Family Safety While On Vacation

Summer trips can make memories that last a lifetime. How can you be sure that those memories are of fun times and not tragedy? With summer officially upon us, let’s take a few minutes to discuss family safety while on vacation (or near home!).

First and foremost, as a parent, you need to be armed and trained to protect your family. That includes outside the home as well as inside. Regarding “armed’”, non-lethal options are good but you MUST have a lethal-force equalizer at the ready. Anything less is to abdicate your responsibility to your family. Don’t like me saying that!? There’s no point in reading on, because if you are not aware enough to see that there are evil people who want to victimize your family, and are not determined to be sure that it won’t happen, this content will be of no interest to you. Go back to your bubble.

That having been said, here are some guidelines. Some can be implemented immediately in a family meeting and some you can roll out to pay dividends as they grow up.

This summer is a good time to get your kids into martial arts training. They will reap benefits for the rest of their lives. A good school will teach your kids respect, discipline, as well as fighting skills, and give them the confidence they need to walk away from a fight they can walk from, and to finish a fight they must. We are lucky here in Venice FL to have Buck Buckmaster’s Revolutionary Martial Arts https://www.revolutionarymartialartsfitness.com/. A native of the area, Master Buck is trained in several disciplines and has the best kid’s program around.

Teach kids about their “gut” instincts and to learn to pay attention to what they are telling them, and as parents listen to your kids as well. If they do not like somebody, do not force contact. Kids may be less able to express their misgivings for a variety of reasons. Don’t blanketly trust relatives, long-time friends or other parents. In fact, there are parents who use their kids to lure new victims into their home. For this reason, sleepovers elsewhere must be treated with caution.

Approximately one third of abductions are by strangers. These mostly occur in very public places. Your child must know that NOBODY is allowed to touch them in any way. They are to run if they can, yell “9-1-1”, and fight – to win. Bite, kick, hit, scream… don’t be a willing victim and do create a scene, where plenty of witnesses and potential helpers will show up.

This can be taught so that they are not unduly afraid, and that they are not racked by fear if it happens. Drill abductions like fire drills — matter-of-factly identify and head for an exit, fighting as necessary. Do this at home. Kids (and many adults) have an unfortunate tendency to hide from danger. This is not a desirable reaction and is more likely to end in disaster.

Contrary to the blanket instruction to never talk to strangers, kids must be taught that in certain circumstances it is good to seek out strangers. If the worst case happens and they are abducted, or simply find themselves in a strange place and do not know where to go, teach them this: FIND FLAGS, FOOD, AND FAMILIES.

Why? Most places that display an American flag will have good people there to help, whether that’s a fire station, library, business or house. Even a person with a flag on a uniform can be asked for help.

Most places that serve food will have people (witnesses) around to make it less likely something bad will occur. Even food trucks and street vendors are good options.

Places where you find kids you will also find parents, very few of which will take kindly to a child abduction. Teach them it is OK to ask any parent for help.

Very few kids today know their parent’s cell number. Don’t believe me? Do your own research. Yet, access to cellphones and the internet is a landmine that most kids and many adults do not have the wisdom to navigate. Your teens likely access more dangerous sites than you could imagine.

As soon as is practicable, kids should be exposed to guns, ideally in the trained hands of their parents. At COMMAND PERFORMANCE FIREARMS AND TRAINING LLC we offer a specific class to help you do this, our PARENT/TEEN INTRO TO SHOOTING AND FUN SHOOT. The age-restriction for our classes has to do with them being big enough to safely shoot at the bench at the range and to be able to maintain attention to the details of gun handling,. We normally use .22LR rifles for this course, though family guns can be used when appropriate.

Most parents find that they are best served if they first take our SELF-DEFENSE HANDGUN FUNDAMENTALS Class or our WOMEN’S SELF-DEFENSE HANDGUN FUNDMENTALS Class. Details for all classes here: Instruction – COMMAND PERFORMANCE FIREARMS AND TRAINING LLC

Do make this a summer to remember… a summer which your kids will tell their grandkids about!

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