In connection with Safe Rooms, Home Front Command Guidelines refer to Four Children:

The Compliant Child enters the Safe Room when a Red Alert sounds, and stays there until the All-Clear. The Recalcitrant Child hears the siren, but stays in his bedroom. The Impatient Child comes to the Safe Room, but leaves before the All-Clear. And the Baffled Child is taken to the Safe Room, but does not know what to say.

The Compliant Child AI

What does the Compliant Child say?  “I will follow Homefront Command Guidelines, which have been designed to keep me safe.”  To her we reply, “Well done!  May we all be like you, and come through this intact and together!”

The Recalcitrant Child AI

What does the Recalcitrant Child say? “Hey, what are the odds that a missile will fall right on me?” In this way he separates himself from the community.  We should therefore set his teeth on edge and say, “The missiles are aimed at everyone, including you. Do you go to the dentist to improve your odds, or to do the right thing?” If he answers, “I don’t go to the dentist either!” we ignore him and, for his sake, hope for the best.

The Impatient Child AI

What does the Impatient Child say? “Look, I already heard the BOOM, didn’t I? In fact, I heard three of them. So why do I need to hang around?”  And so we remind him, “The BOOM just means that a missile has been intercepted, but missile fragments, sometimes really big ones, may still be flying through the air, perhaps headed for you.  And never mind warheads with cluster munitions.”  But as all the other Impatient Children around him start to file out, he decides that what is safe for them is safe for him too. Besides, rules are made to be bent or broken, aren’t they?

Finally, the Baffled Child says nothing, because she does not know what to say.

The Baffled Child has been dragged away from her home, from her meals, from her toys, from her bed. She sits on a thin mattress in the Safe Room, clutches her stuffed bear, and hears thuds overhead. She does not understand why all this keeps happening or what it means, and so she says nothing. What will she remember of these episodes? How will they shape and perhaps trouble her in later years? We say nothing because we too do not know what to say, and many of us will no longer be here when she finds out what any of this turns out to mean.

And some say there is a fifth child, the CHILD WHO WILL NOT LEAVE.

Long after the Safe Room has emptied, this child sits inside it, alone.   Her mobile phone has no connectivity there, and so she cannot be sure that her app has declared the All-Clear. We must therefore call out to her from outside the Safe Room, point to our phones, and give her the thumbs up.

Good news! All is clear! We are safe.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)