5 Ways you Can Love and Protect your Family From Harm
Protecting your family from harm can’t always be done by relying on technology.
While we advocate using technology as a tool to add an extra layer of protection around your family, your home, your assets, your business, there are more tangible ways you can love and protect those you love most!
Ready? Let’s do this!
Here are 5 things you can do starting today, to love and protect your family from harm.
1 Keep Your Home Safe For Young and Old
One of the most important ways to love and protect your family is to keep your home safe.
Take measures such as installing security cameras, smart door locks, and smoke detectors to make sure your home is secure. Keep hazardous items out of reach of children, and make sure your home is equipped with fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, and CO2 detectors.
Install systems that work for you. Not sure what you need? Talk to a professional who installs systems day after day!
2 Teach Your Kids and Elderly Parents Safety Measures
Another way to love and protect your family is to educate everyone on safety measures. Teach your children about stranger danger and not to open the door for strangers, how to call for help in an emergency, and what to do in case of a fire. Next, talk to your family about Internet safety. By teaching your family these important safety measures, you can prevent heartbreak and potentially life-threatening situations.
3 Spend Quality Time With Your Family
Spending quality time with your family is another way to show them love and protect them from harm.
Spend time with your loved ones to strengthen your bond. This provides you with an opportunity to check in with them and make sure they’re doing okay. Whether it’s going on a family vacation, playing a game together, or simply having dinner together, spending quality time with your family is important for their well-being. We highly advocate doing this as we are parents ourselves and have seen firsthand how important it is to be present at home!
4 Be a Good Listener
Being a good listener is another way to love and protect your family.
When your loved ones are going through a tough time, it’s important to be there for them and listen to their issues and problems. This will make them feel heard and understood, and can also give you an opportunity to offer them support and advice. By being a good listener, you can help your family cope with life’s challenges and protect them from harm. Never discount the value of a listening ear. Even a few minutes per day can make a huge difference to someone who might be sick or depressed.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/
5 Teach Your Kids Values
Finally, teaching your family good values is another way to love and protect them. Values such as honesty, kindness, and respect will help family members make good decisions, and can also help them build healthy relationships with others. By instilling these values in your family, they are on their way to a fulfilling life.
While we can’t protect those we love from everything that might harm them, good habits, listening to each other, and good values can take you a long way!
We are Here to Partner with you to Protect your Family from Harm!
Don’t go it alone. We are here to support you, your growing family, and those you love most in life. Give us a call to discuss how we might serve you and your family for years to come.
How To Best Prepare for An Active Hurricane Season
Do You Know Your Hurricane Evacuation Routes?
If you live in the south (east) of the United States you have to know about hurricane season; really all up and down the east coast you can be affected by hurricanes at any time during the hurricane season. If you have just recently moved south – maybe you just got to Myrtle Beach and you are reading this, you might not really know what the ‘fuss’ is about! We run into newly relocated people (from up north) often and they really have no idea what kind of damage a hurricane can do; both the wind and the water can destroy homes on their own, but putting them together and you’ve got a ‘perfect storm’.
First and foremost, if you do live in the south, you should know your evacuation route and you should have a family emergency plan.
When Is Hurricane Season?
For our North Atlantic area, hurricane season starts in June and runs through November!
This means that as this is published, hurricane season is in full swing and we (meaning you, the reader, and me, the writer) should gets prepared NOW!
From experience, we know a few things about hurricanes. Here are some of the things we do and take care of each season to prepare for a hurricane.
Preparing For A Big Storm
✓ Keep a close eye on the forecast – know what’s happening and when to evacuate.
✓ Stock up on essentials BEFORE mention of any storm (because these supplies will be very hard to find once a storm approaches). Whether you stay home to ‘ride it out’ or you need to go to a shelter, even if you evacuate; you will need these supplies!
- flashlights with batteries
- extra batteries
- power-bank for your phones
- car chargers
- candles and/or hand-cranked light source
- supply of blankets and towels
- water supply – 1 gallon p/p per day
- dry milk
- canned food
- dry food
- cash (because ATMs will run out)
- filled up gas tanks (because gas stations will run out of gas)
- generator (optional)
- gas grill (with extra propane tank)
- plywood to board up your house (optional)
- masking tape to tape off your windows (optional)
- chainsaw (optional – comes in handy when trees are down!)
- create a portable toolkit
- stock your first-aid kit
- water-proof pocket file holder for all your paperwork (insurance cards, medical info, passports, proof of local residency etc)
- if you have pets: vet records, extra food and carriers (so they can evacuate with you)
- hotel reservations for up to 4 days in the city you are evacuating to, if you don’t want to stay locally in a shelter
✓ Let your family and friends know what your plans are and where you are headed!
✓ Connect with your neighbors – together you can figure out when to leave and when it is safe to return after a storm.
✓ Ask elderly neighbors if they have a plan – help them make arrangements if possible.
Here Is What The Experts Say About Preparing For A Big Storm
We found several great online resources for preparing and dealing with an approaching hurricane.
The best place to start is here.
Once you land on that website, you will find all of the following resources at your fingertips!
We recommend you familiarize yourself with this list, read it, act on the tips and then sit back, because along with you, we truly hope this is an inactive hurricane season and we will NOT see a major hurricane!
How Do You Prepare for a Hurricane?
Prepare, plan and stay informed and you will be fine!
We at Strand Security want all of our friends, family and customers to be safe and secure at all times. Our hope is you will start to think of a few things you can do now so that once a storm is approaching you aren’t fully unprepared to get ready. Feel free to ask us how we can help you!
Safety First! Make a Family Emergency Plan Today!
Does Your Family Have a Family Emergency Plan Yet?
An emergency is just that; ‘an unexpected and usually dangerous situation that calls for immediate action.’
Planning for emergencies is not an easy thing to do, since, well… they happen when you least expect it! However, having a PLAN does help you ‘take control’ of the unexpected, as far as that’s possible.
Plan for an Emergency by Doing Drills!
With kids going back to school this month, we thought it would be a good idea to review some family emergency plans. Just like your kids will be exposed to fire drills, earthquake drills, tornado drills, bomb drills or, at least here in South Carolina we do them; hurricane drills, at their schools. You should be planning for a home emergency as well by doing these types of drills with a written out plan, at your home!
On the website ‘disastercenter.com’ we learn that
- Disaster can strike quickly and without warning. It can force you to evacuate your neighborhood or confine you to your home. What would you do if basic services, such as water, gas, electricity, or telephones were cut off? Local officials and relief workers will be on the scene after a disaster, but they cannot reach everyone right away.
- Families can and do cope with disaster by preparing in advance and working together as a team. Knowing what to do is your best protection and your responsibility. Learn more about Family Disaster Plans by contacting your local emergency management office or your local American Red Cross chapter.
We then went to the Red Cross site and according to the Red Cross, creating a family emergency plan is “important to make sure that the entire family is prepared and informed in the event of a disaster or emergency. You may not always be together when these events take place and should have plans for making sure you are able to contact and find one another.”
The American Red Cross suggests some basic steps to make sure you remain safe:
- Meet with your family or household members.
- Discuss how to prepare and respond to emergencies that are most likely to happen where you live, learn, work and play.
- Identify responsibilities for each member of your household and plan to work together as a team.
- If a family member is in the military, plan how you would respond if they were deployed.
To read the full Red Cross article, click here.
FEMA also has some valuable information. They have created two downloadable family communication plans as PDFs, one for parents and one for kids.
Family Communication Plan for Kids
Family Communication Plan for Parents
These would be a great starting point for any family who doesn’t have a family emergency plan yet!
Do These Four Things To Keep Your Family Save in Time of Disaster and Emergency
To round out this article, here are four things to keep in mind and take care of today!
- Find out what can happen to you and your family.
- Create a family disaster plan.
- Complete your checklists.
- Practice and maintain your plan.
If you do all of these, you can rest just a bit easier when disaster strikes!
EDIT: March 2017
We received a beautiful email from a Girl Scout Troop. The girls in the troop are currently working on their first aid badges and we they have been talking about emergency preparedness. Our article provided a ton of info for the girls. In their research, they found another helpful resource. Today, we are happy to share it with you, too.
Check out this article by BePrepared.com
CREATE AN EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS PLAN FOR YOUR FAMILY
Get ready! You can never be too prepared!
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