Defending Your Family
When defending your family there a number of factors to consider, other humans, natural disasters, contagious illnesses, and health threatening agents that surround us all. Form a Family Plan First, develop a family plan to react to various situations. As soon as the children are old enough to understand they need to be aware of the plan. As they get older they can be included in forming the plan. You’ll need a plan for separation situations- like where to all meet if a house fire forces an evacuation or if a natural disaster strikes (like a tornado) and you aren’t all home. Have you prepared any survival kits? Hopefully you at least have a first aid kit. Make sure all family members know where they are. Make a relative or close personal friend your family’s "go-to" person. Someone to go to or call when you can’t be contacted. Make sure the family has their numbers and, of course, let your "go-to" person know also! Home Safety Defending your family at home is generally easier than defending them out in our public society. You’ll want to make sure that your home is secure from intruders. Quality locks on the doors and windows will help as long as they are engaged. Teach and insist everyone lock the doors behind themselves. For more information please see Home Security Make sure you have functioning smoke and Co2 detectors. Look for mold, radon and lead in paint and work to eliminate it. Their Personal Safety Defending your family on a personal level requires knowing your neighbors. Know the where about of local sex offenders. Are there any in your area? Notice when someone seems to be paying an unsolicited amount of attention to someone in your family. This could be a warning sign. Screen babysitters and house sitters. Their Health Defending your family against illness is part of a parent’s job, also. Teach your family basic germ killing skills: proper hand washing, the use of tissues and their appropriate disposal and trying to distance themselves from ill people. We live in a fairly tight society of people who don’t mind going to work/school while they are sick, heck, we have over the counter medicines to help you do just that, thanks a lot! Reminder your family not to share glasses, eating utensils, etc. Encourage them not to touch their month and nose a lot and to wash frequently. If you are cooking for your family you hold a certain amount of responsibility to do everything in your power to save them from food poisoning such as salmonella and E. coli. It’s not like when I was a kid. My gramz would give me a bowlful of raw chocolate chip cookie dough to eat if I was there when she made cookies. It was a bowl of heaven! Now it could be a bowl of food poison. Too bad, but true. Always thoroughly cook all meats and eggs. Wash all fruits and vegetables. Wash your hands, utensils and work surfaces between foods. You definitely don’t want to be the cause of their illness! Defending your family consists of many aspects of safety, but perhaps the most important is educating them to be safe when your not around.
Click here to read more about these related subjects:
Children's Self Defense
Youth Self Defense
Teen Dating Abuse
Senior Self Defense
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