Make a Family Emergency Plan
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What you will learn
- 1Choose two meeting places with your grown-ups
- 2Fill in a contact card with your grown-ups’ phone numbers
- 3Find the ways out of each room in your home
- 4Explain what to do if your family is apart
- 5Practice the plan and keep a copy in the go-bag
Mini Lesson
An emergency is a sudden, serious problem, like a fire or a big storm. In an emergency, there is no time to make a plan - so smart families make one before anything happens. A family emergency plan says where everyone meets, how to reach each other and how to get out of the home. You make it together with your grown-ups, and then you practice it.
🏠 The Life Skills Way (step by step)
- TWO MEETING PLACES: choose one place just outside your home, like a big tree or a neighbor’s mailbox, and one place farther away, like the library, in case you cannot get back home.
- CONTACT CARD: write your grown-ups’ phone numbers on a small card, with your grown-ups checking every number.
- WAYS OUT: walk through your home and find the exits (ways out) of each room - try to find two for every room.
- THE GO-BAG: agree where your family go-bag is kept, so a grown-up can grab it if it is safe. (You packed one in "Build a Go-Bag.")
- IF YOU ARE APART: agree what to do if you are not together - for example, stay with the trusted adult you are with and use the contact card to reach your grown-ups.
- PRACTICE AND KEEP A COPY: practice the plan together a few times a year, and keep a copy of the plan in the go-bag.
Your grown-ups lead the plan and decide what happens in a real emergency. In a fire, get out, stay out and go to your meeting place - never go back inside for toys or pets. A grown-up calls your local emergency number (you practiced calling in "Stay Calm and Call It In"). Keep your contact card private.
Words to know
emergency
A sudden, serious problem that needs action right away.
e.g. A fire in the home is an emergency.
emergency plan
A plan a family makes ahead of time for what to do in an emergency.
e.g. Our emergency plan has two meeting places.
meeting place
A spot where the family agrees to meet if they have to leave or get apart.
e.g. Our first meeting place is the big tree by the gate.
contact card
A small card with the phone numbers of your grown-ups.
e.g. I keep my contact card in my zippered pocket.
exit
A way out of a room or a building.
e.g. My bedroom has two exits: the door and the window.
practice
To do something again and again so you are ready.
e.g. We practice our plan a few times a year.
💡 Handy Tip: draw a simple map of your home with your grown-ups and mark the ways out of each room in green. Stick a copy where the family can see it.
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