As a mother fire safety for toddlers in my home is very important to me. My husband and I will literally lay in bed at night and discuss fire safety for toddlers and how we would evacuate the house if there were to be a fire. We discuss how we would get our son W out as quickly as possible. This Fire safety for toddlers conversation honestly happens at-least every other month. I have researched some advice on fire safety for toddlers that I would like to share with you other concerned mamas out there.
First of all you should know that the U.S. Fire Administration states “A child the age of 5 and younger is twice as likely to die in a residential fire than the rest of the population”. For me that definitely put some urgency to the topic as my child is 2. Escaping a fire can be very difficult for children as they will be very scared and will not understand what is going on. Fire safety for toddlers is very important to us all!!
At my house my husband and I have an agreed upon evacuation route from our bedroom, so that we can get to W as soon as possible in case of a fire. It is recommended that you have 2 evacuation routes from each room in your house!! Some of these will be easy as a room might be close to an exit but others you will need to definately think about the routes you are planning and factor in your child might not be in the same room as you when the fire starts. I think the best way to discuss your evacuation routes with a toddler is to draw an easy floor plan of your home then draw the evacuation routes in a dashed line. Have your toddler trace the line with a fun crayon. Then crawl through your home with your toddler talking about how to evacuate the house incase there is a fire from each room. I say crawl because they need to know that standing while evacuating a smoky home is not safe. If they crawl they are more likely to get out of the house with less smoke inhalation. So have them pretend that there is smoke above them and that they need to crawl under it. Also teach them that they should not open a door until they have felt that door first. Pretend that some doors are hot hot hot because the fire is behind it so they will have to go back and find the alternate evacuation route instead. Practicing these skills could save lives!!
Have an outside meeting spot that is a safe distance from your home. When I was little our evacuation safety spot was at the edge of our 1.5 acre property next to a shed. This is where the family will meet if there is ever a house fire. Tell your toddlers where to go and make sure they know to never re-enter the burning house. It is also a good idea to make your neighbors aware of your evacuation safety spot so they will know where to immediately look for you in the event of your house being on fire. They will more than likely be the first ones on scene.
Next you should explain what you should do when you hear the smoke alarm go off. The U.S. Fire Administration states that “Sleeping children typically do not respond effectively to a smoke alarm”. This seems logical but is definitely not something that I have considered. So I would suggest sounding the alarm during your practice crawl through evacuation of the fire. This way your toddler will associate the sound of the fire alarm to the thought process of get out of the house.
You should keep your child’s and everyone’s bedroom doors closed at night. This is something that most of us probably do not do, we keep them open so that our toddlers can waddle into our rooms or so we can easily hear them at night. The bedroom door will be used as a temporary barrier for the smoke and inhalation of the smoke, which may give the fire fighters more time to get your child out of the burning house safely.
One of the main things that we should do is talk to our toddlers about firemen. We need to explain to them what they look like during a fire and let them know that they are there to rescue them and take them to their mommy and daddy. I can only imagine how scary they could look to a little one with the background of huge flames or dark smoke. Take your toddler to a fire station so they can see a real fireman up close and understand that they will come to rescue them and take them back to mommy and daddy.
I like the motto of the U.S. Fire Administration – Prepare. Practice. Prevent the Unthinkable. I hope you will be able to take some of this information and prepare your family.
Do you have any fire safety tips that you use to educate your toddler, if so please share them with us.
-Jess
Mama’s Prepared…Kinda!!
Categories: Preparedness Post |
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