(TacticalNews.com) – Preparedness is often the only thing standing between survival and certain doom. When it comes to your family, you want them to be on the field with the survivors when the dust settles after an emergency. What can you do now to help ensure they are ready to act when the SHTF?
Below you will find a few drills you can practice with your family, to increase the likelihood they’ll be able to face real-world situations.
Medical Scenarios
To prepare for a medical emergency, practice for them ahead of time. To do this you can fake injuries, then have your children learn how to treat them on you. Draw cuts with a marker, or use fake blood to up the realism of the situation. Make sure everyone knows where your medical supplies are located, and teach everyone how to use them.
Getting everyone CPR certified is a good idea here, as they’ll receive their training from a professional. Once they’re certified, practice the procedures to make them second nature. If anyone has trouble remembering the rhythm for the chest compressions, turn on Star Wars in the background. The beat from the Imperial March that plays when Darth Vader is on screen is a good way to memorize it.
Home Invasion
This drill will prepare your family how to react to a break-in. Designate a safe room in your house where everyone will meet in the event of an invader. It should be big enough to hold everyone, and have extra security measures in place: A thick door, extra locks, a way to call for help, and any medical equipment necessary for an emergency.
Next, choose a keyword that everyone can recognize for the situation. This should be recognizable by everyone in the family so they know exactly what it means.
Each family member should have a specific job to perform as soon as the code word is spoken. If there are small children in the home, one job would be to get them to the safe room. Another would be to call 911.
To add some realism to this drill, run it in the middle of the night, unannounced, so the whole family has to respond in as close to a real-life situation as possible. Assess their performance and provide additional training on any weak spots.
Fire Drills
Your children should be used to performing fire drills at school already, so running one at home shouldn’t be that much of a change for them. Teach everyone the importance of knowing how to avoid smoke, checking door handles before opening them, and getting to the closest exit in the home.
To start a fire drill, simply test your fire alarm. Train everyone to immediately react to the sound. Once everyone is safely outside you can also practice stop, drop, and roll in your yard as part of the exercise.
Off the Grid Weekends
This drill will show you just how prepared you are for the lights to go out. The essence of it is really simple — flip the breaker switch to your home. This will simulate any power-down situation such as a natural disaster, brownout, or EMP attack.
Once you flip the switch, begin cooking food, gathering water, preparing heat sources (if it is cold weather in your location), and collecting your gear. Each family member should have a task assigned to them for this drill, and they should know exactly what is expected of them.
We suggest you run this drill at least twice a year, once for the warm season and once for the cold. The preparation for each will be different as in the winter you’ll need to know how to stay warm in a cold house, as well as how to protect the house from nasty surprises like freezing pipes.
Practice, Practice, Practice
The point of these drills is to be able to respond to emergencies appropriately and calmly. As with any skill, they must be practiced repeatedly to become effective. The better prepared your family is, the higher the likelihood they will survive.
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