NWMR: Do you kids have an emergency plan?

jlaOK · November 2014

DS accidentally locked me out of our apartment last night and I didn't have my keys or phone and DH is out of town. Since our apartment is a temporary living arrangement we don't have a hidden key anywhere. It got me thinking that DS can't get into my cell phone because it is locked and doesn't know how to use our house phone (we never use it) and would have no way to call anyone in an emergency. Do your kids have an emergency plan. If so, what is it?

rubber_chicken · November 2014

I don't, but our kid is 2. It's an interesting question, because we don't have a house phone. We do have neighbors though, that I would feel comfortable having DD go to.

What did you guys end up doing?

Leap08 · November 2014

My oldest daughter (almost 5) knows she is supposed to call 911 if there is an emergency. We've even talked about what an emergency is and when it's OK to call that number. However, I don't think she knows how to use my phone and it's locked. I'm not sure if she knows how to use the home phone, which we almost never use. I guess I should probably show her how to use it just in case. I think I also need to tell her that if it was an emergency and she couldn't figure out how to call 911, she should go to one of the neighbors or our babysitter's house (5 doors down). I've also been working with her on learning my cell number, but she still can't remember the last 4 digits. We'll keep working on it.

jlaOK · November 2014

rubber_chicken said:

I don't, but our kid is 2. It's an interesting question, because we don't have a house phone. We do have neighbors though, that I would feel comfortable having DD go to.

What did you guys end up doing?

The reason he locked it was that I went to walk the dog and kept the door unlocked. I walk him in an area where I can see if anyone goes into the door but can't see the door itself. DS was in bed and heard the door blow open. He got out of bed and closed and locked it (like he should do) and then went back to bed. I'm not sure if he thought about me being outside. I kept knocking on the door and calling for him and he eventually opened it. So thankful he did. My only other option was having a neighbor call emergency maintenance.

mlee116 · November 2014

rubber_chicken said:

I don't, but our kid is 2. It's an interesting question, because we don't have a house phone. We do have neighbors though, that I would feel comfortable having DD go to.

Same here. DS is 2, so we aren't quite there yet. But we do know some of our neighbors well and I plan to teach him to go over to their house if something ever happened. Now that you mentioned this though, we need to hide a spare key. If worse came to worse, I'd break in or break a window and climb in.

We've also been working on teaching him his full name, our full names, his age and address so he can tell an adult if he ever has to.

Leap08 · November 2014

PrivacyWanted said:

Well DS isn't even 2. But DD (4) knows how to make an emergency call when my phone is locked (even locked most phones should be able to call 911). And she also knows the code to, and how to use it, unlock my phone.
Locking ourselves out can't happen because like @claryPax we have the keypad on our door.
DD also knows our first and last names, address, name of her school & address, and my cell phone number (we figured teaching her 1 was best for now).

They just had a emergency/safety unit in her preschool class. Which had homework that included coming up with an emergency plan, and meeting place etc. for fires. So we have that down now too.

I didn't know that about phones. It makes me feel better about DD1's ability to call 911. I just actually looked at my phone to figure out how it works. Now that I know, I'll show her. They've also been doing an emergency/safety unit at preschool, which is actually where the talk about 911 originated. I think it's good to start thinking about these things. She does know our address and all of our names.

emberlee3 · November 2014

I should review calling 911 with DS. We made a fire escape/meetup plan (at DS's request) after they did a fire safety unit at school.

2chatter · November 2014

The two oldest know all the key information and how to dial 911 from a cell or land line. They know there are two possible meeting points - both at neighbors homes. They know to get themselves out in case of fire (I need to buy a second fire ladder - we planned everything on graph paper then I forgot to shop and place the second ladder). And they know to run straight home if anyone they do not know so much as speaks to them while they walk home from school (they have done this twice - once a man in a truck called out the window and the other time a Dad (?) asked DD where the kindergarten door was. I would rather they be rude than the alternative).

DS locked us all four out last winter. We were loading things into the car in the garage and he turned the lock but could not unturn it. The fire department tried to pop it but ended up breaking a window. That was fun.

potbellypig · November 2014

No as they're still quite young, but I think this is a great idea.

ridesbuttons · November 2014

Sort of. We recently moved to France and some of our first orders of business was to entrench our address and contact info in the kids (5&7).

Having said that, our backup plan in case of emergency is pretty weak but I am working on it.

rubber_chicken · November 2014

Oh, I didn't realize he was still inside! I thought he was outside with you. Well that's fortunate then.

I once got locked out of the house while babysitting. The kids and I ended up climbing through a window.

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