Personally, I find professional basketball boring and I never heard of former NBA star Vince Carter--until last week. Apparently, his 7 million dollar home was broken into when he was out of the house--but his wife and two children were at home. When Mrs. Carter heard the home invaders she wisely gathered her two children and hid in a closet while the home invaders eventually took off with USD 100K+ worth of money and items. Good for Mrs. Carter as she did the right thing. I suspect the house was so big that the criminals never found her in her closet. But the event reminded me of my home invasion experience when I detected three men outside my house at 0430 in the morning on my Arlo cameras--only I was in eastern Afghanistan and my wife, three small children, and young teenager, were at home. The story is outlined in my book "Seconds to Live or Die, Life-saving lessons from a former CIA officer." Long story short, my wife retrieved one of our firearms and set herself in the doorway of our children's room--just as we had practiced almost ten months earlier. The home invaders never entered the house--likely due to the discovery of the cameras--but had they entered, it is safe to say they would have met a grimly determined armed mother ready to kill to protect our children.
Today's video contains some thoughts on how to prepare your family for home defense. On the outside of your home, I would highly encourage motion detection lights and security cameras. On the inside, chose a safe haven space. It could be a room in the basement, a closet, a bedroom, the attic--whatever works for you. Fortify the room with locks (I like Haven Locks which come up from the floor and make kicking the door in extremely challenging. If you own firearms, put one in there, along with extra ammo; medical kit; food; water; a means of communication to contact 911; and items to contend with extreme temperatures if you need it (for example a sleeping bag for small children to stay warm in the winter if the room is not adequately heated). Designate a code word for your children so that when they hear it, they understand to go to the safe haven. Drill periodically. When you utter the code word, they should stop what they are doing and immediately make their way to the safe haven. You don't have to go nuts with the drills, once every couple months will instill muscle memory. This is important as when we are under stress, we revert to our lowest level of training and a little bit of forethought can make all of the difference in the world. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.