I think I've mentioned that I volunteer at the Bikes-not-Bombs earn-a-bike program, meant for 12 to 18 yr old youth. The past 6 weeks have been the girls only session, called Girls in Action. It has been a blast, with a fair amount of after-school screaming. We are almost on schedule to finish all their bikes for Friday, graduation day. We volunteers were cleaning up at the end of today's session when we heard screaming. One of the girls returned to the center, hysterical. She had just been mugged, at gun-point, as she was walking two blocks to the MBTA stop. The assailant took her cell phone.
She is 12, tall for her age, but still only 12.

I know how to teach bike mechanics, but I don't know how to teach kids to handle this.