How to Prepare Your Kids for an Emergency At School
Disaster can strike anyone, anywhere at anytime. It seems weโre learning this lesson over and over again with more frequency these days.
Whether itโs 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 donโt consider yourself a prepper, itโs 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 itโs 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 โprepper,โ 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 kidsโ 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 Schoolโs 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 schoolโs 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 Schoolโs Information Handy
Along with knowing your schoolโs 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 childrenโs 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, itโs 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
Itโs 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 childโs 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 canโt 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 doesnโt 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. Thereโs really no downside. Check Google or local listings to find a First Aid course near you.
To recap (and expand on the steps outlined above), here’s a handy infographic that will help you prepare your kids for an emergency at school, or anywhere else for that matter!
This infographic was created by BlowHard Fans, a manufacturer of PPV fans
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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For many, wood heat and wood burning stoves conjure up nostalgia and cozy feelings. But more importantly, wood heat is reliable, affordable and gives us the ability to heat our homes without relying on the grid or on other types of energy, which are currently in short supply.
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โNot eating mushrooms is like not eating an entire food groupโฆ And a healthy one.โ
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๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐'๐ ๐๐ป๐ฐ๐น๐๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฑ: โฃ
Breakfastsโฃ
Soupsโฃ
Homemade Breadsโฃ
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Snacks & Sidesโฃ
Sweets & Treatsโฃ
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So whether youโre trying to save a little extra money on your grocery bill, or prioritizing rest this season these 35 frugal recipes will help you get good, wholesome, delicious homemade food on the table every day, which means you have one less thing to stress about. โฃ
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Eat well friends:)
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In our Winter Issue of Modern Homesteading Magazine, my friend and fellow homesteader, Ashley Constance of @alittleselfreliant wrote "Breaking Your Cabin Fever" a list of ideas for staying productive over the winter months. โฃ
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If you're feeling a bit restless and up to it, this list of ideas is a perfect way to get back into a daily routine. โฃ
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From making and creating, to preparing, planning and organizing you'll be feeling ready for Spring in no time. โฃ
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Homesteading is a year-round lifestyle, andโฃ
for whatever reason, homesteading is most often thought of as a three-season โactivity.โ โฃ
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1. ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. โฃ
2. ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ.โฃ
3. ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ถ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ญ. โฃ
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So much of homesteading centers around preparing for winter. But what happens when winter finally arrives?โฃ
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Sure, we could just hunker down and relax, enjoy the fruits of our labour and rest until spring returns and the really busy seasons begin again. But the very nature of most homesteaders is that we tend to enjoy keeping busy. In other words, we tend to go a bit stir crazy sitting around on the couch for too long.โฃ
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Now, let me just make this clear before we continue: I think itโs VERY important to take time to rest whenever possible so that you can feel rejuvenated and be more productive when you really need to be, but if youโre looking for some (mostly relaxing) homesteading activities that you can do throughout the winter months to help keep you occupied, Iโve got a few suggestions for you:) โฃ
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My full list of winter homesteading activities can be found here https://thehouseandhomestead.com/winter-homesteading-activities/ โฃ
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Happy homesteading!
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