Why every mom needs to watch Kidnapped
Jess went out without me last night so instead of lazing around in my pj's I decided to go check out a parenting movie. Addict much?
There is lots of violence so it may not be the best movie to watch with your kids, but there is a scene (which I will post on my YouTube channel) that all moms need to show their kids. In the scene she played the voice recording that showed just how cleverly the kidnapper was able to lure away her son. He was not naughty, he was not disobedient...he was just being a kid. Some would say this voice note is clear evidence as to why teaching stranger danger is so important, but the truth is, there may very well come a time when you fall down in a public place and your kid will have no choice but to talk to a stranger. So please, give your kids more credit and do more than just black and white rules.
If for some very unusual reason you need to have your child sit in one spot while you deal with an emergency then before you leave their presence re-enforce the password rule. (They are not allowed to go with anyone outside of their trusted circle without the password that ONLY you two know, which means if you fall down and need assistance from a stranger to go get your child, then they must be given that password and then and only then would your child move from that spot).
I know that many judgmental mothers will be having a few choice words because she took her eyes off her son to take a call, but I'm a single mom and the truth is, it happens. Shit happens!!!
Nonetheless, take a moment and get it out your system. Judge away. I shall give you a few seconds to vent. I will post a picture in the meantime......
Let's start with this image here. The moment she saw the kidnapper forcing her son into the car. What she did not do was freeze. Massive kudos to her for not doing that. She went into fight mode immediately.
What then became obvious for the rest of the movie was the fact that she never sat and worked out a kidnapping plan with her and her family.
I thank God that I did Karate when I was younger and while for spiritual reasons I won't have my daughter do it, I do teach her self-defense, which includes planning for danger. We go through various scenarios and we are constantly planning for danger. If someone enters our home, if someone robs us in public, we discuss exit options when we enter public spaces, just like a health and safety briefing.
Learning the art of being prepared is the best thing you can do for you and your family. I call it an art because some people can end up instilling fear into their homes and that's even worse. If you guys know me, Jess and I are as adventurous as they come. Our fearlessness is often mistaken for carelessness, but that's the sense of security that preparation gives.
Repetition breeds habit, so repeat, repeat, repeat. As a mother, your course of action must be crystal clear and it must be something you could recite in your sleep. Refer to the picture above....what in the world does she hope to achieve by holding on to the car? It may have been better to grab a big stone and break the glass first. In fact, there were several times in the movie where she stood pounding on the class pleading with them. Like really? Do you really think they will turn the glass down and have a civil conversation.
Next up is her ability to use her vehicle as a weapon. Again, at no point did she freeze. She was clearly thinking and planning all the way through, she just wasn't equipped with the training to act accordingly. Ladies, learn to drive better in reverse than you do forward. Slamming into a car forward would deploy the airbag and shut down the car. It is less likely to happen if you slam into a vehicle in reverse. If I were her, the passive following would have quickly been turned into active combat, because my daddy taught me to drive like a mo-fo in reverse. Know when and how to move away from defense mode and move into attack mode.
Now ladies, this is my final advice to you. See that face above there? That's the face she needed to have from the get go. She was too nice for too long. She had the opportunity to roll over the bastard and pressed brakes halfway? Like seriously? She kept feeling apologetic for hitting cars or nearly causing an accident and she kept hoping that she could reason with them.
If you don't curse, learn. Learn to appear to be a crazy ass bitch that would be a proper nightmare if you don't get your way. Learn to call their bluff. The child is of no use to them dead and they are already in too deep to do that. They know that the stakes will be higher for you if they kill him. Killing him won't make you stop following them and they know it. This is not the time to be emotional and weak. This is the time to be calculating and cunning and go kick some ass. The US doesn't negotiate with terrorist and neither should you. If the kidnapper says to you that they would kill your son if you don't stop following them I want you to repeat after me....GO AHEAD AND KILL HIM.
I hate to do blogs longer than 500 words and I'm well over that, so I shall end here because teaching self defense is not something I can do in one go. Be prepared, practice till it becomes second nature and always have a plan. I pray that this blog is never needed by any of us, but share it anyways because knowledge is power and I firmly believe that criminals know which tree to climb, so be sure that you and your family wreak with crazy and they can smell your bad ass ways from a mile away.
