A taekwondo master says she has had a surge in applications for her training from parents of three-year-old girls keen for them to learn “self-belief and self-defence”.
Lisa Pitman, 45, a triple Guinness world record holder, is one of a handful of UK female masters in taekwondo and a black belt YouTube sensation who can smash 1,000 roof tiles in about 80 seconds.
Now she is teaching girls aged three to seven how to punch through wooden boards but also how to speak out and tell strangers to back off.
The girls learn how to first use their minds to stand up to bullies, who are warned to “stop!” if they get too close, as a first line of defence.
Parents who bring their children to Virtue Taekwon-do in Beckenham and Bromley said the world and seven-time European power test champion is a great role model.
Mrs Pitman said: “It’s important for children, girls especially, from a young age to learn what is right and wrong.
"What’s to say a two-year-old can’t defend themselves and speak out?”
