What families need to do to be safer, stronger, and happier
A few years ago I started off the first podcast in January of how to survive that year. And that was a tongue-in-cheek title, but as we go it’s less of a joke and more focused on what we as families need to do to thrive and survive. Maybe it’s my age or my perspective, but I think life is getting harder for most families and we’re going to have to do way more for ourselves than ever before.
I’m creating a free download for you called The Secure Dad 2023 Survival List. And I’m going to go over a few things from that list today that I think every family needs to do in the coming year to be better prepared and safer. Because if your family feels safe, they can feel happy. Don’t forget that safety is the bedrock of happiness.
Safer in 2023 - Know your Neighbors
The first task I have for you is to get to know the people who live around you. I’ve actually done an entire podcast on this, but bottom line is that you need to know who lives within proximity of your family.
You don’t have to be best friends who play UNO on Thursday nights, but you do need to be on a first-name basis with everyone who lives around you. As you get to know them, you’ll learn who you can trust in an emergency and they can trust you to be a good person.
Get Your Hands Dirty
I’ve encouraged you for a long time now to take a hands-on training that teaches you how to be harder to kill. That can be a self-defense course, a firearms course, or medical training. You pick. All of these will absolutely be valuable in a critical time in the life of your family.
Last year, I got to train with Tony Blauer in person and the year before that it was three days with Greg and Brian at Arcadia Cognerati. My personal goal is to do CPR or stop the bleed this year. I feel like it’s time to do a medical course.
Read More in 2023
Take time to read this year. There are two types of books that I suggest that you make time for. The first is a book on survival or fighting skills. This way you can have some knowledge about what to do when you need get stranded or hurt out in the wild. I suggest either 100 Deadly Skills Survival Edition by Clint Emerson or Mother Nature is NOT trying to Kill You
by Rob Nelson. Both of these authors have been on the show and it’s always a good time talking with them.
The second type of book is on safety. This can be The Gift of Fear by Gavin De Becker
which is the industry standard. You can also check out The Safety Trap by Spencer Coursen. Spencer has been on the show and brings a lot of experience to his writing. All of these books can be found on Amazon right now. So if you’ve got a gift card burning a hole in your pocket, this is a good way to use it.
Assess Your Home’s Security
I want you to run a home security assessment this year. This is when you take a hard look at the reality of what it would take to break into your home. It may make you uncomfortable to do this, but we have to get out of our comfort zone to protect our families, so be bold.
To help you I created The Secure Dad Family Home Security Assessment. This is a checklist that I created that gives you tons of details on what to improve on your property to make it a hard target for a criminal. The cost is only $6. For less than a cup of fancy coffee, you can make your home safer.
Red Flag Behavior
An important topic that I got a lot of appreciation for last year was identifying the stages of grooming. The reason I think parents should know the stages is to see the red-flag behaviors that groomers and victims exhibit. When we know what these signs are, then we can act to save our kids.
Eat At Home
The last thing I’ll mention from the 2023 survival list is to eat at home more often. I think a lot of us are doing this already. Dave Ramsey has said that if you can get your dining and grocery expenses in check, everything else with your budget is easy.
I and many other people are predicting a recession this year. Get as much cash as you can to work for you and your family. As a bonus get your kids to help you cook so they can learn a valuable life skill. It’s really a win, win except for doing the dishes afterward. That’s no fun.
Now, these are only a few of the things that we need to do in 2023. And of course, there are more that are not on my list and I encourage you to pursue those. You know your family and what they need. Challenge them to get better, stronger, and safer in this new year.
