Yesterday my older daughter came home a little early and a little upset.  And she had blood on the knuckles of her right hand.  She *had* to talk to me right away.  The story was simple:  she and another girl had been collecting samples of creek water for a high school environmental science class when 2 somewhat younger boys showed up.  My daughter wasn’t comfortable with the situation (she was in the creek) and moved around so she could watch the boys and not have her back to them.  Suddenly the boys grabbed the girls’ backpacks (with their wallets, keys, phones and pda’s) and took off-with my daughter in hot pursuit.  She ran 1 down, punched him twice in the head and mouth (hence the bloody knuckles) and got her pack back.  Then she headed for the other boy who dropped everything and ran away.

Now, I’m proud as punch of her and what she did can be a lesson to us all:  1) she listened to her instincts; 2) she retained situational awareness and did not let them get behind her and 3) she reacted well under crisis.  Some things you should know before you object that she could have been hurt by the boys:  a) she’s been training in the martial arts for 17 years (since she could crawl); b) she regularly works out the Marines and c) she’s used to the idea of going barehanded against weapons.  Still, this is absolutely *not* what any untrained person should do and she did take a big chance.  O, one last thing:  this morning I made sure to check on her Tetanus shot records to see if she needed another shot.

We always tell our children to run away from strangers who approach them.  We always tell our children to run towards help.  Then we give our children backpacks to put their school books, CDs, phones, calculators, etc. And then we tell our children how important it is that they not lose their backpacks with all this expensive stuff in it.  And we stress how important it is not to lose the backpacks and all the stuff in them.

So how would you like to talk to your child after they were attacked and ask them “Why didn’t you run away?” and have them tell you “I couldn’t, I didn’t want to lose my backpack.  You told me not to lose my backpack, that you would punish me if I lost it.”  Do you *really* want to feel that guilt?  Do you *really* want to look at your child and know that you gave her *conflicting* instructions?  Tell you kids:  Drop the pack if you have to, it’s *not* that important.  Tell your kids to Drop the Pack and Run!

By the way, this is good advice for all of us.  If you can do it, Drop Everything and Run.  Let go of the purse.  Let go of the computer.  Whatever you are carrying (unless you are carrying your child), it’s just *not* that important.  Drop It!  Then Run to help.

Whenever I go downtown I see them:  Women (and men) carrying a briefcase over one shoulder, a laptop computer over the other shoulder, a purse over the (3rd)shoulder, carrying a coat and umbrella and holding some envelopes and folders.  Frequently her head is down as she looks, checking to be sure she hasn’t dropped something as she walks down the street.  If she needs to pull open a door she cannot; if she needs her keys she will fumble with the purse because her hands are full or she will drop stuff.  Worse yet, with all these things in her arms to juggle she’s so busy carrying things that she has no idea what’s going on around her, who is approaching her, or what precautions should be taken.  Worse yet, if something does happen she cannot drop her stuff fast enough to run away.

So don’t do that!  Keep your hands as free as possible to minimize distractions.  I recommend using a rolling briefcase or cart.  You can let go of them quickly and easily, they aren’t a distraction, and you can see what’s going on around you.  An alternative is a backpack but a professional cannot really carry a backpack at work.  And backpacks have one major disadvantage:  they are hard to get out of if you have to drop it and run.  (Sometime in the future I’ll talk about backpacks and kids.  That discussion would also apply here.)

I was talking with a friend of mine recently who does risk assessment consulting to the armored car business.  He told me a story of an armor car employee who walked out of a store carrying a bag with over $2 million (!!!), didn’t notice a car filled with 4 adult males in the handicapped parking spot next to the armored car, and was robbed by them.  The employee had his eyes open and he was looking around, but he wasn’t *seeing* what was around him.  When you are on the street you need to *see* your surroundings too.

I was working with some GI’s and Marines this last week on knife defenses and the key is situational awareness–don’t let someone get too close.  How close is too close?  Believe it or not, someone with a knife who is closer than about 8-9 feet can cut you faster than you can draw and fire a weapon.  If you doubt me, try it.  So as you walk down the street, be aware of who is close to you and whether or not their hands are visible and don’t let strangers get too close.