Home Alarm Monitoring

I was not born with a sense of fear as some count fear.  However it does not make me thoughtless concerning the safety of my family and belongings.  Essential means, vital, indispensible, important and crucial to name a few anonyms to better explain the word.

What we consider as important and indispensible may vary from one family to another however I’m going to try to stick to the basics that should be a common denominator for all of us.

With the condition of society and as depraved as some people can be, it is very important to have an (1) alarm system placed in our homes.  I can’t see a sign in my yard as being a deterrent but the alarm company has one on each side of the house.  And even though I live in a great neighborhood outside city limits, it is part of our late evening routine to set the alarm for the night.

We have a pet who is a light sleeper.  And even with the alarm set, he will still arouse the whole household if he senses danger or an intruder anywhere on the premises.  I don’t think he could protect us from an intruder, other than alarming us in time to call 911 and hopefully his barking would keep them from coming any further.  So number (2) would be to have a dog.

My son would quickly add a (3) gun/pistol in the house makes him feel better about protecting his family.  Personally I’d probably shoot my own foot if I had a gun, but for those who are good with a weapon – I say go for it.  They have been known to keep an intruder until the authorities can get there.

We have (4) locks on all our windows. The days of my childhood are long gone when we went to bed with windows open and doors unlocked.  Sad but true, we are almost like prisoners in our own home, just to feel safe.

Barriers from the outside world can only go so far.  One of my concerns is that knowing where our children are as much as possible.  Being alert to the kind of neighborhood we are in, and knowing our neighbors helps in having other parents of like passion who keep a watch out for each other. So for number (5) we will say stay alert to new neighbors who move in, or strange cars that don’t belong to anyone you know.

(6) I’ve said before, but will repeat myself, once a tragedy happens to one of our children, it cannot be reversed.  And even though there are things that happen despite our every precaution, we still must know we have done everything we could do to prevent tragedies.  Eventually we can learn to live with our loss, knowing we did everything we could.

(7) Our home must be a safe place to come home to.  Adults and children/adolescents alike need a place to be themselves.  Where the world is left outside the door and the fear of danger stays beyond those locked doors.  We must as parents make extra effort if need be to see that our loved ones feel safe inside our four walls.

(8)  It should go without saying we should have a seat belt law for our family.  However, let me urge you to not move an inch from the driveway until each one is securely belted in.  AND that means grandma or grandpa who “never has had to use a seat belt in my life and I ain’t been in no accident yet!”

(9)  Prevent falling by keeping the passage way clear in all rooms in the house.  As children will, they explore and climb; and many a broken limb is the results.  Then there are the elderly who forget they aren’t as young as they once were and it doesn’t take much to get off balance.  Keep an eye out for the elderly who want to stay independent and will invariably want to change their own light bulbs, or decorate the house using a ladder.

(10)  Be prepared for fires.  Fires never give us a warning before they happen.  My house was designed that all the exit doors are in one end of the house.  Should a fire happen in that area of the house at night, we would be trapped unless we were able to jump out a bedroom window which is off the ground.  Not a great thought anyway we look at it.  Cannot imagine why anyone would build a house without an escape route on both ends of the ranch style home.

There are many things to take inconsideration when it comes to keeping our home and belongings safe.  My minister asked a question once, with the hopes of making us think of the importance we place on things/people.  “If you found yourself in a fire, what would you most likely pick up to take with you if you had time to pick up 5 things?”  There were varying answers, some comical others thought provoking.  What about you? What have you done to make your home safe?

Guest post by Doris