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Martial arts training might not be the first thing a daycare worker would list on a resume, but six youngsters are safe because the operator of their preschool used those skills this week.

Chelsi Sabbe, the owner of a licensed daycare in Prince George, says she reacted Tuesday when a man allegedly tried to grab two children in her care.

Sabbe said Thursday she was concerned when she saw a man approaching two children playing in a park. When a four-year-old boy was snatched, she began screaming and leaped on the man's back.

"I wasn't letting him get away with one of those kids," said Sabbe, whose father was a martial arts instructor.

Sabbe said she managed to free the boy and urged him and the other children to safety, but the man then grasped the arm of a second boy. He punched her as she rushed forward again, she said.

She said she pulled the man by the hair, kneed him in the face and then held him in a headlock until she was certain the children were safe.

The fight caught the attention of a neighbour, who called police. RCMP said when they arrived, a man fled through a baseball field, where he was arrested.

Shortly after the arrest, police received a report of an earlier abduction attempt just a few blocks away. A man had tried to grab a boy who was with his mother, but the woman managed to get her son back and returned home, police said.

A 35-year-old man from Prince George has been charged with two counts of kidnapping, and one count each of assault and obstructing a peace officer.

"I love my daycare children like I love my own children, and if somebody is trying to harm them and you are given no other (option), that is my own defence mechanism," said Sabbe.