Tag Archives: practice

First Aid Safety, General Safety Issues

PREPARING YOUR CHILD FOR DISASTER (GUEST POST)

Sent to us by Nancy Parker.  Her bio follows this article. pb

There are many different kinds of disasters and they are always out of human control. As an adult you know how to prepare and what to do during a disaster, but what about the children? Some adults neglect to teach their child what to do base on the fact it could ‘never happen’ to them. Before it’s too late, here are ways to help you prepare your child for a disaster:

Educate: It is always good to keep your child informed of possible and potential disasters. Now this doesn’t mean that you educate them to the point where they live in fear but that they understand the potential disaster. When teaching them about disasters, keep the conversation upbeat and positive by stating that there is a solution to the disaster. Keep the conversations short, allow for questions and answer honestly.

Prepare:Always be prepared, that is the best advice for a disaster. Get the supplies that you need to help yourself during a disaster. For example if it’s preparing for bad weather, gather the tools you need like candles, emergency radios, food, water, and a first aid kit.  Teach your child what is needed in certain disasters so that they know what is available for them, if ever needed.

Plan:You should always have an emergency plan for you and your child for any dangerous situation. Teach them the first they should do for different disasters. Write out a simple and easy list that they can read. Typically that emergency plan should start with “listen to an adult’s advice and/or call 911”.

Practice:Once you have purchased the correct safety tools and figured out the right plan, practice. Practicing with your child what to do during a disaster will help them if the time comes. Explain during the practice the procedures that they need to take and why. Practice this emergency plan every few months.

Reaction: The most important advice that regency officials can give people during a disaster is to remain calm. Teach your child to remain calm during emergencies. You can do this by leading by example, if you remain calm you child is more likely to remain calm. Disasters have the potential to be worse if there is fear and panic to cause confusion and difficulty.

Disasters can’t be avoided but they can be lessened the more you are prepared and ready for one. Teaching your child this will help you and them in any future events. Remember above anything else, remain calm and work with them on the emergency plan.

 Author Bio

Nancy Parker was a professional full time nanny and she loves to write about wide range of subjects like health, Parenting, Child Care, Babysitting, nanny background check tips etc. You can reach her @ nancy.parker015 @ gmail.com

General Safety Issues

GUEST BLOG: TEN ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF A HOME FIRE ESCAPE PLAN

2 Comments

Today’s article is from Guest Author, Allen Wright, with Home Alarm Monitoring Services.  If you don’t have a fire escape plan for your family, here are some helpful suggestions from Allen.

We all know, if we let ourselves think about it, that a fire in our home is possible and can be deadly, but what have we done to prepare for it? Here are 10 elements that are essential, when it comes to getting your family out of your home safely in the event of a home fire.

  1. Smoke Alarms. There should be a smoke alarm in each sleeping area of your home, and one in the area just outside the sleeping rooms, as well as having smoke alarms on each level of the home. There should also be smoke alarms in the stairways between levels, and one in any room that is regularly closed off while being used, such as an office or media room. Smoke alarms should be tested once per month to assure that their batteries are good. Direct-wired alarms are not recommended, as an electrical fire can render them useless.
  2. Floor Plan. Take the time to create a floor plan, map, or grid of your home. Study it together as a family, so that everyone knows escape routes from each room in case a fire separates family members.
  3. Clear Escape Routes. Make sure that all escape routes to windows and doors are free of blockages at all times.
  4. Alternate Route Plans. Your escape plan should include two routes out of each room, in order to assure that no one is trapped if a fire blocks a primary exit.
  5. Outside Meeting Place. Designate a meeting place outside the home, for everyone to gather after escaping the home.
  6. Practice. Assemble your family once per month to practice your escape plan. Keeping the practices short, and assuming the fire starts in a different room for each practice, on a rotating basis from month to month, is a good idea.
  7. Hot Doors. The plan should stress that a hot door should never be opened during a fire event. Hot doors mean fire is on the other side.
  8. Once Out, Stay Out. Once you or a family member has escaped the home, it should never be re-entered. Gather in your outside meeting place, and if anyone is missing, one member can run around the outside of the house, pounding on walls and shouting to get the attention of anyone left inside.
  9. No Elevators. If you live in a multi-story building, never use elevators in order to escape during a fire event. Elevators are a trap if the power is lost.
  10. Sleepovers. If your child asks to stay overnight at a friend’s house, always speak to the parents of the friend, to assure yourself that they also have smoke alarms and an escape plan, before giving answer. Also, the parents should be willing to include your child in an escape practice before the sleepover proceeds. The same, of course, should be done when your child has a friend in your home for an overnight stay.

These 10 essentials make a good guideline in order to assure the safety of your family and others during a home fire event. In creating your plan, you will likely find others that are essential to the peculiarities of your home. Be prepared and be safe.   

Thanks again, Allen, and there’s much more good information on Home Alarm Monitoring Services serves as your guide to reputible home alarm systems.   We are fortunate to have many friends who want to share information on ways to keep us all safe.

General Safety Issues

TEEN DRIVER SAFETY – NATIONAL SAFETY MONTH (JUNE 12-18)

1 Comment

From the time they were little kids, we have preached to our children about being careful – watch when you cross the street, don’t talk to strangers, don’t jaywalk, don’t ride your bicycle in an unsafe place, don’t be a bully, listen to your teachers, obey your parents, the list goes on and on.  Everything we have told our children from the time they were toddlers was for their own safety.  It is a big responsibility to teach children right from wrong, and to guide them to grow up to be responsible teens and adults.

Because science explains that the brain doesn’t fully mature until we are in our twenties, it means that some of the decisions young persons make until that time will be very important ones that will determine their safety and well-being.  Teen Driver Safety Week, which is sponsored by the National Safety Council, is held each June to educate and encourage safe behaviors around the leading causes of preventable injuries and deaths.  Motor vehicle crashes are the No. 1 killer of teens in the U.S.  More teens lose their lives in motor vehicle crashes than the next three causes combined – homicide, suicide and unintentional drug overdose.  They need to understand this, and also that the risk of being in a car crash is at a lifetime high in the first six to 12 months and 1,000 miles of driving.  This risk can be reduced by a combination of gradual exposure to higher-risk situations and practice under parental supervision.  

Parents are the key to basic safety driving skills for teens.  Here are some great suggestions from State Farm Insurance to begin a good driving instruction program:

  • Review the controls and features of the car.  Make sure your teen knows how each one works:
  • Dashboard controls;
  • Steering wheel and seat adjustment;
  • Mirror adjustment;
  • Turn signals;
  • Headlights;
  • Wipers;
  • Air bags and seat belts;
  • Emergency lights;
  • Parking brake/release;
  • Starting/turning off the engine;
  • Gas, brakes (especially ABS)
  • Warning indicator lights on dashboard.
  • The location of the  registration, insurance card and manual. 

I must admit I did not go over all that with our three teens.  I briefly explained things to them, and then we drove on some low-traffic unpaved roads.  Take your teen to an empty parking lot, and have them practice applying gas and brakes, driving straight, turning, and backing up.

This is the time to remind your teen driver to pay attention to the surroundings by (a)  looking ahead and to the sides; (b) checking mirrors; (c) scanning continuously for hazards, and (d) teaching your teen to keep a clear “safety space” around the car, so there’s room to react to any hazards.  The farther he or she hangs back from the vehicle in front, the better your teen will be able to see what’s ahead.  Seeing better and farther provides extra time to react to changing traffic conditions. 

Graduated Driver Licensing is a proven road to improving teen safety.  GDL is a novice driver licensing system that is proven effective at reducing teen drivers’ high crash risk by 20-40%.  States with more comprehensive GDL systems see a higher reduction in teen crashes.  GDL reduces teen driver exposure to high crash risk situations, such as nighttime driving and teen passengers.  This allows new drivers to build experience and skills in lower-risk situations.  The three stages of GDL licensure are: 1. A learner’s permit that allows driving only while supervised by a fully licensed driver. 2. An intermediate (sometimes provisional) license that allows unsupervised driving under certain restrictions including nighttime and passenger limits. 3. A full license. 

We all learn to be better drivers with experience in different situations.  Today’s drivers have too many distractions; teens need to learn to put those distractions aside and focus on the main goal: getting from point A to point B in one piece.  Any of us can make a wrong decision behind the wheel.  Teens are at jeopardy the most.  They have a unique mix of inexperience, distraction, peer pressure, and the tendency to underestimate risk. 

It’s up the parents and peers to encourage safety to their teens every time they get behind the wheel.  These young people have the right to take their place on the roads, we just have to help them understand the importance of keeping both themselves and other drivers safe at all times.

General Safety Issues

NATIONAL SAFETY MONTH WEEK TWO: TEEN DRIVING SAFETY

3 Comments

Guest Blogger: Pat Brownlee

This week’s topic as part of National Safety Month is Teen Driving Safety.

Just one of the many challenges of rearing teens is teaching them to drive.  As parents of three grown children, our kids went through their share of accidents, some more serious than others that were little minor fender-benders.  It is important that we as parents and grandparents teach our kids the consequences that can occur if they are not serious about careful driving.  The first time they are allowed to take the car by themselves, usually on short errands, they sometimes face the temptation to make a few extra blocks, hoping that their friends see them.

Now, we have two teenagers that are almost fifteen, and when they come to visit, we get to give them driving lessons, the same as we did when their parents were growing up.  (Hopefully, they will remember how much fun it was to get to drive on a country road.)  Maybe there will be something that we have demonstrated or mentioned that will jog their memory to be careful drivers.

Even after they have taken driver’s education and passed their state licensing requirements, it is still normal to worry about teenagers getting behind the wheel.  There are too many distractions for all drivers now.  Parents should start setting a good example for their children years before they are of driving age.  If kids see parents exhibit temper fits when they are cut off in busy traffic, speed, or use their cell phones or text while driving, the youngsters are probably going to do the very same thing, when they become drivers.  The best policy is to not use a cell phone while driving, even hands-free ones.  Anyone engaged in conversation is not paying close enough attention to the road.  Teenagers have enough distractions: loud music, too many passengers, and too many gadgets to contend with instead of focusing on driving.

So, parents, a word to the wise: teach safe driving by example.  Drive safely, show courtesy to fellow drivers, and don’t let other things take your mind off the task at hand – getting to your destination safely.  Allow plenty of time, so you aren’t rushed, and keep reminding your teens that driving a car can be fun, but that they are expected to recognize the fact that they are responsible for themselves and anyone with them.  Lastly,  drive defensively and watch for the other person, as he may not be watching for you!  There are bad drivers of any age, but let’s teach our kids to appreciate the freedom driving affords them, by encouraging them to be safe at all times.