves, no life guard mentioned, and mom was on the beach waiting, not hovering nearby with a medical team “just in case”. Mom obviously has taught her daughter to think for herself, thus the unconscience decision to defend herself rather than waiting for someone else to help. Good for her.

    I can’t wait for the news story commentors to begin the “where was her mum…” comments.

  3. pinkhairedloli February 2, 2010 at 10:59 pm #

    Well somebody armed her with knowledge (smack sharks in the face) and when the situation called upon that knowledge, she used it. That sounds like a free-range success story to me! I’m a little surprised they didn’t rush to the hospital immediately but maybe the tooth marks in her leg weren’t as bad as I’m picturing.

  4. B. Durbin February 3, 2010 at 4:13 am #

    Good For Her.

  5. Jacqui February 3, 2010 at 6:28 am #

    Well, she hit the thing instead of going limp with fear, which I think is very free-range: she’s obviously a very well-equipped young lady. A lot of women have trouble shouting NO in self-defense classes, let alone taking the offensive with an attacking shark! Hooray for children who have the guts to defend themselves!

  6. Mae Mae February 3, 2010 at 9:42 am #

    Great story! Thanks for sharing.

  7. Catherine February 3, 2010 at 11:39 am #

    As I have said before, teaching kids self defence and protective behaviours (rather than hovering over them all the time) is very free range. In this case, the predator just happened to be a shark rather than a man in a raincoat!

  8. JZB February 3, 2010 at 1:47 pm #

    An Onion article relevant to Free Range Kids: http://www.theonion.com/content/news/nations_strangers_decry_negative

  9. Bronte February 3, 2010 at 2:57 pm #

    As a New Zealander I can tell you those ‘where was her Mum’ stories won’t be appearing.

    The best part, she was on the breakfast news today saying “The wait was too long at the hospital last night, so we’re just going to see our GP today about a tetanus shot”