A wise person once told me, “locks are only to keep out honest people.” We should always be prepared for the worst, even if the worst never happens. What is it they say—”better safe than sorry.” Well, let’s make safe happen.
A few years ago, we were on vacation, driving in the night, an hour away from our next destination. It was really dark (we were out in the middle of nowhere), but we had our brights on, and we were paying really close attention, both of us in the front (the kids were sleeping). Then something popped out of the night. Several somethings. By the time I said something it was too late, and thump, thump our minivan hopped over three wild boar.
Thankfully we weren’t going very fast, but it still messed up the undercarriage of our van pretty badly. No one was hurt, and we were very thankful that all it did was mess up a night’s sleep and cost a little extra to get everything back to normal—but we had no warning at all, and barely any time to react. However, thinking about that moment (and what we could have done better) made us more prepared for the next unforseen scenario.
It’s hard to see the other side of an emergency when, right now, you have all the time in the world to think and plan what you’ll do in that moment—but without rehearsing it and talking together as a family about your plans, you could be caught in a situation you can’t get out of. That accident could have been a lot worse—if we were driving recklessly (because come on, there was no one around), or if we didn’t have our bright headlights on, or if we had been negligent about maintaining our van. It could have all gone very, very wrong. But as it was, we came out on the other side with just a bit of a wrench in our plans, not in our entire lives.
Though our kids may get fire drill practice at school and us at work, rarely do we talk about, let alone practice, what we’d do at our homes in the event of a fire—even though most fires start in the home. Nationwide Make Safe Happen, with members of the Make Safe Happen Advisory Council, is looking to change that this month with their launch of the first national observance of Home Fire Drill Day. In an effort to make sure even the littlest ones in our family know what to do in the event of an emergency, they’re encouraging all of us to use family games and activities that are geared toward fire safety and prevention to help us be prepared for the worst.
You can visit HomeFireDrillDay.com for more info on how to bring your family in on home fire safety. And if you haven’t already, make sure you get the Make Safe Happen app for incredibly helpful tips about not only home fire safety, but also many other safety hazards families face everyday, and how to solve them. And feel free to ask any questions you might have, we’re here to help! :)
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