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This is the first of many articles to come from our contributing writer, Prepper Lush. Please connect with her in the comments and let her know what you think of her article!
‘If the electricity went out in your school, then after an hour the school allowed you to go home. What would you do? What if you couldn’t access text/cell phones either?’
I asked my son this question to see what his answer was. I didn’t do it to scare him or to freak him out, but I did ask him because I need to open the line of communication of “What if?” He’s 17 and a senior in high school, so I didn’t have to be as cautious about what I said as if I was speaking with my elementary school kids.
Remember the audience you are speaking to, if you scare someone they won’t hear what you said, they will focus on the fear. The whole reason for asking this is to give them a sense of confidence so if it does happen they know the game plan.
Game plans change. In 9 months my son will be heading off to college which leaves me with no one to pick up my kids in case of an emergency. I’ll be talking with a neighbor in that case, because she’s home during the day and our kids are in the same class.
I might be working in another location and be closer to home so I could get them, or perhaps it’s an economical shift and one of us is working at home.
Make sure you include your college aged students in these conversations. Where are they supposed to go? How long should they wait before they try to head home, should they? Come up with a way to get them in a safe location that works for you and them.
Change your FEP with each major change in the family. Adding a child, marriage, divorce, baby sitter, job, etc. you need to stay on top of it, the worst thing you can do is leave your loved ones stranded and scared before you can get to them.
“IF’s” are necessary conversations to have, or at least to put into your FEP booklet. IF you don’t make it home, IF you are not home in 2 days, what are the kids/friends supposed to do IF comes true. Plan for the worst, Hope for the best.
Next: Family Emergency Plan #2: Making a FEP booklet – What information to include/Location of book