A mother-of-three on TikTok, who is married to a cop, has shared some valuable safety tips for families to adapt to their routines, including why she shuns bumper stickers on their cars, especially if these identify the children's school.
In her viral video, Rebecca Lynn shared that their family prefers not to add any identifiers on their vehicles, including the sports team of their children or those popular stickers that tell the number of members in the family.
According to behavioral experts, stalking victims actually, look out and take note of these markers because they want to appear like they know their prey personally. The bumper stickers make the family vulnerable and easy targets to sinister people because these cute details are, in fact, dead give-aways to would-be thieves or kidnappers.
Lynn also said that she teaches her children situational awareness. They need to be aware of what's around them, especially in a big crowd, to determine if they are in a safe environment.
"A lot of times, people are very distracted, especially with cell phones," Lynn said. "So, we're not paying attention to our surroundings and the situations that we're in."
The mom also said in another TikTok video that her husband taught her to always look for the exits in a store, restaurant, or other venues. So, in case there is an emergency situation, she will know where to go to be out of that place faster.
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Her journey as a cop wife
According to The Sun, Lynn also runs a successful blog about being a proud police wife. She has also written a book, titled "The Peacemaker's Wife" that details her journey as someone married to a law enforcement officer for 15 years.
Her stories also cover topics like "solo parenting" since a lot of the time a cop wife may feel like she is the only one holding the fort at home. She shares her experiences for other cop wives to understand their husband's crazy work hours that could mess up birthdays and other special celebrations of the family.
Lynn said that she had to find the right mindset to deal with this kind of lifestyle, admitting that she struggled with it as well at the beginning of their relationship and even after they had kids since she also has worked as an elementary school teacher.
Why she wants families to have a safe word
Meanwhile, Lynn also shared that families need to have a safe word to communicate with each other if they are in an uncomfortable or threatening situation. They can utter the safe word without attracting attention in order to be "rescued" from the situation.
For instance, their child may be at a party with other kids and encounters a playmate that could be making her uncomfortable. She can tell her mom the safe word so she could come by and take her out of the situation.
The safe word may also be used between family members. For instance, a teenager might feel uneasy opening up a problem to his parents but he might really be in need of guidance. He can begin the uncomfortable conversation with a safe word.
Having a safe word may also be handy if the parents cannot pick up their kids in school and then would ask another adult for a favor. A policeman said via Good Housekeeping that the parent should teach their kids to ask for this safe word from the adult who will be offering them a ride home so that they can confirm that they are in good, trusted hands.
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