Helping Your Child Cope With Emergencies

Planning and practicing are necessary for family safety, but communicating is equally important. As parents, we do everything that is in our power to keep our children safe, but the odds say there will be situations that are unfortunately out of your control. You have to be able to talk to your children about what to do in an unexpected situation in a way that they can understand and act on it. You should have emergency-related conversations more than once, but you don't always need them to be in-depth discussions. Talk about key points or quiz them on the topic during some day to day activity, while making dinner or getting ready for school. Always check to make sure your children understand the plan. 

You might also consider teaching your children how to dial 911. Make sure to define what an emergency is and what is not. Giving examples will make it easier to establish which situations fall under which category. Go over things like how to make a call, what to say, or even practice by using a pretend phone. Talk to your children about an emergency kit and explain important items in the first aid kit.

Always try to be honest with your children no matter how scary a topic might be. You don't want to terrify them, but you do want them to know the event could be scary for them. Let them know it's okay to be scared and that you as a parent will do everything to keep them safe and protected. Explain that these things probably won’t happen, but that your job is to make sure they know what to do in a worst-case scenario.

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Teach your child how and when to dial 911.

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