Adam Mitchell [00:00:01]:
Welcome back to the Close Quarter Dad Podcast. And this is the first of a new series that I'm doing within the Close Quarter Dad Podcast called Safety Checks. And these are gonna be episodes I roll out. They're gonna be brief episodes I roll out every Saturday morning. And the goal is to have a conversation about specific areas of concern that we as dads are gonna have when it comes to keeping our kids safe, helping helping them to learn how to stay found and not be lost, helping them to understand their role in complete family unit safety, how to help them have better situational awareness, how to grow grow up with more confidence and resilience, as they age. And each one of the safety checks guys are going to be very, very topic specific, very situational specific, and they're gonna range across a spectrum of different topics that we are always going to be concerned about. But oftentimes, many of them, we don't even really think about. And what I'm gonna do, sort of the format for each one of these episodes is going to be kind of some context.
Adam Mitchell [00:01:01]:
I'm gonna talk about what the topic is, and I'm gonna give maybe some data, why it's important. And then from there, I'm not gonna spend too long because, you're gonna understand, like, when I say what the topic is, you're gonna say, oh, okay. Yeah. It's pretty important. I'm gonna follow it up with a couple things, and, we're all gonna get on the same page. And then I'm gonna offer an exercise for you to go forward into this weekend and invite your kids into, an experience. You're you're only of course, I'm gonna offer you some starting points. They're gonna be age specific, So I'm gonna have exercises based on that topic for 4 to 8 year olds, for 9 to 12 year olds, and then from, 13 to 18 year olds.
Adam Mitchell [00:01:41]:
So these, these exercises that I'm gonna offer you, they're, you know, you can build on them. You can expand on them. You know your kids. You may be living in a city, or you may be living out in the out in the woods. You may be living up in the mountains. You may be living by the ocean. I don't know where you are, but I'm at least going to give you a starting point and some context and some relevancy around each one of these topics. And this is going to give you the opportunity to engage your kids at an age specific, level over something that is a potential risk or hazard or, is maybe a threat to them at some point, as they grow.
Adam Mitchell [00:02:19]:
And this is going to be an opportunity every weekend for you to engage with your children and to show up, as that role model that you are to them and to serve as the, the protector, the guy, and the guardian of your kids, but to also have some fun experiences with them over the weekend, to have some bonding experiences, build that trust and that communication with them. So that's the goal. That's what the safety checks are every week, different topic. And then from there, I'm gonna offer a couple things that I think you should be looking for in your kids, while you're doing these exercises. So I wanna frame you up a little bit there, kinda tee you up with each one of these, and, hey, be on the lookout for this so you're gonna you can expect that from me. And then finally, we're gonna wrap it up with just sort of a brief summary and, put a bow on it, send you off on your weekend. And then over the week in the community, I'm gonna be looking for your results. We're gonna keep the conversation going.
Adam Mitchell [00:03:10]:
I wanna hear from, all the different community members how these lessons are resonating with their kids. Maybe what are some of the things that you yourself are tripping over? What were some of the victories you had? This is all really important because a rising tide lifts all ships. And, hopefully, in our community of dads, each one of these topics, we can support one another, and, that's gonna help us to raise more resilient, confident, and safe children. Welcome to the Close Quarter Dad Podcast. Discussions about raising your kids with confidence, safety, and resilience. I'm your host, Adam Mitchell, and I hope you enjoy this episode. So this week, let's kick it off. Let's get it started.
Adam Mitchell [00:03:51]:
This week, one of my goals as we start the new community, one of the first things we have to do with close quarter dad is I want to inspire each one of the members to have their own training environment. Now you may or may not know I'm a career martial artist. I've been teaching martial arts my whole life. Spent a lot of time in Japan studying, so I have sort of my own way of doing things. One thing I know is for certain, if you carve out your own environment, your own space, wherever that may be, it may be in your basement, it may be outside, It may be in a garage. It may be out in the woods, in the backyard. It may be in a barn. I don't know where it is.
Adam Mitchell [00:04:30]:
Get creative with this. But you need to create a dedicated and committed space. It's not shared with storage of your car parts, or it's not also your office during the day. It's not the living room or but it is going to be a dedicated place. It is going to be your dojo, your family dojo, where you yourself as dad will be doing the training with myself and my team, but it's also gonna be a place that you're gonna be inviting your kids into, and you can have these experiences with them. So that's kinda one of the most important, cornerstones of close quarter dad in the program here that you're a part of or that if you if you're not, you're certainly invited into it. So this week's safety check is gonna be all about home safety. And with the kickoff of the new community like I just shared with you, one of our first steps is gonna be, like I just said, is establishing that dojo.
Adam Mitchell [00:05:20]:
But prior to that, what I wanna challenge you to this weekend to do is to teach your kids on how to take that home safety check. Not for you to do the check and they walk along with you, but they have to do it. They have to identify the potential hazards. You're gonna put your kids in the role of, of not just identifying those hazards, but taking responsibility, and how to resolve these hazards. Now I put together some details for you on the topic that I'm gonna talk about here in a moment. And then again, as I already shared with you, it's gonna be followed by some major specific exercises that I want you to do this weekend, and I am really looking forward to hearing your results. Now if you haven't done so already, the link is in the, in the description of this episode where you can join us over on the community. You can hop you can become a member of Close Quarter Dad, and you can be part of this discussion all week long.
Adam Mitchell [00:06:21]:
As well, we have training on Tuesday nights. We have training live training on, Friday mornings, and then we have a whole classroom of different lessons on how to teach your kids personal protection, wilderness and urban survival, how to protect themselves from getting lost, abduction safety, families, family safety, all age specific stuff relevant to how old your children are and and how you're showing up as a dad. So there's so much content in the community. If you are a fellow dad who really wants to raise your kids in, with in in being the person that teaches them how to live safely, that I wanna invite you into this community. And listen, I I wanna share something really important here. How you view safety and survival and, and and and living protected and and not paranoid, but to know that when you're walking down the hallway, you are safe or that community that you're in is safer because you are there, that is a different thing for a 6 year old girl. And being a grown man, teaching them from the paradigm of a grown man how they should be to a 6 year old girl is an art. It's it's not It's something that you gotta learn to do.
Adam Mitchell [00:07:44]:
And I have worked with 3,000 kids over 26 years and as as well as adults, many adults. And this is what close quarter data is all about. It's to help you to communicate these skills to your children, and to help you understand your children even a little bit better. Okay? So that's what my goal is. And if this sounds interesting to you, then you are welcome to hop on over to close quarter dad. But I'm gonna be rolling out these safety checks in a newsletter. If you're someone who just wants to get them and read them, great. If you are, a listener to podcasts, they're gonna be rolling out every Saturday, and you're welcome to be a part of that.
Adam Mitchell [00:08:21]:
So let's get started with the home safety check that I'm gonna challenge you to do with your children this weekend. You know, according to what I have here on my papers, according to the US Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC, there's about 9,000,000 kids who go to the emergency room each year for, unintentional injuries, And many of these are gonna, they they occur inside the home, not just at, like, the playgrounds or at school or at their friend's houses, but actually in home. A lot of those hazards are gonna include things like unlocked cabinets, with chemicals inside, even unlocked cabinets where, stuff will fall on the child, but also, like, overloaded electrical outlets and improperly secured, furniture and cabinets, like I just said, or bookshelves, televisions that are gonna tip over. That's pretty scary when you think about it, especially when we were parents of little ones or we are parents of little ones, thinking about those TVs falling on our kids or large bowls or things like that, or even like chairs falling on our kids. But by identifying these risks and, teaching each one of our kids how to have the mindful habits early on, what we're gonna be able to do is significantly reduce, what are very avoidable, accidents. Now what we're doing here in the safety check is we're learning how to teach our kids to spot hazards, and even to kinda use some safety equipment like smoke detectors and, CO alarms. All of this is gonna really foster a safer household environment, and children who understand each of these dangers in each one of the rooms tend to be more aware kind of as they go through life and less likely to engage in risky behavior of all kinds. And let's take a moment and really kinda think this through here.
Adam Mitchell [00:10:12]:
If if we're teaching our kids to have this type of risk assessment and situational awareness inside their home, inside their bedroom, inside their bathroom, in the living room and in the dining room, down in the basement, out in the garage with dad, then think how this is going to translate outward into their regular lives when they walk into their classroom at school, when they're at their friend's house, maybe when they're over grandma and grandpa's. It doesn't make a difference, but they're going to if you start putting these practices in place and you do not do them, you do not do them, you teach your children how to do them, then these are gonna create imprints in them, where through the ownership of each one of these, them seeing them, them owning that risk, and them resolving it will begin to create patterns. And these patterns, they don't have to be 48 year olds. These could be 18 year olds getting ready to go off to college. This is really important. They're gonna they're going to be able to assess risks all over the place in their life as they get old. This is really, really important stuff. Now engaging our kids, as I was just saying, in this type of home safety routine, it's gonna help them to develop that responsibility that we're just gonna we were just talking about, but check this out.
Adam Mitchell [00:11:29]:
It also improves reaction time in emergencies. I can really unpack this. We can talk a lot about familiarity, roots, paths, movements, past least resistance and obstacles, understanding why not leaving our toys out like this, why leaving our toys out like this can create a risk. Right? So it's gonna it's gonna lessen all of that stuff, and it's gonna give them some real practical knowledge that they're gonna be able to carry into their teens or into their young adulthood. And this is, I think, this is a great starting point for, what we're doing here in close quarter dad. So let's let's talk about some exercises. So what can we do? How do we how do we do this? How do we teach this with our kids, and what can we do this weekend? Now I wanna start with dads who've got some little ones. Now look, we're in 4 to 8 years old.
Adam Mitchell [00:12:24]:
This age group, they are getting to their age of reason. That happens at about 7 years old, but some of them are early, some have hit that age of reason, late fives and 6 year olds. Some of them are a little later, little late spawners, and they have developed their values and their logical brain around 8 years old. So this is a really important window of time. We my experience is that before 4 years old, there's a reason why we can't really teach this to these kids. But if you've got kids that are under 4, I want you to stick with me here, and I want you to get creative with them. And maybe just have these discussions or do some playtime around this rather than lessons. And listen, again, don't tell your kids what to do.
Adam Mitchell [00:13:12]:
Don't tell your kids what to do. Guide them through this. Lead them through this and have them do this. Now this first exercise we're gonna do with the 4 to 8 year olds is you're gonna go on a safe zone scavenger hunt. This is what I put together here. You wanna give them a simple checklist with pictures. You know, this can be like, you can use flashcards. You can use, crayon drawings.
Adam Mitchell [00:13:38]:
You can draw. They can draw. Get creative with this. But you want to have a simple checklist, things like, I don't know, loose electrical cords, cleaning supplies that are kinda sitting out and about, maybe appliance doors that might be open or closed sometimes, some things that could also be like shoes that are at the bottom of the stairs or on the stairs, Things like that. What can you think of that could be, could be hazards? Now each time they find a hazard, they must show how they've fixed it. So they like I just said, they put the cords away or they close the cabinet or they put the shoes in the, you know, wherever you have shoes in your house. But what are the obstacles? What are those regular obstacles that happen in your house? Maybe this is something that you and your partner, you and your wife can talk about beforehand. And then you wanna be able to maybe even have your child present to you some obstacles or hazards that they bring to you, that they make you aware of that you didn't put in that list.
Adam Mitchell [00:14:45]:
So some extra credit there. You wanna end the testing by going and and having them actually test one of the smoke alarms. You wanna do this together, of course, obviously, this age group, but you want them to participate in the testing so that they learn its sound, they understand its sensitivity, and it's not just something over there that's loud and obnoxious, but they get what it is. Now remember, protect their ears beforehand. Put some earmuffs on, maybe put a hat on or put some cotton in their ears. If you, you know, if you if you are a firearms owner, if you got some, you know, you got some some muffs to put on their ears, go ahead and do that. Anything that can sound block, is really important. But this is the coup de grace of the safe zone scavenger hunt.
Adam Mitchell [00:15:32]:
Okay? What do we do in the end? We wanna reward them when they finish the scavenger hunt. This is gonna come in the form of ice cream. This is gonna come in the form of cookies. This is gonna come in the form of something rad that you're gonna do with them. I always like to go to we got Carvelle ice cream out here in, New York, and I like to love to take my kids to that, but that would be a great, great way to wrap this up. And this is something that you can do once every 3 months or once every 4 months. Okay. 7 to 12 year olds, we're gonna ratchet up here a little bit.
Adam Mitchell [00:16:01]:
We're still gonna do something similar, but we're gonna call it a checklist. And we're gonna create a detailed checklist by room. And we're gonna have them know anything from things like, you know, sort of awkwardly stacked items to frayed wires, not just, you know, loose wires, but wires that are actually broken, possibly loose outlets. Again, also, same things like like shoes on the stairs, man. That's dangerous. Things like maybe broken windows or latches on the windows that are broken, maybe things like loose doorknobs. Loose doorknobs are really important because a loose doorknob in a fire and emergency situation can suddenly get jammed, and the door is jammed. Things like this is what we want them to be on the lookout for, and then you wanna have a conversation with them how to correct each one of these because some of these, obviously, they're not gonna be able to correct.
Adam Mitchell [00:16:53]:
So example, maybe if you've got a loose outlet in the wall, they're obviously not gonna be able to fix that, but you can invite them into the conversation and the, the repair cycle of that happening. Okay. When do we wanna schedule to have someone come out and do this? Or when when do you wanna do this with me? Now if you're someone who's capable of doing it yourself, maybe you're an electrician, maybe you're handy a handyman, then you wanna invite them into this. That way, they take ownership of this hazard and it's in in solving and and resolving the situation. So reorganizing those shelves, unplugging the devices when they're not in use, replacing frayed wires, anything. You know your home, and you won't but the thing is is that you wanna have these conversations with them where they're recognizing these hazards, they're recognizing these obstacles, and they are part of the solution. And at the end, same thing. We want to let them help you to test all now.
Adam Mitchell [00:17:52]:
All. Not just 1. The 4 to eights, it's 1. Now your children who are 7 to 12 are going to test all of the smoke to test detectors or the c o two detectors with you, and they're also going to ensure that you have fire extinguishers in all the correct locations. Now look. Many of you don't have that. Many of you don't have that. You're fixing that this weekend.
Adam Mitchell [00:18:13]:
You're going to Home Depot. You're dropping the $20. You're getting a couple home, you're getting a couple of fire extinguishers for your home. This is super important. Super important. Get a couple fire blankets. You can get them on Amazon. Have your child involved in that.
Adam Mitchell [00:18:28]:
Now some of you may not know a lot about this, and that's okay. We're gonna have some people on our podcast talking about fire safety and and fire safety in the home. We're gonna go further with this. If you don't know, like, really like, it's you can go buy a fire extinguisher and put it next to the stove. Right? But there's more to it than that. There really is. Make this a learning experience for you and your son or daughter. Go down to the fire department.
Adam Mitchell [00:18:52]:
Talk to one of the firefighters down there and be like, hey. I would love it if we you could give us some advice on help hardening our home through fire safety. Okay? So here's an idea that you can have this weekend. Something that you can do will take a half an hour, but it will be an amazing time, and then go have lunch with your kids. Okay? Now if they're able to accomplish this checklist, we, again, we wanna reward them, and and and continue that experience with them, and that can be by going to pizza or or having a lunch with them, going to some place, a lunch that they choose, or doing something fun that's rewarding. Okay? So 13 to 18 year olds. Okay? We're leveling up here. We're gonna assign them a mini home safety audit.
Adam Mitchell [00:19:34]:
A mini home safety audit. Now they have to evaluate fire escape routes. Have you done this? If you haven't, again, we're stopping right now. You're hitting the pause, and we are going to establish this. This is one of those things that if you do not have an established fire escape route for your household and your family, you need to level up in being a man. If you have not had this conversation with your kids, with your wife, with your significant other, with whoever lives in that home, if you're a single dad and, your your your children are, you know, maybe living with their mom half the time, you still need to provide that and help their mom. Even if you and her have it on on good terms, this doesn't make a difference. You need to make sure that there are fire escape routes and that you have trained them.
Adam Mitchell [00:20:23]:
Now with your teenagers, put them in charge of this. Make sure that they evaluate the windows. Make sure they evaluate the escape routes. Make sure that there's that that the checklist if you haven't done this, if you don't know how this works, there's certain things that that are in place that are requirements for the family to have in the case of a fire. Okay. You also want them to check the carbon monoxide alarms, potential trip hazards on route, all these different things. Like slippery rugs would be a good example. So if you got a rug in the hallway, that is always is just, you know, it's known for you gotta walk slower when you're on it.
Adam Mitchell [00:21:00]:
Well, it's time to fix that. It's time to go down to your local carpet store or Home Depot or whatever, get some of those rubber mats that go underneath the rug. Because let me tell you, when you're running for your life, you're not thinking, oh, hey. I this is the slippery rug. But what could happen is that rug could come out from under you as smoke is billowing into the hallway, and you go down and hit your head on the bookshelf or or something, or you fall on your child and they sprain their leg or they break their leg or something. Look. Seriously, these are things that have to get fixed and have to get fixed now. In in close quarter dad, these are the things that you're teaching your children, so you have to be that.
Adam Mitchell [00:21:39]:
It's kinda like the the bicycle helmet thing. Don't be the dad who tells his kid to always wear a bicycle helmet, but when you're on the bike path with him, you're too tough to wear the helmet. Don't be that. We are different. We are wired different. We are built different. That's why we're in this program. So, you know, some of the things also with this 13 to 18 year old group, they're gonna be able to research some local building codes, or guidelines online, about this stuff if you really if you got some of those smart kids that wanna take it to that level.
Adam Mitchell [00:22:10]:
And then what you want to ask them to do is to present a short safety improvement plan for the family. Do you hear what I said? You want them to create the safety plan for the household. K? And this is something that they're gonna present to, to yourself and your wife or their mom or, like, who like, whoever that is, and they're gonna create that plan, and you are going to give them a reward that is gonna be something suitable for for them. I don't know what that is. I have my own ideas with my kids. Each one of my kids at this age are so radically different. Like, an ice cream doesn't cut it. However, there are some you know, I do this one thing with my daughter, my teenage daughter.
Adam Mitchell [00:22:58]:
I give her a no no day. That's something I made up. You can steal it. The no no day is it's a day where there are no noes. Now there's gonna be a limit on the cash, like but it's when her and I go out and she can we can go anywhere. We can do anything, and it gets crazy. It gets crazy where she gets super creative on stuff she wants. She wants to go shopping.
Adam Mitchell [00:23:23]:
She wants to go get something, maybe have lunch with dad, or she can have, like, a known a 3 hour no no. And that's, like, where for 3 hours, I will not say no to you at for anything. Like, that could be a really cool reward. Get creative, guys. Get creative. But this is a really amazing thing. Every year, do a new safety improvement plan for the family and put your teens in charge of it. Alright? So there you go.
Adam Mitchell [00:23:46]:
Those are your exercises for this week. If your dad's a 4 to 8, 7 to 12s, 13 to eighteens for the little ones, you're gonna create some type of scavenger hunt scenario and, in in the safe zones. For 7 to 12 year olds, we're gonna do a home safety checklist. And for the 13 to 18 year olds, they are responsible for a safety improvement plan for the household. So let's talk about some takeaways. Some of the things you gotta look for for the for the little ones, for those 4 to 8 year olds, you know, they really like I already said, they need to begin to recognize obvious, very overt dangers, and things that are standing out and how to communicate them to mom and dad or maybe their teacher. And then this is gonna again, we're creating some patterns here. We're creating some imprints.
Adam Mitchell [00:24:31]:
And, for the, for the 7 to twelves, those young teenagers, those tweens, you know, they're gonna show more independence, and, hopefully, this is gonna help them to capture some organizational skills by creating those checklists. Maybe we're gonna see some changes in how they treat their the cleanliness of their rooms and things like that. And then for the teens, you know, they're gonna take a more proactive role in suggesting improvements. You're gonna hear from them more frequently about things that you can do, maybe things that you weren't aware of or because you're working 2 jobs. You just didn't see that one coming. Well, your teenagers are gonna be taking on those more responsible roles as young adults, and they're gonna be able to you know, they're gonna see those things when they come on the radar, and they're gonna be able to point them out to you. So, and they're gonna be able to explain to you more why these things matter. So that's it.
Adam Mitchell [00:25:20]:
So, you know, like, why is all this stuff so critical? You know, home accidents are gonna be, are are are really reduced through vigilance and through, you know, the proper preventative measures. And the only way to do is to to take those measures is to do these exercises, and to be engaging with the kids and let the let your children engage in this with you, teaching them at every stage to look out for hazards. It's gonna empower them to keep themselves and, you know, and their friends and everyone around them safe. And this is just gonna echo throughout their life. It's gonna instill lifelong caution, but without paranoia, And it's gonna help them to be a more caring individual for their environment. I don't I don't just mean, like, the trees and lakes and the ponds, but I also mean for their work environment, for their study environment, for their bedroom environment, you know, for the environment that they invite their friends into? Maybe you got a basement downstairs that the kids go and they play in. Well, they're gonna be more caring, and they're gonna be more they're gonna be more mindful and intentional in those environments because they're taking on roles of responsibility. Alright.
Adam Mitchell [00:26:31]:
Cool. So this is the safety check for this week. Hey. Listen. I wanna know what you think of this. I wanna know if this is gonna be bringing any value to you as a dad, if it's gonna be bringing any value to your children and where they are and your family, and how I can make this better. I hope you enjoyed this, and once again, I hope you are a member of the close quarter dad community. If you haven't checked it out, go to the link in the description wherever you're listening to this episode.
Adam Mitchell [00:26:55]:
And if you are a member, then I am stoked. I can't wait to see your results, your video, your feedback, in our community as we talk through this safety check all week long. I'll see you in the next episode. Thank you, everyone. I wanna thank you for spending time with us on this episode today. It's truly appreciated. I hope you got some value from it. If you wanna go ahead and leave any comments or questions, reach out to me directly.
Adam Mitchell [00:27:19]:
I personally answer all of the questions that you have. If you know someone like yourself who may find value in this episode, then please go ahead and share it. We'd also like to ask you to subscribe to Close Quarter Dad. This way, you get updated every time a new episode comes out wherever you're listening to this episode. Thank you so much once again, and we'll see you on the next episode of Close Quarter Debt.