One of the major aspects of emergency planning is to make sure that everyone is well-briefed and knows what their role is and how to react when the time comes.
Losing vital seconds and minutes in an extreme emergency situation can make a substantial difference to your survival plans, which is why your plans should include briefing the kids on what they need to do when the time comes.
Why you need to involve your kids
If you live in an area where earthquakes, hurricanes, floods or whatever else mother nature decides to unleash are a distinct possibility, then you will probably find that kids receive some basic safety drills from kindergarten onwards.
Even if that is the case or you live in area where a natural disaster emergency situation is not part of the regions profile, you can never really give kids enough training and awareness of what emergency preparedness involves.
An emergency situation will invariably be very frightening for most children but especially so if there is no clear plan in place that they understand and can work to.
Creating an emergency plan with all of your family will help kids to cope better in an emergency situation and will ensure that they are better prepared both emotionally and mentally for what is happening.
Engage your kids in the process
It is not a scenario that you would want to imagine but just consider if there was not an adult present when an emergency situation unfolds.
When you involve your kids in the emergency planning process you give them the confidence and the knowledge to know exactly where to go and what to do until help arrives.
One way of making the teaching more fun for kids is to create a fun game that they will enjoy playing but will serve a useful purpose at the same time.
Challenge the kids to put together what they think will be needed in an emergency supply kit and then compare it against a published list that is available as a free guide from the Department of Homeland Security’s Ready Kids website, or a similar resource.
You can offer points and prizes for each item they get right and it also provides you with the opportunity to show them things like emergency food supplies from specialist suppliers like Food4Patriots and others, so that they become familiar with the sort of items they will come across.
Let them ask and answer questions
Another good way of involving your kids and getting them talking about emergency planning is to encourage them to ask whatever questions they have and also quiz them in a fun way about what they have learned.
There is a greater chance that your kids will remember the details of your disaster emergency plans if they have had some input and helped to create the plan.
Ask them to think about aspects of the plan such as where a good place to meet would be in an emergency situation and why it would be suitable. Also get them thinking about whether they would know how to contact somebody else if they were left alone, encouraging them to remember phone numbers and address details, which will come in handy anyway.
After the event
Emergency planning is naturally primarily focused on being prepared for an unexpected danger situation, but your planning will also need to extend to what happens in the aftermath of a threatening situation.
Just as a de-brief is an important part of military and emergency services operations, the same rules apply with your own family.
It is definitely important to talk to your children about what has happened once everyone is safe and the crisis situation is over. This is not just because you want to make sure they are fine in the immediate aftermath but also as it is necessary to monitor how the incident has affected them from an emotional perspective.
Understand their fears
When a natural disaster occurs, it can have the effect of making your child feel a little less safe in the world and more vulnerable than they may have felt previously.
If you have suffered damage to your home and even lost some of your possessions, this can be the trigger for children experiencing some emotional problems which can lead to them maybe having some problems concentrating at school or maybe displaying some behavioral problems that they did not show before.
Parents need to understand these fears and be prepared to talk about what has happened as part of the strategy for dealing with a natural disaster.
Involving your kids in your emergency planning will help your family to be as ready as possible for an unexpected disaster situation.
Allen Baler is a Partner at 4Patriots LLC, a Tennessee based small business that provides products to help people be more self-reliant and more independent. Allen founded the company in 2008 after 14 years as a corporate executive leading profitable business for the Easton Press and the Danbury Mint. He graduated with honors from Harvard University and resides in Nashville with his wife and 3 daughters.