How to Prepare Your Kids for an Emergency At School
Disaster can strike anyone, anywhere at anytime. It seems we’re learning this lesson over and over again with more frequency these days.
Whether it’s a natural disaster, a terrorist attack or mass shooting, a nuclear threat or any number of other potential hazards, more and more people are learning the importance of being prepared for anything in this volatile world.
But the focus on preparedness is still placed firmly on the home. “Preppers” typically concentrate on building up their supplies at home and being ready to bug out if needed. And even if you don’t consider yourself a prepper, it’s still recommended that you have at least 72 hours (3 days) worth of emergency food and supplies to help get you and your family through an emergency.
The problem with all of this is that it’s based on the assumption that you and your family will all be together if and when disaster does strike.
What if your kids are at school when the worst happens?
While some of us are lucky enough to be home with our kids or be homeschooling them, many of us work outside the home and/or have children in public or private schools or daycare. Imagine a catastrophe happens while your children are away from you at school or daycare. How do you prepare them (and yourself) for this scenario?
As a teacher as well as a mother, homesteader and “prepper,” I am always concerned with emergency preparedness at school. After all, kids are typically at school for at least 6 hours a day, 5 days a week. Odds are relatively high that they will be at school when an emergency happens.
As a teacher, I know that I need to be prepared to care for my students in an emergency, and I would hope that you all can count on your kids’ teachers to do the same. But there are steps you can take as a parent to help prepare your kids for an emergency at school. Here are my top 5 tips…
5 Ways to Prepare Your Kids for an Emergency at School
1. Know Your School’s Emergency Protocols
All schools have certain protocol that they follow in the event of an emergency. Find out what it is. Where on the school grounds do students and teachers meet if they need to evacuate? What do they learn to do in drills? What is the protocol for different emergency scenarios (ie. fire, earthquake, flood, shooting, etc.)? How will parents be contacted/make contact with their children in the event of an emergency? What type of emergency supplies are kept at the school? Which staff members have First Aid training?
Knowing your school’s emergency protocols will empower you and your children as you’ll know what to expect and can discuss this more at home with your kids. It will also give you peace of mind knowing there are competent staff members ready to care for your children in an emergency. And of course, if you have any concerns, this should allow you ample time to address them before something does happen.
2. Have Your School’s Information Handy
Along with knowing your school’s protocol, you should definitely have all of the school information handy in case you need to reach someone in an emergency or send help. What is the office phone number? What’s the address? What’s the name of the principal, teachers, secretary, etc.
Also, know your children’s schedules. What time does school begin and end? What time is recess, lunch, P.E., etc. Also, if you have high school-aged children who move around to different classes throughout the day, it’s important to have a copy of their schedule so that you know what class they are in at any given time.
Having a copy of the school map is also a great idea, especially for large schools with lots of students. This can make it easier to find your child and/or to direct them to a safe place in the event of a disaster or attack.
3. Talk to Your Children About Possible Emergency Scenarios
It’s important to talk to your kids about the likelihood of various scenarios as well as what to expect and how to react in each one. Depending on your child’s age, the way you talk to them and the information you share might differ.
You should be careful not to scare your child or make them worry too much, especially if they are young. This can cause extreme debilitating anxiety and fearfulness of school in some children so be careful how you approach this topic.
On this note, it is also important to mentally prepare your children for how to react in an emergency. Tell them to breathe and stay calm. Count backward from 10 if they are starting to panic. Go over how to mentally handle things like a shooting or being trapped in an earthquake. Staying calm can be the difference between life and death sometimes.
Go over different emergency scenarios and best responses (as well as back up plans) for each of your children. Also, let them know what you will be doing on your end if disaster strikes. This can help ease their mind if they can’t get in contact with you right away as they will know you are working to get them home to safety as quickly as possible.
4. Pack an Emergency Kit for Each of Your Children
At the school where I work, we keep our own emergency supply and First Aid kits on site but we also ask that parents pack a Ziplock-sized emergency pack for each of their children. We keep these together in our classroom emergency kit.
In each kit, parents are asked to pack a snack, a juice box, a game and a letter from them to their child. This kit is meant to help comfort children in the case of an emergency.
Parents should also provide teachers with Epipens, prescription medications and any other specialized medical supplies and information for each of their children. Children should also know how to safely take or self-administer their medications and how to access them if for some reason a teacher is unable or unavailable to help them (like if they are unconscious, etc.).
5. Enroll Your Children in a First Aid Course
If you really want to empower your kids to take care of themselves and each other in an emergency (either at home or at school), I highly recommend enrolling them in a First Aid course.
Some schools offer First Aid programs as part of Phys Ed. at a certain age. But even if they do get this training at school, if you can enroll them in a private course it certainly doesn’t hurt them to get more practice.
An important part of self-reliance and emergency preparedness is to prepare to care for yourself in any situation and not rely on others to take care of you. While school staff are responsible for your children while they are at school, you just never know what could happen that could render staff unable to help or reach your child in an emergency. Also, if many people are injured, it could take a while for your child to get help.
Knowing First Aid also empowers your children to care for their peers should they need medical help. There’s really no downside. Check Google or local listings to find a First Aid course near you.
From one parent to another…
At the end of the day, it’s your responsibility as a parent to help prepare your kids for an emergency at school, at home, at daycare or anywhere else. As teachers, we do our best to prepare kids with regular drills and conversations at school. But as a parent, you have a special opportunity to prepare them much more thoroughly and frequently than teachers do with limited time and lots of other students and distractions to attend to.
As we head into the start of another school year, my best advice is not to wait to prepare your kids for an emergency. We are learning time and time again, you just never know when one might happen.
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A lot of people preach living a slow, simple life, but in reality they’re going a million miles an hour trying to keep up with their “slow simple lifestyle,” which often includes farming, gardening, cooking, preserving, educating and caring for children and even some degree of sharing it all with the world, either on social media, through a blog, vlog, podcast, etc. Not to mention all of the other demands of modern day life, including work outside the home, errands, emergencies and extracurricular activities. It can all get more than a bit overwhelming at times, and before you know it the “simple life” can feel like anything but.
I’m definitely guilty of not always practicing what I preach in this regard, and lately I’ve felt it all catching up to me.
I’ve been letting stress get the best of me these past few weeks and I’ve been feeling the physical toll it’s been taking on me. And I know I’m not the only one! Trying to keep up with the demands of daily life can keep us all in a constant state of chronic stress that’s not healthy.
Too often I find I’m so busy working that I don’t take time to slow down and just enjoy the bees on the flowers in the garden, or to have a picnic with my daughter or colour mandalas or make a Mason jar snail terrarium with her.
But at the end of the day, these are the things that fill me up and make me feel whole; These are the things that make a “slow, simple life” worth living.
So I’ve been taking time out to do more of this lately, and have been doing my best to organize and prioritize what’s truly important.
If you’re struggling with feeling stressed or overwhelmed with everything on your to-do list too, and you need some help managing the must-dos so you can free up time to actually slow down and enjoy life, I’ve got a few tips that may help.
Click the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead or go to https://thehouseandhomestead.com/10-tips-for-managing-stress-and-overwhelm/ to read my 10 tips for managing stress and overwhelm on the homestead.
I’d love to know your tips too! How do you manage stress? Let me know down below👇
We’ve been saving up cardboard for months now. We’ve had 6 yards of mulch sitting in our driveway for weeks, and we’ve weeded the same areas of our garden more times than I can count. Not to mention, mulching our garden paths has been on our to-do list ever since we put in our main garden 3 years ago.
It’s been a long time coming, but we’re finally getting around to tackling this task and it’s about to make our work (and our lives) A LOT easier.
While I’m a huge proponent of investing time and money up front to do things the right way and make life easier right off the bat, the reality is that it’s not always feasible or affordable to do all of the things you want to do right away. This is true for homesteading and for life in general; You just have to do what you can with what you’ve got and chip away at your goals little by little.
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This is so important to remember, no matter where you are on your journey. Always take time to celebrate your accomplishments and don’t dwell on all of the things you still need to do. Just focus on the next thing and little by little it will start to come together. Take things one step, one day and one cardboard box at a time, and eventually you too will look back and say “holy crap, look how far I’ve come.”
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#humanswhogrowfood #gardenersofinstagram #gardenersworld #growfoodnotlawns #growyourownfood #homesteading #homesteadersofinstagram
(1/5) The past few weeks have been some of the most difficult to date in my occupation as a homesteader and a blogger.
I've had to do a lot of soul-searching to really, truly, deeply ask myself why?
Why have I chosen this path, and why is it important to me to share it with the world??
The truth is, I've talked about my "why" before. I don't homestead and grow food and cook and preserve and preach about sustainability and self-reliance and self-determination simply because I think homegrown tomatoes are healthier and taste better than store-bought tomatoes. Sure, this is part of it, but it's not the part that drives me to put in the long hours and hard work that goes into the line of work I've chosen.
What drives me to do what I do and to share my passion for homesteading and self-sufficiency with the world comes from a place deep inside me that sees the wrongs in our system, and wants to do whatever I can to challenge them and make them right.
I've talked many, many times about the flaws with our modern, industrialized food system, and about how homesteading is a way to take back some control over our food supply and buck this system. (Yes, that's buck, with a "b" ;)
I talk all the time about the importance of supporting small farmers and local businesses instead of big corporations, and about the importance of voting with your dollars.
And I preach the importance of community, and why it's so important to support each other and find support in your community, whether in your local community or online. Because self-sufficiency is about more than each individual person or family; It's about empowering entire communities of people to rise up and take control of their own food supply and basic needs, and break free from the cycle of dependency on the system that most of us are born into.
To me, homesteading is about so much more than the act of growing and preparing food, or DIY-ing your own soap or candles or toothpaste. Quite honestly, it's a way for everyday people to take back control over their own lives and throw a proverbial middle finger to "the system" and the status quo.
(Continued in comments...)
Roughly one year ago, the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer brought the issue of systemic racism to the forefront of so many conversations. I, like many others, released a statement that I wanted to do more to combat racism, and to showcase more diversity in the world of modern homesteading, and you, my dear readers, stepped up with some excellent resources to get me started.
I began diving into these resources and kept coming across a term that, until then, I had never heard before. While the terms "food security," "self-sufficiency," "sustainability" and "food independence" tend to make it into many conversations related to modern homesteading, it was only when I began researching Black people in the modern homesteading movement that I heard the term "food justice," and I immediately knew this was something I wanted to learn more about and share with you here. Which is why...
This month's issue of Modern Homesteading Magazine is all about Food Justice.
The Food Justice Movement is a response to racial injustice in our current food system, and aims to help ensure equal and equitable access to fresh, healthy, organic food for people in low-income communities of colour, often dubbed “food deserts” where such food is scarce.
I’ve been so nervous to hit publish on this issue due to the sensitive nature of the topic, but it’s an issue that not nearly enough people in the Modern Homesteading community are talking about, and it absolutely deserves some of our attention.
I invite you to enjoy this issue of Modern Homesteading Magazine, and to join me in the fight for people of all races, classes and ethnicities to have equal and equitable access to fresh, healthy food.
Check your inbox for the latest issue if you’re already subscribed, or click the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead to subscribe for free or become a member and get unlimited access to our entire library of issues. I’ll be matching and donating 100% of all proceeds from membership sales during the month of June to help advance Food Justice initiatives. You can find more info about this in the delivery email for this issue.
One of my favourite ways to use rhubarb in the spring is to turn it into a delicious rhubarb juice concentrate to mix with soda water, juice or cocktails for a refreshing bevvies all summer long.
This is one of the most popular recipes on my site, and even includes canning instructions so you can put some up to enjoy all year long! I’ve been sharing it on social media every spring for years now, but all of a sudden Facebook won’t let me post it because apparently it “goes against their community standards,” and Instagram let me post the photo, but when I added the link to the caption they just deleted the entire caption without warning.
A reader of mine who tried to share this recipe a couple weeks ago suspects that it’s because the word “shooting” appeared in the post, when I talked about our rhubarb stalks “shooting” out of the ground. I’ve since changed that sentence and appealed to the FB gods, but so far to no avail.
Luckily, however, I was able to share the recipe in my IG link, so make sure to head over there now to get the recipe before it’s too late! Maybe even print it for future reference. After all, you just never know when the Internet is gonna “disappear” your favourite recipes forever 😜
Link in bio (for now anyway) @thehouseandhomestead
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Join me in the herb garden and then follow me into the kitchen where I'll show you a few of my favourite ways to preserve fresh herbs at home to enjoy all year round. Be sure to stick along til the end and enjoy a garden fresh mojito with me (wherever you are, it’s 5:00 somewhere, right ;)
Link in bio @thehouseandhomestead or go to https://youtu.be/Qr11BK5J5aU to watch the full video and get all my favourite herb preserving recipes!
So this is 34...
(1/3) When I look back on my 34 tours around the sun, all I can say is WOW! How incredibly blessed I’ve been.
In my younger years, I had the privilege of travelling around the world and living abroad 3 times, long before borders closed and travelling became more of a nightmare than a dream.
When I returned home to my roots, I completed my second degree in education (my first degree is in journalism) and I married the love of my life. During these years of schooling and settling into domestic life in Vancouver, we started learning more about where our food comes from and how reconnecting with nature could help relieve much of the crippling anxiety that I felt living in the city, so we set a goal to move to Vancouver Island where we could afford more land and start farming and gardening once we were married and I was done school. With laser focus and intention placed on this goal, the stars aligned and we made our move 6 years ago now. We’ve never looked back.
While our initial move brought heartache when we had a major accident on the way to our new home and lost a beloved family pet, I was soon comforted when I learned I was pregnant with our first child.
I also stumbled into the perfect teaching job at a beautiful little school with an ocean view, where I worked until I gave birth. But I didn’t feel truly fulfilled as a teacher. I’ve always wanted to write and create content to share with the world, but I didn’t know exactly how I would do this or what form it would take.
Then, while on maternity leave, I learned about the world of blogging, and that there were many people who have made a very lucrative career out of creating and sharing online content with the world. The lightbulb went off and I knew immediately that this was my calling. I also knew exactly what I wanted to write about and share: I wanted to share my passion for growing, cooking and preserving real food, and living a more sustainable life. I wanted to teach and inspire others to pursue their own homesteading dreams like we had, and show them that if we could do it, so could they.
Continued in comments...
I have a confession to make...
I don’t like radishes. But I love to grow them, which has created quite a dilemma in the past. That is, until I discovered ROASTED RADISHES!
Talk about a game changer! Roasting radishes completely takes the bite out of radishes (ya know, that spiciness that fresh radishes are known for). Plus, the addition of honey butter elevates even the most boring side dish of radishes to a dish you’re gonna wanna lick clean! Not that I’ve done that or anything 😳
My favourite radishes to grow are an heirloom variety called French Breakfast radishes (pictured here). They’re long and cylindrical rather than round and they’re an absolute beauty in the garden and on a plate!
But any radishes will work for this recipe. And if you’ve got some fresh thyme growing in your herb garden, toss in a few sprigs to compliment the flavours in this dish.
I’ve gone from disliking radishes to literally salivating over this dish, so much so that I had to share the recipe!
Whether or not you love radishes fresh, these roasted radishes are a total game changer and a sure crowd pleaser. But don’t take my word for it. Do yourself a favour and try ‘em for yourself:)
Recipe link in bio @thehouseandhomestead or go to https://thehouseandhomestead.com/roasted-radishes-with-honey-butter/
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#radishes #roastedradishes #radishrecipes #farmtotable #gardentotable #humanswhogrowfood #growfoodnotlawns #homesteadkitchen #nomnom #droolclub
🕷 There was a time in my life when finding a nest of spiders on my garden gate, VERY close to the handle, would have easily been considered one of my worst nightmares.
Seriously... Growing up I HATED spiders and was so terrified of them. One time there was a single spider on my grandma’s car window and I said “look Nanny, it’s Arachnophobia!” Anybody remember that movie? Let’s just say that it haunted me for many years of my life!
But when I started gardening and reconnecting with nature, suddenly spiders went from being something I was afraid of to something I welcomed on our property.
In the spring, I love seeing the garden spiders (I have no clue what they’re actually called) running around close to my fingers as I plant out seeds, many of them carrying large egg sacs on their back.
In the fall I love watching orb spiders spin their webs that capture the last of the summer rays and the first of the fall raindrops on their silky threads.
Even in the bathroom (why do spiders gravitate to the bathroom??) I always try not to kill the spiders that I find, but relocate them to the garden instead. A healthy garden is teeming with spiders and worms and butterflies and bees. A healthy garden is full of healthy life, and just like good bacteria helps ward off bad bacteria in our bodies, so too do the “good bugs” help to control the bad bugs in the garden, and spiders are one of the most beneficial bugs when it comes to that!
It’s amazing how much living close to the land changes you and gives you a greater respect for all life. As much as I’m still not ready to put my hands out and hold a spider (I literally passed out when I was a kid and tried to hold someone’s pet tarantula), I am learning to coexist with all things, and appreciate the unique purpose that every living thing serves here on Earth.
As much as it may seem like we have nothing in common, if you take a moment to just observe nature or sit in stillness by your garden gate, you’re sure to realize we all have more in common than most people might think.
Some people want an ocean view or a high-rise apartment with a bird’s eye view of the city. Me? I’ll never get tired of waking up to this (weeds and all!) 😍
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My mom and dad divorced when I was just 9 months old. I have no memory of them ever being together, and remain my mother’s only child.
It was definitely a struggle at times. When I was a kid I was constantly reminded that money didn’t grow on trees and that, while we lived comfortably, there was never any extra for the “fun stuff.”
I watched my mom cry many times because of how hard it was to be a single mother on a tight income. Sometimes I would pull whatever money I had in my piggy bank and offer it to her to help pay for groceries. She always refused, but I know it was hard on her to want to give me the world while simultaneously having to use coupons just to get by, and it was hard on me watching how hard it was on her.
But while I didn’t grow up wearing name-brand clothes or getting whatever I wanted whenever I wanted it, my mom was determined to put whatever extra money she could save toward giving me some of the best experiences life had to offer and making memories together that will last our lifetimes.
When I was in high school, I had the opportunity to go on a discounted school trip to Europe. My mom encouraged me to go and told me she would help pay for it. So I signed myself up and when I found out they were looking for parents to help chaperone the trip, I immediately asked my mom to come along. I promised her that I would work hard and save up enough money to pay for my own trip so she could afford to come too.
We made it happen, and it marked the beginning of roughly a decade of adventures together travelling all over the world.
In the end, the experiences we had have helped shape me and my appreciation for all that this beautiful world has to offer, and the memories we made together will forever remain some of my most cherished.
Yes, there were times we struggled, but thanks to my mom, I can truly say that I’ve had a blessed life, and am grateful every day for all of the sacrifices she made in order to literally give me the world. She didn’t just teach me the value of a dollar, she taught me that time spent together is worth more than anything else we could possibly spend our money on.
Thanks mom. I love you as big as the world 🗺 ❤️
🪴The May issue of Modern Homesteading Magazine just dropped! This month’s issue is all about the wonderful world of herbs and herb gardening!!!
Herbs have always been an integral part of both good food and good health, often at the same time!
The great emperor Charlemagne famously said that "Herbs are the friend of the physician and the pride of cooks."
Indeed, both physicians and cooks would be nothing without herbs, and so you can see how useful having an herb garden can be for us modern homesteaders who often aim to cook most of our meals from scratch with ingredients grown on our own property AND be our family's own primary health care provider.
First up we're showcasing 10 less common herbs that are totally worthy of a place in your garden. From culinary herbs like lovage and chervil to medicinal herbs like comfrey and marshmallow and dual purpose herbs in between, if you're looking to expand your herb garden beyond the standard culinary herbs you're familiar with, this guide breaks down everything you need to know about growing and using these lesser known herbs at home.
Our guest interview this month is with CeAnne Kosel, founder of @farmhouseteas. CeAnne's journey into herbalism began with a discounted pack of calendula seeds and led her to starting what has become a successful business mixing and selling herbal teas and other all-natural herbal products. She's here sharing her story, her advice for anyone wanting to break into the business side of selling herbal products and her formula for crafting herbal teas that are as healing as they are delicious!
And of course, no issue would be complete without a few good recipes to keep in your back pocket (or herb cabinet). This month we're tipping our hats to the art, flavour and finesse of French cooking with three distinctly French herb blends that will help take your home cooking to a whole new level. Plus, don't miss CeAnne's bonus recipe for homemade Allergy Tea, perfect for spring! (Aka. allergy season).
To read the May issue, subscribe for FREE via the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead or go to thehouseandhomestead.com/magazine.
Happy herb gardening!
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