Rosario Dawson's mom shot her with pepper spray

Rosario Dawson grew up in New York City, so she's always been pretty street smart.

The actress told Conan O'Brien Thursday it's all because her mom taught her the basics at a very early age.

And Mama Dawson definitely used a pretty, uh, hands-on approach when teaching her 10-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son how to use pepper spray.

"We were, like, in this tiny little studio apartment. And she was like, 'Well, to be clean, let's go in the bathroom.' So now we go into this even smaller space. And she's like, 'So this is how you use pepper spray.' And we're like all crying blood," said Rosario Dawson on "Conan."

"That's the worst idea I've ever heard!" said Conan O'Brien.

Yeah, we're with you there, Conan - that's one of the worst ideas EVER.

And considering high doses of pepper spray can cause serious respiratory, cardiac and neurologic problems, Rosario and her family are lucky the effects were only temporary.

But Rosario swears it was important lessons like that one that helped make her into the streetwise woman she is today.

"You have ten seconds to tell us what you're doing bringing cops to Old Town."

And that's definitely translated over to her acting - she's played some badass characters in several films over the years. "Sin City," anyone?

And her newest role in the original series "Daredevil" is no exception. You can see Rosario kicking butt and taking names on Netflix now.

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