I recently read a posting from 2015 about a fictional mom, a
real she-wolf, taking her kids to an equally fictional street festival. It’s a didactic article to make you
think. I was going to steal it and
republish it with a link back to the original source, but decided against that. It’s written about a woman, but that doesn’t
really matter. It’s written for your
frontal lobes.
Let me unpack it for you.
Mom, of course, has a CCW and carries. What sensible person would not? The article also explains she dresses to
blend in with the expected crowd while dressing her children in bright green
shirts to make them easy to find in a crowd.
She carries a nondescript fanny pack with OC spray, impact tool and, of
course, a blade. She photographs the
sole pattern of their shoes before leaving home to give to the police, if
needed.
Okay, let’s stop here.
Taking cell phone pictures of the tread pattern of your kids shoes isn’t
going to help the police find them if they are taken or wander off. There are few police forces with trackers who
could essentially follow tracks through a street festival. Taking a picture of what they were wearing when
you left home is probably more useful.
I like the idea of dressing your kids in bright colors, but
why not add a bright cap or scarf to your
outfit so they can find you as quickly as well?
After all it’s a festival and you wouldn’t look too out of place with a
lime green ball cap.
Do you need OC spray, an impact tool and a sharpened
edge? I want to say no, but my training forces
me to admit that replacing the impact tool with the right flashlight makes that
trio very powerful. But not dumped in a
fanny pack. I know women’s pants have
crappy, shallow pockets, but there are pants what will work for you. You don’t need a 5-inch blade. A smaller more easy to carry 3 inch blade,
like Spyderco’s Delica or Benchmade’s Mini-Griptilian, is extremely useful. You can clip either to the inside of your
waistband in perfect comfort.
Our she-wolf constantly scans for potential trouble, making
a mental note of anyone who appears to be paying too much attention to her or
her kids. On exiting she checks to make
sure anyone she noted isn’t following her.
Great idea. Why not take a cell phone
picture of them too? Don’t worry about
being seen, let them worry about what you’re doing with their image. I’d hang on to the images for a week or two,
just in case.
This is just living in condition yellow, or watchful
interest. It’s not hard to live this way. Just be alert to your surroundings. You’ll be surprised with what you see.
My wife used to teach school and during fire drills the fire
marshal or principal would snag a kid and pull them into a class room to wait
out the drill. Each teacher needed to do
a head count and identify any missing children.
Losing a child during a drill was considered very bad ju-ju. She taught her kids to say no to anyone who
tried to take them out of the drill. Why
not teach your kids the same thing? Anyone
who wants to show then something inside something, or was sent to get them
should be told no. A very loud no at
that.
If she thinks she’s being followed (remember those looks
around and effort to notice anyone paying too much attention), she makes an
immediate turn in an unexpected direction.
I think that’s fine providing it doesn’t lead you to a more isolated
spot. Stay with the crowd. Predatory animals always select the ones at
the edge of the pack.
With this in mind, don’t be the last to leave. Sure your favorite group is preforming after
dark in the town circle, but do you really have to stay until the roadies are
taking the amps down? Take your kids and
leave while it’s still light, especially if the parking is in a unlighted area.
You can always hear your group on the
internet.
Of course maybe the best way to to go with a small trustworthy group of adults and children. Just saying....
You think this doesn’t apply to you. It may not.
Maybe you don’t have kids. Maybe
you’re a 10 degree black belt and your kids spar with you going full out. Maybe you’re surrounded by a nine man
protective service. But I bet it does.
The holidays are coming up. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Rosh Hashanah, Michaelmas, New Years, Boxing Day, do I need to elaborate more?!?
It’s time of jangled nerves, too much to do and too little time. We short change ourselves and find ourselves
taking children to crazy stores and forgetting basic precautions. Don’t do it.
Stay alert, have a plan, a second plan, as well as the skill
set and tools to work the plan.
Suggest reading: Gift
of Fear https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gift_of_Fear
Principles of Personal Defense https://www.amazon.com/Principles-Personal-Defense-Jeff-Cooper-ebook/dp/B005SP8WMA
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