Let me first mention that there are so many types of “emergencies” that people need to prepare for ranging from natural disasters, to health, to crime-related scenarios. In a toddler’s mind, an “emergency” can even be defined as not knowing where the doll’s shoe went. There are so many steps and details for all of the subcategories of “emergency.” This post will cover the general emergency of:

“Oh no! Mommy/Daddy is hurt! What do we do??”

To elaborate on the inspiration behind this post, I will share with you what happened during a Target trip last week. I was out alone with the 3 kids running errands at Target. Nothing out of the ordinary here so far. We have our cart full of items, ready to check out and I could feel myself slightly light-headed. I know it is time for lunch, so I let the kids know it is time to go. As I am trying to hurry us along to the cashier, I have a feeling I am going to pass out. (A little bit of background here that might help: I have a history of anemia, and I am nursing a baby). I am usually pretty good about snacking, but this was just one of those times that my body just was not fueled up enough with what I had earlier that morning. As we run to the cashier, we were second in line, so I ripped open a cereal box to get any type of food source in my body. I yell out that I am about to pass out. All I could think about was “Oh my goodness, what are my 6 and 4 year old going to do! What about this baby in my arms??” I never really prepared myself and the kids for a situation like this. Although I know there are good people out there who would step in to help, I just felt horrible not anticipating and mentally preparing my young ones with next steps. (It is kind of hard because we do not think of walking through every possible scenario, since there are endless scenarios that could happen. And it’s scary to talk about all the things that could happen with. It is just not regular conversations I have with them. But they are necessary!)

Everything worked out fine. The Target employees were extremely helpful, getting me water, a chair, and snacks. Someone held the baby. They checked to see if we should call someone. We were definitely covered with help, thankfully! But what if we were alone?  I knew that I had to have a chat with my kids, as young as they are, with what just happened, and what to do in case something similar happens in the future. Up until this point, these are the

5 ways I failed to prepare my kids in case of emergency:

1. I had not yet taught them about 911. 
2. They do not know how to get a hold of their daddy, grandparents, and other “Favorite” contacts on my phone.
3. They need further practice with knowing their phone # and address.
4. We had not talked about how to communicate to “strangers” to ask for help.
5. We had not yet gone over Emergency kit location & basics.

Let’s delve into each one, and the steps that I plan to take to turn these “fails” into goals of better preparedness.

How I Plan to Change these “Fails” into Progress Towards Emergency Preparedness

1. The kids can identify police, firefighters, and medical staff. They have learned their basic duties as community helpers. However, I had not talked to them about how to get in contact with them. So one goal is to teach them how. That day, we talked about the numbers, “9, 1,1” I showed them my phone and how to dial the numbers. It scared my daughters already having this conversation, so we tabled that for the meantime. Number 4 on my list is going over how to communicate the need for help and describing the situation. So these are future conversations for us.
2. My kids have talked on the phone and have even helped to compose and send texts. However, I have not shown them how to get to those numbers.  That day, I showed them how to access my “Contacts” list and how to pinpoint the “Favorites.” In addition, I have made a business-card of contacts to keep on hand for my kids to pull out if they need to look up their numbers. See my sample below: Click here to download a pdf version of it. The first page is the sample above and the second one is blank for you to customize.
3. In Kindergarten, my daughter learned my phone number and home address. It has been a while since we have covered that information, so it would be good to practice reciting those again. Then, my second daughter could learn while my eldest reviews it. I do know for the security of that information, we will also need to be talking about when and who to disclose that information to; That way, they are not just spewing that private information to whoever on the street!
4. Which brings me to number 4 on the list. We need further conversations on “good” strangers and how to ask for help. Although I have defined “stranger” for them, we need to delve in deeper with this topic. I remember the first time we talked about strangers, basically everyone they saw in public became a stranger, and they were not sure what to do. I will definitely be checking out books and videos, and other resources to educate them further.
5. Finally, the emergency kit. Although the kids are aware we have bandaids (They use them like stickers!), we have not gone over other portions of the kit that are useful in emergencies.

So, although I do not plan to overwhelm and traumatize these kids with every single possible bad situation that could happen in this world all at once, I do know that we are on a path to basic emergency preparedness. I can update this post as I discover resources in our path.

What are some quality resources you have seen, or what are ways you have helped your family be more knowledgeable in emergency situations? Feel free to comment on this below!