In today’s world, your kids might need to be their own bodyguards in an emergency. Parent, police officer and CrossFit Defense coach Rick Randolph explains how to prepare your children for a life-threatening situation.
I play fight with my kids a lot—slap boxing, wrestling them on the bed. The two oldest love it; the baby just paws at my face and giggles. They drop down into fighting stances—fists clenched, hands up—and sneer. My 7-year-old daughter likes to throw a jab-cross-hook combo and finish with a knee. She hit me with it the other day and said, “I’m gonna kick your ass! I mean, butt. Sorry, dad.”
But they also know we are playing and dad is not going all out. They know they can’t beat me in a “real fight.”
It recently occurred to me that I spend all this time coaching other people’s kids on self-defense, and I wondered if I do enough training with my own.
And then came Sandy Hook.
I didn’t know what to tell my kids. That bad guy didn’t care about getting hurt or caught. I thought maybe it was better not to tell them. My boy is a bit of a worrier and an over-thinker. I have found, however, that his worry is often eliminated if he has a plan. So we made one.