How To Teach Kids Emergency Preparedness

The best way to teach your kids emergency preparedness is to include them in your own preparation. Narrating what you are doing to the level of the child’s understanding will help them comprehend emergency preparedness at their level of growth and development. At a very basic level, you will want to start explaining to your kids what you are doing. For instance, you may say to a three-year-old: “We are buying food to put in our storage in case a storm comes and we are hungry.” For a five-year-old: “We are storing clean water to drink in case the stores run out of clean water to drink. Can you help me stack this water?” In the next level, you will want to engage your children in your preparation journey. Instead of just telling your eight-year-old about clean drinking water, teach them how to purify water from an unclean source using either your Sawyer Mini or LifeStraw water filters to make it suitable for drinking. Instead of talking about how to open cans, complete basic first aid tasks, and prepare basic meals from your food storage, make the child your partner in this preparation. This will ensure that they will value survival skills. In addition, they will be able to help in times of emergency. Of course, teaching and preparing every child will be different. Here is a list of basic topics to help you get started. At each level of development, work on furthering your child’s knowledge and skill:

• First aid tasks, such as applying bandages, sterilizing a wound, CPR, and responsibly handling medications
• Preparing basic meals
• Finding shelter
• Purifying water through a variety of methods
• Keeping warm when in cold weather
• Starting a fire
• Learning self-defense
• Storing food and water responsibly
• Helping and serving others

What Are The Five Basic Survival Skills For Kids?

Mindset

Teaching your kids how to stay calm in the face of an emergency is no small task, but one of the most important for any emergency. Teaching mindfulness skills in the midst of tantrums is a great place to start. One skill to begin teaching as soon as children are able to observe and communicate those observations is a simple “five senses” game. When your child is upset, ask him/her to communicate with you 5 things they see, 4 things they hear, 3 things they feel, 2 things they smell, and one thing they taste. This will help bring them back to the present moment. Teach children how to take deep breaths when they feel intense emotions rising. Talk openly about how to cope with stress in healthy ways.

Shelter

Showing children how to put up tents through camping or backyard sleepovers is a great place to start. From here, teach kids how to search to find small spaces that they could sleep outside if necessary. Teach them to make a generous layer of leaves to sleep on to conserve body heat.

Food

First, teach kids the importance of storing food for emergencies. Help them learn to independently prepare meals. This will help them get ready for an emergency where you still have access to food storage. In a real survival situation, teach them that insects and worms are edible and will provide protein. Show them in nature which plants are edible and which are poisonous.

Water

Water is one of the most important components of emergency and survival preparation. Children should know how to boil water for purification as soon as they safely can. Following a water source usually eventually leads to civilization, which you can teach your children in case they get lost in the woods.

Fire

Last, teach children how to start a fire in a protected location using tinder (dry grass), kindling (small sticks), and logs (laid criss-cross on top of each other so that air can still flow.) CONCLUSION Kids are going to be the most vulnerable during stressful times. It’s important to mentally prepare your kids for the possibility of these hard times. That being said, it is important to make this preparation age-specific. Be careful about how you talk to your kids about potential disasters. The last thing you want them to do is shut down because they are so scared of something that might not ever happen. You know your kids better than anyone. You choose how and when to get them prepared. Pro Tip: Making preparedness fun will help your kids retain important things better. For example, go camping to teach them how to start a fire. Go fishing to teach them how to catch, gut, and cook wildlife. Go hiking to teach them what vegetation they can eat in your area. The more fun you make it the better chance of them remembering during the upcoming stressful times.

How To Keep Your Kids Entertained During An Emergency?

Anyone who has spent any amount of time with children knows that it can be extremely challenging to keep them entertained, especially in times of stress. One great way to prepare for an emergency with children is to practice. Practice entertaining them without the power on, with few or little toys, and with disrupted schedules. Although this may create temporary stress, it can lead to greater flexibility and creativity for times that it matters most. If in an emergency situation with little or no toys, use your environment. Play the “I Spy” game with things around you, or count how many leaves on a tree, or say the colors of the cars that go by. Teaching kids to be aware and entertained by their surroundings is a form of entertainment that is not specific to any schedule or location. Another way to keep kids entertained with no toys is to play pretend. This can be easily tailored to the specific ages of your children and can entertain for hours on end. In cases when you would need your children to be quiet, practice playing “quiet games.” This could include challenging children to stay in the same pose for as long as possible or making no noise for as long as possible.

What Are Some Fun Outdoor Survival Games For Kids?

There are literally hundreds of games that you could play outside with your kids, either in times of emergency or calm. The list of a few favorites below should get you started. Consider printing out this list to work through with your children, and then help them play more and more independently from adults depending on their age and development.

1. Mother, May I: In this game, an adult or older child with their back turned grants or denies requests of the younger children in a line to move forward. In turn, the children ask one by one if they can move forward with the questions “Mother, May I _____.” The winner of the game is the one who reaches the “mother” first.
2. Sidewalk Chalk Art
3. Digging for bones: Buy fake bones at the dollar store, bury them, and let your children dig them out.
4. Bubbles
5. Simon says: In this classic game, one picked as Simon commands all the other children to do things. If “Simon” starts the phrase with “Simon says ___” everyone must do it and will be disqualified if not. If “Simon” does not start the phrase with “Simon says ____” but instead commands something directly, any children who do this task will be disqualified. The winner is the last one who has perfectly obeyed the respective commands.
6. Bocce Ball: One small ball is thrown as the goal or marker. The other children have two similarly colored balls to throw as close to the “marker” ball as possible. Whoever gets the closest wins the round.
7. Capture the Flag: A large group of children divide into two teams and try to capture the other’s flag without being caught. Read more on the official rules here.
8. Hide and Seek
9. Races, relays, and obstacle courses
10. Tug of War: For this classic game of strength, divide the children into two teams and have each team hold on to one side of a long rope. Both teams pull the rope as hard as they can to pull the other team over a line drawn between them.
11. Kick Ball: Set up three bases and a home plate in the shape of a large diamond. Divide children into two teams. Follow similar rules as baseball, except allow the pitcher to roll the ball to the “kicker” at home plate. The kicker at home plate will kick the ball and try to run the bases strategically. If the ball is caught straight from the air, this counts as one “out.” Three outs mean the defensive team changes to the offense and visa versa.
12. Soccer: All you need is a few sticks or rocks to outline a goal and a soccer ball of any kind!
13. Tennis
14. Four Square: Divide a massive large square into four medium-sized smaller squares. Find the rules on specifically how to play here.
15. Jumping rope
16. Climbing Trees
17. Limbo: You (or an older child) will hold a stick at a chest level, and all the children will walk under it. Every round, you lower the stick an inch or two until the children have to bend backward (without losing balance or using their hands) to walk under the limbo stick. The one who walks under the limbo stick when it is the lowest is the winner.
18. Water Fight
19. Kick the Can: This game can literally last for hours. The person who is IT tries to guard a can while those hiding throughout the yard try to race to kick the can. If the one who is IT sees any of the hiding children or beats those trying to kick the can to the can first, he/she says “Over the can on _____(the child’s name)!” and the child goes to “jail.” Read up on the official rules here.
20. Cloud Watching

This is a good list to start with, but the trick to entertaining kids during any disaster scenario is to help them stay positive and use their imagination.

BEFORE THE PANDEMIC

How Should I Plan For a Pandemic?

In order to properly prepare for a pandemic, you will want to have both a knowledge of skills and the resources necessary to sustain yourself, your family, and anyone else you have close to you. Although it can seem overwhelming to know where to begin, the good news is that a lot of preparing for a pandemic can also overlap with other forms of emergency preparation. 

What Can I Do Personally To Prepare For a Pandemic?

• You will first want to start by training your mind to handle stress healthily. One of the most important things you can do for yourself in times of collective, global unrest is to personally be in a space to be able to keep calm and manage your emotions and stress. With this, you will be able to think clearly, create plans, be resourceful, and make good decisions. In order to do this, try to increase your coping skills. Practice in your daily life with small stressors. Identify things that increase and decrease your anxiety. Altogether, work daily for your mental health.
• Next, prepare yourself physically. Exercise often, eat fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and learn to be flexible with what you eat and drink.
• Next, you will want to have enough water and food to sustain you and your family in the case that stores did close during a pandemic. Since water is a precious commodity in a time of any emergency, have clean water stored. In addition, have a water filter on hand. In case your water supply was to run out, you will want to be able to access water in any number of ways, including through filtration or purification. From here, build your food supply. You will want to have stored enough food for everyone in your family for at least one month, and more if you have the resources and space. Store nutrient-dense food that can give energy to everyone in your family.
• Next, prepare yourself financially. Create a savings account specifically for “a rainy day,” putting 5-10% of all of your earnings. Start now and decide not to dip into this fund unless there is truly an emergency, like a pandemic. In times of global upheaval, you may be out of a job. It may become difficult to make house payments. You may not be able to keep your business afloat. In addition to this saving account, you will want to have a few hundred dollars worth of small bills in a safe place in your home.
• Have toiletries, soap, hand sanitizer, a hearty first-aid kit, medical masks, and other preventive measures on hand.
• Find a local doctor who you know and trust. In times of a pandemic, there will be massive amounts of information in the media. Knowing where to find information and from what sources can save you headaches and stress.
• Finally, check the CDC website often for up-to-date information.

READ MORE: What Can I Do To Prevent The Coronavirus Disease At Home?

What Can I Do For My Neighbors During A Pandemic?

The best thing that you can do for those around you in a pandemic is to follow the guidelines of the CDC. If the CDC requests that you stay away from others, please do so. There are still ways to connect and help, such as sharing your food and supplies, offering financial support, and offering whatever unique talents and skills you have. Just make sure that whatever you do, you do it from a safe distance. Sometimes we miss the point of preparedness in the midst of stress and fatigue. The point is not every-man-for-himself. The point is that we do everything in our power to prepare for ourselves and those around us so that we can be in a position to assist the most vulnerable in our communities.

Why Should I Practice Good Health Habits Now?

The health of our bodies and minds are strongly linked. Being able to think clearly and calmly, stay on top of your mental health, and fight disease can be linked to the healthy habits you have created for yourself. To begin, incorporate movement into your day for 30 minutes a day, 5 times per week. This has been proven to help fight mental and physical diseases. Next, increase eating foods that boost your immunity and help you feel clear, energized, and happy. Incorporate healthy mental habits, such as meditation in any form, spirituality, and stress-management.

READ MORE: Should I Wash My Hands Or Use Hand Sanitizer?

How Can I Help When I Can’t Physically Be There?

Start by asking yourself what skills you have. Are you a painter? You can paint something for someone. Are you a writer? Write encouraging notes to friends. Are you a medical professional? Offer information to those around you. Can you create music? Sing from a distance or online to people who are lonely. You can make goals to send encouragement, Facetime, offer your skills or product for a reduced price if possible, and spread hope in any number of creative ways.

How Do I Create An Emergency Pandemic Plan?

As mentioned above, during a pandemic, the best plan that you can have is to be mentally, emotionally, financially, and physically in a place to stay calm and hopeful. From here, listen to the guidelines by officials in your country. From here, have a family-wide plan, often called a protocol, that has been pre-discussed and decided upon, on what you will collectively do to get through the pandemic. Answer questions for yourself and your family like: How will we get groceries? What will we do to sustain ourselves financially? What should we do if stores close down? Where will we meet if we are out of power? Once you have these decisions made and written down on paper, practice them with your family. Get it into their heads so everyone knows exactly what to do, even if they don’t have that paper next to them when the time comes to follow the plan.

How Can I Prepare For Temporary School Closures?

Although nothing can fully prepare us for this, a few things can help.

• Be involved in what your child is learning at school. Help with homework, or at the very least, take note of what your child is covering in each class.
• Continue your own learning, alongside your child. The new form of long division may be hard, but you can learn it together!
• Have a relationship with your child’s teachers and administrators.
• Know specifically where to find streamlined information for your child’s school.
• If at all possible, make sure you have a computer at home. Chances are, schools will be taught using Google Classroom or some other form of a digital platform that allows teachers to communicate with their students.

READ MORE: What I Wish I’d Known Before The Coronavirus

How Can I Prepare for Changes at The Workplace?

The best thing to do to prepare for changes in the workplace is to have a small emergency fund because your work will likely be affected during a pandemic. The next best thing is to simply think ahead. Ask yourself the question: what will I do if I were to suddenly have no income by my traditional job? Be creative with your answers. What could you do to support yourself? How would you handle the stress? What are the ways that you could offer your services virtually? If a pandemic happens, there will be hundreds of thousands of businesses that won’t be able to sustain themselves during a lockdown. If that happens, millions of people will lose their jobs You either need to have a side-hustle with a decent amount of income that won’t be affected by e-commerce shutting down a good savings account or some other plan to take care of your family in case this emergency becomes reality. 

How Do I Plan For a Potential Quarantine?

This, more than anything, is where mental practice, strength, and stress-management comes in. You will need to not only have the resources and skills necessary for survival, but you will also need the mental strength and stamina to survive isolation. This is not easy. Specifically, if you struggle with mental illness, this can be particularly dangerous and challenging. Give yourself permission to just survive, if that’s what you need to do. You don’t need to be creative or resourceful if your mental health is suffering. If it helps you to make goals, increase creativity, exercise indoors, and watch movies with your family, do so. Make sure to take time each day to practice mindfulness, through apps such as Headspace and Ten Percent Happier. As humans, we are hard-wired for connection, and quarantine can make this difficult. Recognize this, give yourself space to struggle, and do what is in your power to manage your stress.

DURING THE PANDEMIC

First and foremost, do your part to take action, helping to slow the spread of the illness. Follow the guidelines set out by medical professionals. It is their job to study and understand the virus, and it is your job to trust their research. Check the new, updated guidelines every day and adjust your activities accordingly. If the CDC asks us not to attend large gatherings, do not attend large gatherings. Do your best to make considerate, conscious decisions. Next, put your emergency plan into action, if it reaches that point. Stay calm. Know that you have planned for this. Finally, adjust accordingly as you may need. Perhaps you planned to go to the grocery store every week, but different stores are doing pick-up. Perhaps you need to order off of Amazon. Perhaps Amazon isn’t functioning and you need to eat your food storage. Every situation can be different, and your emergency plan needs to be flexible enough to account for those differences. 

AFTER THE PANDEMIC

After the pandemic passes, evaluate the effectiveness of your emergency plan.  Ask yourself and your family what went well and what you would do differently next time. Adjust your future pandemic emergency-plan with what you have learned, and carry on. *This site does not provide medical advice. I am not a doctor and all content on this site is of my own opinion. Please refer to your doctor or the official CDC website for more accurate information about this topic.