Kids

5 Basic Ways How To Prep Kids for an Emergency

by Kevyn Gohu
September 28, 2021

Staying calm during an emergency may be hard but here are some ways how to prep the kids.

A lot of us felt that earthquake the other day from around 1:12 to 2:00 AM. Typhoons, house fires, floods — all these natural disasters will make our kids panic if we don’t prep them right. These freak accidents or emergencies are something we can never exactly predict but we can make an emergency plan should they come to pass. Before, our kids would have fire drills and earthquake drills in school but that’s hard to manage during homeschool now. So, it’s up to us to prep our kids for any kind of emergency.

1. Make sure the kids memorize all emergency exits in the house or condominium

Our houses come built-in with an emergency exit should there be a fire or whatsoever. But our kids might forget where they are. Remind them every now and then where it is and let them try opening and closing it themselves so that when something happens, they won’t panic and fumble in opening it. We can even make a game out of it like involving their favorite games like zombies or making some sort of time-attack type challenge.

2. Have an emergency bag ready

Having a spare set of clothes, charger, power bank, and cellphone will always come in handy for your child during an emergency especially when you’re out. You can add some emergency snacks like Tiger Crackers, chocolate, or chips in them to keep them calm since they’ll be focusing on how tasty their snack is rather than replaying the stress of the emergency in their head repeatedly. Have the bags placed by the emergency exit so it’s easy for you or the kids to grab on the way out.

3. Have your kids help out in rescuing the furbabies

Your pets are just as important as your kids. Unlike your kids, they can’t talk or run so working with your kids on a contingency plan on how to protect their furbabies during a calamity’s one way to expose them to the reality that anything can happen. It helps to have a travel case for them and although it’ll be a stressful trip for your pets for the first few hours, it’ll spare your kids from the guilt from being unable to save their best buddy.

4. Have them memorize the numbers of their relatives living within the area

Some houses may be built more emergency-proof than others so their houses can serve as a safe haven. Having your kids memorize the contact numbers of their relatives living in the area will assure their safety if ever they get separated from you during an emergency. It’s also good to have their contact details especially if all the hotels within the area are serving as quarantine areas for incoming people.

5. Teach them how to ride public transport

While your legal-aged kids can drive, your younger ones won’t. Have them install Grab on their phone and let them practice using it so they’ll know how to call for a ride if they get stranded. It prevents them from being a target of robbers or other hostile elements who are known to prey on stranded people. Teach them to memorize plate numbers, to text relatives the plate number of the taxi and the name of the driver so that there’s someone who’s aware where they are if ever they are separated from you.

Letting kids in on the emergency plan

Sadly, we can’t always be there for our kids. These emergencies always have this way of separating families from one another, leaving each one to fend for themselves. It’s why the best thing we can do for them is to prepare them to defend themselves. It’s a painful question to ask but, asking them what will they do if you’re not around will help them slowly develop coping mechanisms and the presence of mind to follow through with the emergency plan you’ve set up for them.