I've been reading through the Wayfair stuff from the past day or two & am reminded of why I initially got my son into taekwando. I recommend it for everyone. They'll learn self defense skills for sure, but the best thing they can learn is to yell when someone grabs them.
Many times kids do not say a word because they're too trusting of an adult that approaches them confidently. At our academy, each class has a section that teaches them how to yell and how to break grip. These two things might just save their lives and save you a lot of heartache.
TKD teaches plenty of hand, elbow, and knee strikes that are practical. They are also integral to the “showy” kicks and forms, so the simple strikes are more likely to be second nature. Many of the strikes have blocks associated with them as well, or in similar form and fashion.
Yes, someone using ONLY form correct Krav Maga or BJJ would likely wipe the floor with someone ONLY using form correct Taekwondo. However, in an actual fight, that would not happen. Especially in a self defense/abduction situation, your attacker is unlikely to be a trained assassin or MMA fighter. Just like in firearms training, when the pucker factor is introduced everything breaks down to your proficiency in the most basic skills youve learned. If attacked, everyones genetic baseline is fight/flight.
So for those who move to fight, anyone trained in any type of discipline, even just street fighting, knows that creating some kind of distance is an essential first step. If you can, you gain an advantage to make a decisive move. If you cant, many of your options, outside of simply fighting like hell til you CAN create distance, are likely off the table. While some disciplines are certainly better suited for regaining an advantage once you are grabbed, you STILL have to remember that, once puckering, you revert to your most basic level of instinct and training.
Thats a lot of words, but just pointing out that nearly ANY disciple, and TKD specifically, will be good for self defense at its core. Its easy to say such and such is better because in sport it may be. Just remember that fighting for sport in NO WAY equals fighting off an actual attacker. Especially in regards to our kids. They need the skills to fight off an attacker and gtfo. Being able to choke them out or break their arm or kill them would be a great bonus, but thats not the main point of self defense.