NPM12: Preparedness For Kids

Note: This is day 8 of National Preparedness Month.  Follow this year’s campaign on Twitter by searching for the #NPM or #NPM12 hash tag.

 

This month, as part of NPM12, I’ll be rerunning some updated  preparedness essays (like this one) , along with some new ones.

 

 

# 6543

 

As any Boy or Girl Scout will tell you, emergency preparedness isn’t just for adults. And the Federal government obviously agrees since they maintain a website called Ready Kids as part of the Ready.gov program.

 

 

Here – with your guides Flat Stella & Flat Stanley- you’ll find a fun, interactive way to introduce young children to the concept of preparedness. You’ll also find an assortment of  Fun & Games, all with an emergency preparedness theme.

 

Comic Strip 

Crossword Puzzle

Pack It Up Matching Game

Hidden Treasures Activity

Word Search Game

Coloring Pages

 

For a somewhat older crowd (teenagers and young adults, mostly), in May of 2011 the CDC unleashed their  highly successful Zombie Preparedness blog - cleverly written by Rear Admiral Ali S. Khan - who told us (with tongue firmly implanted in cheek) that if we are prepared for a Zombie Apocalypse . . . we’re pretty much prepared for anything.

 

Photo Credit CDC

 

Once the news of a `zombie’ blog appearing on the CDC site went viral on Twitter, the number of visitors to the Public Health Matters Blog  temporarily overwhelmed their server.

 

Heartened by the huge response, six months later the CDC released a sequel to this highly effective campaign, with a 2-part Graphic Novel preaching preparedness, and a number of tie-in posters and even T-Shirts that you can purchase.

 

All are designed to drive home the importance of Getting a kit, Making a plan, and Being prepared

To learn how, go to the CDC’s  THE ZOMBIE PREPAREDNESS PAGE

 

 

Even with the addition of a mock zombie apocalypse, today’s preparedness messages are far kinder and gentler than the ones many of us were exposed to growing up during the height of the cold war.

 

My generation grew up indoctrinated by Bert the Turtle civil defense cartoons, incessant CONELRAD testing on the radio and TV, and the never-ending threat of nuclear annihilation. 

 

 

 

"This was a test. Had this been a real emergency, you'd have been instructed to turn to your local CONELRAD broadcaster for more information. This was only a test".

 

During the Cuban Missile crisis, at the age of 8, I got the short course in radiation sickness, fallout shelters, `duck & cover’ drills, and emergency evacuations from my local elementary school. 

 

I recounted some of those experiences in a blog called NPM11: Creating A Family Communications Plan.

 

I certainly don’t advocate that preparedness lessons be taught to kids today in such a stark, disturbing, and traumatic fashion today

 

But the Ready Kids site shows that the subject can be approached in a child-friendly non-threatening manner.

 

When a disaster threatens, it threatens all of us – regardless of our age. Helping kids to understand more about emergency preparedness will undoubtedly help them cope (and perhaps, even help) in the event they, or their community, are caught up in a disaster.

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Ready Kids

 

 

# 6317

 

 

Disasters are equal opportunity destroyers.

 

To a tornado, earthquake, flood, or hurricane it matters not whether you are rich or poor, fit or infirmed, or young or old. And the very young and the very old are often the most vulnerable to their effects.

 

As a parent, I fully understand the desire to protect kids from the grim realities of disaster planning.  But I also know - from personal experience – how vital it is to include our children in our emergency preparations.

 

Although it is hard to imagine it today, 50 years ago much of Florida was on a war footing, with legitimate fears of a nuclear attack that might come at any time.

 

In October of 1962, during the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, armed military personnel were on the streets, schools were running daily `duck & cover’ drills, and thousands of people were hastily preparing fallout shelters.

 

 

School kids were sent home with civil defense pamphlets on the basics of radiation poisoning and how to build an in-home fallout shelter, while radio and TV stations blared CONALRAD Alert Tests.

 

 

At home – in addition to stocking up on extra food and supplies – my parents held several family meetings where my twin brother, older sister, and I were briefed on what to do, and where to go, should an attack occur.

 

While grim subjects - being able to talk openly about it, and actively do things to prepare – I’m certain empowered me, and made the whole experience far easier for this 8 year-old.

 

In the end, the Russians blinked, nuclear war was averted, and things eventually returned to an uneasy cold war `normal’.

 

But it was a very near thing.

 

Fifty years ago we weren't afraid to openly talk about the threat of atomic annihilation. We actually planned and worked to survive it.  Admittedly, some of the civil defense messaging (especially to children) seems unduly harsh by today’s standards, but this was a far different age.

 

Sometime in the 1980's it was decided that a nuclear war, with our bigger warheads, wasn't survivable, and the civil defense network was disbanded.

 

Today the threat of a global nuclear war is greatly reduced, but other threats – ranging from earthquakes, to pandemics, to terrorist attacks – remain. And while fallout shelters are no longer in vogue, disaster preparedness never goes out of style. 

 

To that end FEMA, CDC, HHS, READY.GOV, and NOAA, along with a variety of state, local, and federal agencies all actively work to get people to prepare for emergencies. 

 

The messaging has improved and is far less stark than in the `bad old days’ of the cold war – especially for children - but it is no less important.  

 

Ready.gov has a special site designed for kids, that can help teach them the basics of emergency preparedness.  It is designed to be fun and informative, not scary.

 

http://www.ready.gov/kids

 

Using games, comics, quizzes, and culminating in a certificate of graduation from Readiness U, this site provides an easy and painless introduction to emergency preparedness for kids.

 

 

You’ll also find plenty of information for Parents and Teachers to help you with talking to your kids about disasters and planning.

 

And after a disaster, FEMA has some advice for adults on how they can Help Kids Cope With Disaster.

While no one likes to think of their kids being affected by a disaster, it happens to millions of children every year. Teaching them what to expect, and what to do in an emergency may literally someday save their lives.

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NPM11: Preparedness For Kids

 

 

Note: This is day 7 of National Preparedness Month.  Follow this year’s campaign on Twitter by searching for the #NPM11 hash tag.

 

This month, as part of NPM11, I’ll be rerunning some edited and updated older preparedness essays, along with some new ones.

 

# 5819

 

 

As any Boy or Girl Scout will tell you, preparedness isn’t just for adults. 

 

And the Federal government obviously agrees since they maintain a website called Ready Kids as part of the Ready.gov program.

 

 

Here you’ll find a fun, interactive way to introduce young kids to the concepts of preparedness. Something that should be part of every child’s early education.

 

As a former scout myself, I learned elementary first aid, map reading, woodcraft & survival skills, and a host of other valuable lessons before I was even a teenager.

 

And growing up as young boy aboard a boat on the west coast of Florida, I learned about weather hazards, including tropical storms and lightning, and learned the value of becoming an excellent swimmer.

 

During the Cuban Missile crisis, at the age of 8, I got the short course in radiation sickness, fallout shelters, `duck & cover’ drills, and emergency evacuations from my local elementary school.  I recounted some of those experiences in a recent blog called NPM11: Creating A Family Communications Plan.

 

While I certainly don’t advocate that preparedness lessons be taught to kids today in such a stark and disturbing fashion - the Ready Kids site shows that the subject can be approached in a child-friendly non-threatening manner.

 

 

Later, while still in high school, I took Red Cross First Aid training at the local fire department. Shortly after graduation, in the summer of 1972, I took part in several rescues and helped to set up an emergency aid shelter at our local City Hall during Hurricane Agnes.

 

By October of that year, I was working on an ambulance and enrolled in the next available EMT class. Going full circle, a few years later as a Paramedic and a Red Cross CPR instructor, I taught hundreds of high school kids how to perform CPR.

 

One day, my partner and I rolled up on a heart attack scene, and found one of my students doing effective CPR on his grandfather  . . . and yes, I’m happy to report his grandfather survived.

 

For my family, general preparedness was just considered common sense.  Something to learn, and practice, and make into a lifelong habit.

 

And that attitude has served me well over the years.

 

In addition to the Ready Kids site above, FEMA has their own FEMA KIDS site, with loads of child-friendly preparedness resources.

 

 

If you have kids, or are just a kid at heart, take some time and check out these two resources.

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