A Guide to Keeping Your Family Safe in the New Year

We all know the New Year is a great time to make new plans––but have you considered making a family safety plan? Don't worry. If you don't know where to start with safety planning, you're in the right place!

To keep your family safe, it's important to define what safety means to you. Start by thinking about areas of vulnerability. Overall, the goal is not to become a paranoid person who sees danger under every rock. The goal is the opposite––to reduce worries so that you can do the things you enjoy with the people you love.

So let's get started.

Overview of Family Safety (The Pillars of Family Safety)

We'll start with a master guide, so you know where you're going as you read through this article. Sometimes, people get overwhelmed by planning for potential hard times. This is understandable - nobody wants to spend time thinking about scary things when they could just keep on living their lives.

If you're the type to get overwhelmed by these things, consider this: taking a little time to prepare now will save you a lot of time later. Sometimes, just thinking some of these things through beforehand can have great benefits when the hard times do come. There's little worse than being unprepared.

Here is the guide to maintaining family safety:

• Look at Personal Risks
• Think about the Most Common Dangers in Your Area
• Consider Safety Zones in Planning
• Get Your Kids Involved with Safety Planning
• Invest in a Few Key Safety Items

Now we'll look at each of these points in more detail and nuance. As you'll see, you don't have to have a ton of money or extra time to take steps toward being a little safer.

Look at Personal Risks

The first step is to consider personal risks. If you or your family members plan to become a NASCAR driver, then it would be prudent to take time to study safe driving techniques. Likewise, if you're planning to hunt grizzly bears, you might want to consider how to stay safe in bear country.

Those are some rather extreme examples, but we all have risks we may be exposed to. If you're planning on installing a pool on your property, then it would be wise to take significant steps to educate your family about water safety.

You might think that you're already familiar with the dangers in your life - but making assumptions is often the first mistake. Remember this: familiarity is the friend of danger. It's a fact that many car accidents happen within only a few miles of people's homes. Why? Because these are the areas folks are most familiar with - so they let their guard down.

Keeping your family safe is all about maintaining vigilance and not becoming lax. So, even though you might you're well aware of the dangers in your area, take a few moments to make a list of the potential dangers. These could be environmental (such as danger from weather or wildfire), or they could be more personal, such as the propensity for illness.

Think about the Most Common Dangers in Your Area

The next step is to think beyond your family and your property and to think about your community, county, and even your state. What are the unique safety challenges you face?

If you live in an urban environment, you might be more worried about car accidents, personal theft, and/or a lack of clean resources (air, water). If you're in a rural setting, you still have to consider inclement weather, power outages, and distance from medical resources.

Most people don't realize that if you live very far away from a trauma center (a hospital capable of emergency surgery in the event of trauma), then you can be in more risk in the event of an injury (broken bones, bleeds, head injuries, etc.).

Also, it would be a good idea to look at how far your local ambulance station is from your home: what's the average amount of time it will take for help to arrive in the event that you have an emergency?

All of these questions are important to ask yourself. The good news is, once you've asked yourself these questions and had discussions with your family members, you'll have made an investment in safety that last a lifetime.

Alright, now let's get into our first practical tip.

Consider Safety Zones in Planning

The zones of safety relate to the distance we put between ourselves and danger. For example, let's say there is a large bonfire in the middle of a field. If you're a mile away and you can see the fire through a pair of binoculars, then you're essentially safe - this would be called zone three.

Now, let's say that you're fifty feet away from the fire. You're not in any danger of being burned right now, but if you get any closer, there's a chance that a gust of wind could come through and the fire could lash out and burn you. This is zone 2.

Now let's say that you're ten feet away from the fire. You're not being burned right now, but you're essentially playing the lottery - you could trip, someone could push you, a gust of wind, the fire spreads, and you get burned. This could be thought of as zone 1, or the danger zone.

So what's the point?

The point is that a careful person will almost never let themselves get into a zone 1 situation where safety is concerned. Ideally, you want to stay in zone three. If necessary, you may be in zone 2 - but you need to be on high alert, because if you get into zone 1, you're putting your life fully into the hands of chance.

Let me give you another example just to make sure we're clear on how this works.

Let's use a car accident as an example. You're sitting in your living room and cars are passing by on the road outside - this is zone 3. Yes, there's a chance that a car could plow into your house, but you're essentially safe.

Now, you get in your car and start driving to the grocery store. You're paying attention, wearing your seatbelt, and driving defensively - this would be zone 2. Yes, there's a chance someone could still hit you, but you're being as careful as possible to ensure your safety.

Now, you're driving to the grocery store, and you begin texting while you drive - this is zone 1. While texting and driving, you essentially have no control over whether you get into an accident or not.

There's a saying on the ambulance: there are no accidents. And a large reason behind this saying is the zones. People who are "accident prone" often make the mistake of constantly going about their lives in zone 1, where they have the mistake belief that they still have some control.

If someone gets into a car crash while texting, that wasn't an "accident," because they very well could have taken steps to stay safe.

Let's talk about how to relay this concept to your family.

Get Your Kids Involved with Safety Planning

Often, one of the best ways to keep your kids safe is to get them involved in safety planning. Most of the time, kids think it's cool to learn about first aid products, how to use a fire extinguisher, how to call for help, and how to evacuate.

Kids can often understand a lot more than adults give them credit for - the key is to sit down with kids and have a respectful conversation. Explain to them the "zones" of safety, and how they can avoid being in the risky "zone 1." Explain to them how they can take steps to protect themselves and their friends.

Invest in a Few Key Safety Items

While I firmly believe that what you store in your skull is the best safety tool of all, it's still wise to have a few key first aid items on hand to deal with emergencies as they arise. A few items to get include bleeding control supplies (tourniquet, gauze), airway tools (face mask), and long-term survival equipment.

Here's a great article on how to build a family first aid kit. It lays everything out so you know exactly what get (and the mistake to avoid).

Keep in mind: training is key. Don't get a bunch of stuff that you don't know how to use. Be sure to train yourself and your family.

Conclusion: Building a Safety Plan in The New Year by Maintaining a Long-term Vision and Building Good Habits

Building a family safety plan in the new year can seem tiresome, but it's worth the investment. Remember, it's not about being paranoid - it's about addressing some issues now so that you're prepared later (and this approach actually leads to more peaceful lives).

If you haven't already, be sure to read this article on how to prepare for a blackout. It will give you some great tips on what to have, and what to know.