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HOLY CRAP
As classes were wrapping up last night and we are all getting ready to leave. Lovins (one of our instructors at the school) looks at his cell phone and says Mark (Mark Slane, our head instructor and owner of the school) tried to call him a bunch of times. Sue (my wife and another instructor at our school) looks at hers and says the same thing as Joe (yep another instructor) comes back inside and asks if Mark has gotten in touch with me or Sue. My heart dropped when he said that Adrienne (mine and Sue’s daughter) had been calling for us and had called 911 to get the sheriff’s department out to the house.
She is ok and nobody was hurt in the making of this but…
She was sitting at home watching TV while we were all at class. Somebody banged on the front door. Her first though was that it was us wanting her to open the door. She went to the door and could see that it was not us. It was a white male and at that point he was talking to another person in a mini van that had been backed up to the house with the back door open.
He came back to the front door and knocked again, not hard this time. At that point Adrienne had called a friend of hers who told her to hang up and call 911. She called, before the deputy arrived the mini van drove off.
A few things here
First, thank god nothing happened and my daughter is ok…
Second, she called her friend before calling 911. We talked about this, if in doubt and you think you are in danger, get safe and call 911 immediately. I mean, don’t stay in a burning house to call 911, get out, then call, but you get the point.
Third, have a plan. We don’t yet and it was made obvious last night. Things like a safe room in the house that has a deadbolt and a charged cell phone. We don’t have an alarm. We had not planned out what to do if things went bad when Adrienne was home without us.
Fourth – it could have been nothing but people trying to sell stuff but we dont know that and I dont want my 13 year old daughter making that call…
Now is the time to get these things together. I am starting today and will work on this until it is done. I’m not talking about going crazy with this stuff, but creating a situation that would have put her in a better position to deal with this until the deputies got there if it had gone bad.
It also brings up another question. At what age is a child safe to leave at home? I am sure there are legal definitions of what is ok. Really though, its somewhat subjective based on the parents experience with the child. Adrienne is 13 and in my view a fairly mature person and a very intelligent person. She is a pretty tough kid as well – she has passed the level 1 test in Krav, she was 12 when she did that. Many of you have been through that test, think about when you were 12, could you have done that?
Still, she is only 13. A 13 year old girl versus an adult male? Possibly 2 adult males (we don’t know who was in the mini van), or maybe 2 armed adult males? Going down that path can be dangerous though. At want point does it become paranoia?
My point is though, the worst can happen. It didn’t in this case, but man did that scare the crap out of me. The story could have gone so very different.
Consider these things in your home and with your family. Don’t make life difficult for your family. Instead create a plan and circumstance that give them even more confidence and security when at home and out. Have a plan, where to go, who to call, what to do… Get to know your neighbors, I want them to notice a strange car parked in my driveway when I’m not home.
AND TRAIN!!!!! Take it seriously (still have fun with it!) and train hard. Remember during the drill that 30 seconds or 1 minute seems like its forever, but if you train to go hard the entire time, regardless of how tired you are you will be able to outlast most people and there is only 1 way to loose a fight – to stop fighting. If you never give up you can not loose!
Re: "It will never happen to me"
Wow. I’m so glad to hear that everything worked out all right for all of you.
That’s a true wake-up call for all of us. I think that your daughter did very well in a bad situation (that had the potential to get way worse…).
Re: "It will never happen to me"
Wow, thank God your daughter is ok. I have a 13 year old daughter as well who stays home by herself as well. This was really eye opening. Thank goodness everything worked out well for your family. You bring up some good ideas, it looks like we will be planning this weekend. Thanks for sharing.
Re: "It will never happen to me"
Wow John glad shes OK, I bet Sue is a wreck, actually you probably are too. I wish I could say I had sound answers or advice for you but i think ultimately you and Sue know your daughter better then anyone and will be able to make those decisions best.
Like you said – train her body – educate her mindMy small bit of advice would be invest in the home alarm with a panic button on the keypad located strategically around the house – front door/kitchen/master/backdoor
My best to your family~
Re: "It will never happen to me"
I can only echo the other responses here. Thank god she is ok and it really does sound like she handled it as well as a 13 year old could have. Thank you for sharing and please send her all of our best.
Re: "It will never happen to me"
Wow John. Who would ever think anything like that would happen out where we live? I guess that is the point though. You can never be too prepared and it can happen to anybody at any time. Glad everything went ok. I will be sure to watch for that van. Be so happy that you have a daughter that has some skills to defend herself. It can always be worse, but never good enough.
Let me know if you need any help securing the fortress!Re: "It will never happen to me"
First: I’m glad your daughter is ok. That’s just plain freaky and I’m happy to hear that she has a good head on her shoulders and didn’t do anything dumb like open the door.
Also…
quote bairy2:Wow John. Who would ever think anything like that would happen out where we live?A few years ago I was living in an upper middle class suburb of Salt Lake City, UT. The crime rate there is practically nil. A vigilant neighbor called us one day and told us that he had seen a few kids peering over our back fence (our yard butted up against a church) and taking photos.
We asked “So what?” and he said that it was a common practice among thieves when they were casing their next job.
Sure enough… A week or so later when I was out of town my roommate woke up to the sound of his dog going NUTZ at the back door. He walked to the door to see what was going on in the yard. He’s a pretty big guy and he’s always packing a sig 40 so he felt ok opening the door (bad move IMHO) but he managed to see 3 guys leaving the yard and getting into a van down the street. IN FREAKIN’ WHITE-BREAD, WEALTHY, SUBURBAN UTAH!
It can happen anywhere.
Re: "It will never happen to me"
Dang John – glad to read everything turned out ok – that’s friggin scary:OhMy:
I definitely agree with Sean on the alarm with panic button and it never hurts to have a plan ON TOP of that.
Y’all take care:wav:
Re: "It will never happen to me"
I am so sorry that you had such an awful experience at your home. Circumstances like the one you describe can and do happen. I have a daughter younger than yours, but I hope to educate her and already have her in TKD training. Thanks for the reminder to discuss the importance of not answering the door and how to dial 911 if necessary.
I am new to Krav, been taking it for a couple of months, but I am learning to live stronger and with more confidence.
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