fire safety...

i've always been worried about fires, ever since i was 8 or 9 and i remember one of my older brothers nearly burning the house down. ok, maybe he didn't "nearly" burn the house down, but he carried newspaper lit on fire from the wood stove across the room, dropped it on the wood floor when it got too hot and had to put out a fire on the floor. it scared me immensely and as an adult, i've seen and heard too many fire stories that end in tragedy. indeed i have a strong appreciation for the wild out of control beast that fire most often resembles.

when i was a single parent, i talked to k&k about fire safety often. and i kept them in the same room until i was certain they could each get out of the house, alone if necessary, in the event of a fire. i remember feeling so proud when khalid at six years old, offered up this conversation starter at a get together with friends: "do you know how to get out of your house in case of a fire? i sure do. my mom said just kick out the window screen, because she doesn't even care about a dumb screen as much as she cares about me. so i kick it out, climb onto the roof and lower myself down onto the car. my mom isn't worried about her car either. and then i have to run to our neighbor's house and stay there. never go back into your house once you're out. do you know all that?!" indeed, i had taught this child well. 

fast forward 8 years to the present and i can tell you without a doubt that i still believe k&k could get themselves safely out of the house in case of an emergency, however when i think about my six year old, cayden, i know that he is not prepared. he isn't nearly as confident and capable as his big brother was at six. insert fear into the equation. i am not one to be crippled into non-action by fear... quite the opposite actually. and as i sat down at my desk to develop fire escape plans, i certainly thought little about the time it would take to develop a well laid out plan. the result is that i did spend quite a few hours drawing a realistic interpretation of our floor plans and escape routes, but i am happy to say that the fire escape plans are finally done, printed out (with additional instructions as necessary) and will be posted in all bedrooms as well as the garage and kitchen.

i know, i know... i have already been teased by a friend about the sinks and stove, but alas, i was determined to provide a realistic visual to my children that respond most favorably to visual information. this is really key i think... know your children and their learning styles, and plan accordingly. this is true for any subject, but i feel it is imperative for fire safety and planning.

our next steps were, almost embarrassingly i admit, to take out the fire ladder we had stored in cay's room, prep it, and hang it close to his window so it is ready to go. why was it sitting in a box in his closet? what good does it do there? questions i ask myself as i feel incredibly lucky the ladder has not yet been needed. thank you, dear sweet husband for prepping the ladder! also, thank you to that same dear sweet husband for investigating our garage door emergency release, testing it, showing me how to do it, and making plans to show the kids and have them try it as well.

in addition to those steps, we then took out our child smoke alarms that again were sitting unused in a cabinet (oh the agony that good intentions never followed through on can elicit) and figured out how to record individualized messages to our children, based on the fact that 19 out of 20 children will *NOT* wake up to standard smoke alarms, no matter how loud. i first read that statistic years ago and cringed at the thought. these smoke alarms were purchases as a result of this and other research on the difficulty of waking children up via smoke alarms. these smoke alarms are fairly expensive compared to a standard smoke alarm, but definitely worth the money. they will even tell you "not loud enough; re-record".

fire escape plans completed and posted, fire escape ladder prepped, within sight and ready to go if necessary, additional child smoke alarms recorded and installed... all that is left is to have the kids practice the routes, practice opening the garage door with emergency release, and then some surprise tests. i highly recommend getting your family's fire escape plan ready and posted if not done already. if you do have your plan done and ready and your family is prepared, i give you a virtual high five!