12 tips for families with kids to stay prepared
As parents, some of us tend to be overly protective of our children. But sometimes we don’t realize or forget that they’re capable of handling more than we give them credit for. Once they are old enough to understand what’s going on, they realize that not all news is good news, and they just want to be kept honestly informed about family situations.
Keeping your children in the dark about emergency preparations – even if your intentions are good – may actually put them at jeopardy if and when an emergency situation does arise. On the other hand, making them feel like important members of the family when it comes to preparing for a disaster will go a long way toward them responding in the appropriate fashion once a crisis strikes.
Check out this comprehensive and well thought-out article on including children in preparation for a disaster, Preparedness Tips for Families with Children. What you say and how you say it to a child will be dependent on their ages and maturity levels, but this article provides some basic steps that would apply to kids of almost all ages.
http://www.absoluterights.com/preparedness-tips-for-families-with-children/
Young children might not fully understand about the chaos that could ensue following a disaster, but they’ll be able to read your tone of voice and body language as you explain to them the importance of being prepared. Make sure you do it in a calm manner that will alleviate any fears those youngsters might have.
Following are a dozen tips for parents who have chosen to talk to their kids about being prepared for a crisis:
- Include your children in family preparedness discussions, answering their questions honestly.
- Have your kids memorize their personal information, including their names, parents’ names, address and phone numbers.
- Learn the disaster response policies of your kids’ school or day care center and have a back-up plan in place for someone to pick them up if you can’t.
- Ensure that your kids’ school or daycare center has your current emergency contact information.
- Have at least two pre-arranged meeting places for your family and make sure the kids know where they are, as returning to your home in a crisis might not be possible.
- Establish an out-of-state contact known by your children and their school or day care center, in case local lines are down and only long distance circuits are functioning.
- Teach your kids how to use 911 and rehearse what they should say to a dispatcher.
- Make sure your kids know to stay away from downed power lines, utility poles and trees.
- Practice evacuation routes and strategies as a family.
- Teach your children responses such as Drop, Cover and Hold, and Stop, Drop and Roll.
- Prepare a small bug-out bag for each child, including items such as a family photo, toy, game, book or puzzle, plus treats.
- Place copies of your kids’ birth certificates, recent photos and kids’ comfort foods in your bug-out bag.
Do you agree that kids should be kept in the loop about this subject? Are there any other tips you would suggest for making sure your family is as prepared as possible for an emergency? Hope to hear from you about this subject.
I have been preparing my children their whole lives. They just didn’t know it. When they could sit up and pick up toys, I had them help pack their diaper bag. It was fun for all of us. When they grew a bit, we switched to a “Go Bag” which was a backpack their size used daily like the diaper bag. Treats, change of clothes, toys, electronics, flashlight and a few other things. (My son at 3 loved his Elmo flashlight!) As my kids grew and obtained cars they put their Go Bags in the car and I bought a first aid kit, Roadside emergency kit, car cleaning kit, tool set and a sleeping bag which we put in the trunk. I just purchased the Patriot emergency kit for each of our vehicles, which is great but they are missing a lot of items I feel is a necessity. I repacked the kits into larger totes (purchased from 4 Patriots) and I added a backpack (in case they have to leave their car behind, rope, hand crank radios, callapsable water containers, hand sanitizer, emergency tents, emergency sleeping bags, ponchos, and a whole lot more. We call these our “Get Home Emergency Kits”. We camped all the time when the kids were growing up so they all know how to survive. Now that they are camping with their friends I don’t have to worry with these kits in their cars. I know they will be safe and be able to get home no matter where they are.
Your child, lost in a store or anywhere, child goes back to the last place where they last saw mommy or daddy and wait. Perhaps hide where you can watch for your mommy and daddy!
I don’t agree with all the shots they ae giving our kids. I don’t beliave in them. Are you sure they are what they say?? Think again. You can get a tainted vail and get injected and then perish. I Don’t get my kids injected with anything. They make there own anti-bodies. What are you going to do if TSHTF?
Recommend for all children:
1. Current updates on all vaccinations ASAP
2. Current medications with extra if possible and keep any extra refrigerated to delay aging
3. Explanations to the child as appropriate for age.
4. Age appropriate medications/OTC or Rx for disaster
preparedness: aspirin, acetaminophen, antihistamines for eyes and nose and rash, OTC steroid cream, anti-diarrhea, anti-nausea, headache.
5. Think: roads closed, quarantine (now in Dallas from Ebola), etc
Kids need to know that planning is not a bad thing but
not a good subject for a class presentation or to discuss outside the family
Here in Alaska there is one road in and out of the state. Where we live, we are surrounded by mountains on one side and water on two. We can take a mountain pass a few hundred miles to canada, but it is a bike/walking path. Our 3yr old has a bike that we have attacked a plastic milk crate on wheels to. He pulls his lunch and bear on all our rides. As he gets older, so will the crate so that he will one day be able to pull his own survival trailer.
I think this is very good advice also my family and my self have bug out bags still trying to get them right but will do if needed right now I appreciate all your tips and advice
If you have a vacuum sealer besides using it for food storage you can use it for pictures and documents that used to have be sure do have several of your Children’s school pictures That you can post if necessary also I would suggest a set of scriptures for your family. If there’s ever going to be a time when you’re going to need spiritual food it will be during a crisis. Not only that the rest of the world may turn to you.
That is really good advise. Thank you for that :)
Children definitely need to be involved in the planning for crisis after a certain age. Each parent can determine the level of involvement for their children. This is essential for living through a crisis by eliminating some of the uncertainties.
Depending on the crisis, you should always be prepared with amusements. From books, board games, and drawing and coloring supplies to physical activity supplies such as balls and frisbees.
Hmm, the family photo is a new one for me – but a great idea. Too many stories of the separated families and the work that it takes the 1st responders to match children and families.
Thanks!
Dear Frank,
Very good information. Those with young children AND teens definitely need to involve the kids throughout the process of develop a plan for multiple scenarios. You’d be surprised what issues their clever little minds bring up that we adults didn’t think about … or take for granted!!!
God Bless,
Orrin
Yes, children should definitely be kept in the loop. Also I bet they’ll think bug-out bags are cool – it’s exactly the sort of thing I wanted as a kids. You could go camping with nothing but a backpack!
They also need some extra clothes and some personal items in their bags.
Barry,
What has that got to do with anything on this blog???
Yes to keep the children informed;
what to do if emergency occurs while they’re at school; . . . . at a friend’s place; . . . . . . . home / family contacts / numbers on each child in plastic; options of what children may have; ..
a good laff helps you to survive!!! I’m not the teacher;
The ‘Middle Wife’ by an Anonymous 2nd grade teacher
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�I’ve been teaching now for about fifteen years. I have two kids myself, but the best birth story I know is the one I saw in my own second grade classroom a few years back.
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When I was a kid, I loved show-and-tell. So I always have a few sessions with my students. It helps them get over shyness and usually, show-and-tell is pretty tame. Kids bring in pet turtles, model airplanes, pictures of fish they catch, stuff like that. And I never, ever place any boundaries or limitations on them. If they want to lug it in to school and talk about it, they’re welcome.
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Well, one day this little girl, Erica, a very bright, very outgoing kid, takes her turn and waddles up to the front of the class with a pillow stuffed under her sweater.
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She holds up a snapshot of an infant. ‘This is Luke, my baby brother, and I’m going to tell you about his birthday.’
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‘First, Mom and Dad made him as a symbol of their love, and then Dad put a seed in my Mom’s stomach, and Luke grew in there. He ate for nine months through an umbrella cord.’
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She’s standing there with her hands on the pillow, and I’m trying not to laugh and wishing I had my camcorder with me. The kids are watching her in amazement.
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‘Then, about two Saturdays ago, my Mom starts going, ‘Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh!’ Erica puts a hand behind her back and groans. ‘She walked around the house for, like an hour, ‘Oh, oh, oh!’ (Now this kid is doing a hysterical duck walk and groaning.)
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‘My Dad called the middle wife. She delivers babies, but she doesn’t have a sign on the car like the Domino’s man. They got my Mom to lie down in bed like this.’ (Then Erica lies down with her back against the wall.)
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‘And then, pop! My Mom had this bag of water she kept in there in case he got thirsty, and it just blew up and spilled all over the bed, like psshhheew!’ (This kid has her legs spread with her little hands miming water flowing away. It was too much!)
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‘Then the middle wife starts saying ‘push, push,’ and ‘breathe, breathe.
They started counting, but never even got past ten. Then, all of a sudden, out comes my brother. He was covered in yucky stuff that they all said it was from Mom’s play-center, so there must be a lot of toys inside there. When he got out, the middle wife spanked him for crawling up in there in the first place.’
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Then Erica stood up, took a big theatrical bow and returned to her seat.
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I’m sure I applauded the loudest. Ever since then, when it’s Show-and-tell day, I bring my camcorder, just in case another ‘Middle Wife’ comes along.
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�Now you have two choices…laugh and close this page or pass this along to someone else to spread the laughs. I know what I did!!!
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�Live every day as if it is your LAST chance to make someone happy!
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�”Laugh uncontrollably, it clears the mind.”
Amen. I live in Ferguson MO. this is for sure a crisis. Thankfully my son is an adult and is hundreds of miles away from all this. Laugh, pray, and laugh some more, it does clear the mind and the soul.
best story ive ever heard! i have 16 kids 4 home birthed with babies swarming my bed and most of my grandchildren have been born there too. the others are adopted and swarmed my daughters birthings! Darling story, i loved it, thanks for sharing!!!