Rules of 3- 5 Ways to Empower Your Family Pull Through and Stay Alive!
Planning your preparations using the Rules of 3 is a great place to start ladies! We mentioned in a previous post how a new prepper can easily get overwhelmed. Trying to learn and gather and do everything at once won’t work or happen. So we can start by making sure we are at least covering a few rules that will initially keep you and your family alive. You can follow along and make notes on an infographic here.
Some would argue that the Rules of 3 are not always applicable or reasonable. You do have to take into account age, weight, and overall health in all situations. What these rules will do is help you to prioritize your preparations and what to do first in an emergency.
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Rules of 3
- You can survive for 3 minutes without air or in icy water.
- You can survive for 3 hours without shelter in a harsh environment (except for in icy water)
- You can survive 3 days without water (if in a sheltered environment)
- You can survive 3 weeks without food.
3 Minutes Without Air
When will we need this rule? Immediate action is needed when a person is drowning, choking, has asthma, or has an allergic reaction. How can we prepare? Stay up to date on your First Aid and CPR training. If you have kids, have them trained as well as soon as they are old enough. Have everyone in the family take swimming lessons even if it’s not your favorite pastime. Keep inhalers and EpiPen on you, up to date, in BOBs and GHBs, and anywhere else necessary, as well as bracelets that notify others of allergies.
3 Hours Without Shelter
When will we need this rule? Depending on the weather and after no threat to airways exists, follow this rule when you are (for example) locked out of the house, in a car accident off the road, getting lost on a hike or ride, or bugging out. As temperatures increase or decrease, this time frame changes as well. Extreme heat or cold mixed with poor health and age becomes even more dangerous.
How can we prepare? The best way to prepare for this is to ask yourself, “What do I/we need if we don’t come back in the expected amount of time? For example, going out of the house without a coat, etc.
What do I need to have in case…
- I can’t get back into the house in the expected amount of time?
- I am locked out of my car?
- I’m on the side of the road with a flat tire, dead battery, car accident, etc.?
What should we at least have…
- In the vehicle?
- If you planned for a day hike, but something goes awry, to allow you to be able to stay through the night?
- To bug out in the dead of winter or during the record heat of the summer?
And it’s true that technology prevents a number of scenarios; coded locks, cars that won’t lock with a keyfob inside, garage door openers, etc. But the perfect storm is usually a combination of forgetting to replace batteries, power going out, or sheer panic reducing your ability to reason. Learning to rely on yourself, your habits, and your skills should be first with technology being the backup.
In addition, find a shelter-building class or teach yourself off YouTube. Make it fun if you have kids. They LOVE building “forts”! I know teens like to leave the house in shorts. Pick your battles. Ask them to at least carry warm clothes, keep them in their vehicles, or at the very least be perfectly aware of their surroundings.
3 Days Without Water
This is often the first item on a checklist of items to store. And rightly so. The rule says 3 days but again, that’s an average and not for the weak, old, unhealthy, pregnant or nursing, or extreme temperatures. I emphasize extreme temperatures for all rules because we are here in the midwest getting the full range of extremes, bar hurricanes. If you’re in a hurricane area, it is even more important to have water supplies.
When do we need this rule (aside from the aforementioned hurricanes)? While the rule states the body can survive without water for three days, it’s important to note that this is not thriving. Body functions will begin to shut down in the meantime making it that much harder to get to safety. Once you meet the first two rules, make sure you have a proper water source when your plumbing goes out, when local water utilities get shut off, when lost or injured, or when you bug out.
How can we prepare? The best way to prepare is to store water everywhere: in your home to bug in (1 gal per person per day for 3 days, 1 week, or 2 weeks), in your vehicle, in your bag, at your work, ideally any place you could possibly get stuck or retreat to. In addition, pick out a few water filtration or purification systems/skills and know where the closest water source is.
Model proper hydration with your children. It’s fun to joke about our coffee and wine, but in the grand scheme of things, properly hydrating can make or break a day. Make carrying water bottles a family habit and encourage your teens and college kids to properly pack their vehicles, backpacks, and apartments.
3 Weeks Without Food
I personally feel like passing out 3 hours without food lol. But seriously, I will survive, not thrive, and only if I meet the first rules of 3. Once we are medically sound, sheltered, and have found water, we can then focus on food. However, similar to the above, the body will start to shut down without proper vitamins, minerals, calories, and macronutrients.
On very busy weekends when we’re off routine, I know I’ve neglected my water and food intake because my potassium drops, my feet start to cramp and I’m practically dead in my tracks. If this can happen in a couple of days, imagine what could happen if you and your family get lost on a hike with only a store-brand granola bar in your pack or in a car accident off the side of the road with a dead phone and no traffic in sight. My intention is not to scare or exaggerate. It’s often an accumulation of insufficiencies that turns a simple incident into an emergency situation.
How can we prepare? Very similar to preparing for water: Keep nutrient-dense food everywhere. Start your food storage for all levels of emergency, keep it in your vehicles, your place of work, on your person. Find a meal replacement bar or make pemmican or small packets of things like coconut butter or almond butter. You can get creative but stick to nutrient-dense options that will satiate as well as feed your brain and body.
Learn to grow, forage, and hunt for long-term situations. Know what is safe to eat and what is toxic or poisonous, including proper food storage, plants, and even animals. People will make dire mistakes when they start to panic. Include your kids in your culinary adventures, in case you are hurt and they need to help seek provisions.
One More to Wrap It Up Rules of 3
I’d like to add one more to Rules of 3 to your daily preparedness: Note 3 things that you are grateful for each day. Some of us already do this daily; kudos 🙂 Some of us do it often; keep it up. If you’re not doing it at all, add it to your prepping list. Many of the best survival stories are a result of the victim, being injured or lost, solely focusing on the people or things they are most grateful for. To keep panic at bay, focus on a few people you want to get back to, in between finding shelter, water, and food or waiting for rescue. Our mind is powerful and the more positive thoughts we feed it now, the more positive power we will possess in an emergency.
Recap
-Assess the situation.
-Make sure you or the injured can breathe.
-Find adequate shelter.
-Hydrate
-Get some food in their bellies.
-And keep up morale.
You got this!
