5 Things You Can Do Right Now to Make You and Your Family More Safe
My career in law enforcement continually challenges my own safety. But the safety I am most concerned with day-to-day is that of my family. I often take for granted the knowledge and experience that most people in my career field have.
But what about everyone else?
Where do they start?
Here are 5 simple things you can do to start making you and your family more safe today.
1. Get Your Face out of Your Phone
I don’t know how many times I see people walking around a store, a parking lot, a mall… wherever, with their face in their phone. I know it is 2017 and we are constantly connected, constantly posting, constantly updating…I get it. However, it makes you less aware.
Plain and simple, you see less, you notice less, you are less involved, you are less aware. You don’t notice the guy walking towards you, the car parked down the street, the person walking in the restaurant, you don’t notice important things. Get your face out of your phone!
2. Take Your Garage Door Openers Out of Your Car if You Don’t Park in Your Garage
How many of you park your cars outside of the garage? If you do? Do you take the garage door opener out, or do you leave it in your car? This is one of the primary ways burglars get into your house.
3. Lock Your Doors
Now this one might seem silly, but you would be be surprised how many people don’t check their doors. The doors in their house, the doors to their car. Have you ever come home to find an unlocked door? How did that make you feel? My guess is it wasn’t comfortable. Something my family talks about is having a system for checking doors before we leave and before we go to bed. Start in one room of your house and work through the rest of it checking your doors. It will only take a minute or two, but it is worth it. We check them every time.
4. Talk To Your Family and Kids
Do you have talks with your family about possible situations? Stranger danger with your kids, scenarios with your spouse…have you talked about them? If so, how long ago?
We constantly quiz our kiddos on different situations and talk about them. We talk about stranger danger, we talk about a fire in the house and what to do, we talk about all sorts of things. Some of these conversations are the same that I have with my wife. What would she do if she came home to find someone inside? What would you do? What would you do if you were at the store and someone started shooting? Have you talked about? If not, you need to.
Don’t get me wrong, you don’t need talk to your kids about a mass shooting or crazy violence. That is not what I am getting at.
Here is something you can do tonight. What is your son or daughter’s favorite thing? Maybe a special toy or special stuffed animal. Now go ask them what they would do, if a woman came up to them and told them they had it. The woman told them that mommy sent them and gave her this special toy so they would know it was okay. Then the woman asks them to come get in a car with them. See what they say.
If you don’t have kids, do the same things with your spouse, your girlfriend, or your boyfriend. Ask them what they would do if someone came into their work and started shooting. Do they have a plan? Have they even thought about it.
Have these discussions!
5. Take Responsibility for You and Your Family’s Safety
This is what it all boils down to…YOU need to take responsibility for you and your family’s safety! You have to make this decision. Not your husband, your wife, your boyfriend or girlfriend, YOU need to!
Start doing it now! Make your safety and your family’s safety a priority. Don’t just say it, do it. Make it a priority because nothing is more important or more worthwhile.
