All children need to know about fire safety. There are several aspects of fire safety that can save your child’s life. Teaching your children about fire safety is as important as teaching them not to walk into traffic. Take the time to teach your children everything they need to know in order to stay unharmed and alive in case they are caught in a building that is on fire.
Teaching your children about fire safety:
Stop, Drop and Roll- This is one of the first things that children learn about fire safety. It is easy to teach them this technique because they have fun practicing it. The idea is that if a person catches on fire, they have to have good instincts. The natural instinct is to run to try to put the fire out. That only makes the fire much worse. The instinct has to change through training. Teach your child that if he/she catches on fire, to put out the fire, they have to stand still, drop to the ground and roll around. The most important thing for them to know is that wind or air will make the fire worse than it already is. You have to smother the fire in order to put it out.
Fire Drills- It is important for the family to practice an escape route from the home. Children need to be taught how to get out of a burning house. Where at all possible, make sure there are two escape routes in case one route is blocked by fire. The whole family needs to be aware of how to escape. Practicing with fire drills is the only effective way to teach children about this important fire safety issue.
Hot Doors- Teach your children how to feel the door to see if it is hot before they open it. This one small technique can save their lives. They need to understand if the door is hot that the fire is too close by for them to open the door. Opening the door will likely create a vacuum of air that will make the fire much more out of control than it already is. Children should be aware of touching the closed door. If the door is hot, do not open it. Walk towards the window so that emergency worker’s can easily find them.
Never Hide- You must, of all other things, teach your children to never hide under beds, closets or anywhere else. Fire is a very scary prospect for anyone. Children have the instinct to hide thinking they will be safer from the fire. The only thing this does is put them in more danger. Emergency workers will not be able to easily find a child that is hiding when there is a fire. Smoke can fill a room very quickly. That isn’t only dangerous for the lungs, but the firefighters and everyone else will not be able to see very far ahead of themselves. Children need to be taught to stay in as clear a view as they possibly can so firefighters can easily find them and rescue them from the fire.
Stay Low- Smoke floats to the top of the room. The lower you are, the better chance you have of avoiding smoke inhalation. Teach your children to get on their hands and knees to get away from the smoke. Teach the children to crawl to the door of window in order to get out of the room.
Avoiding Fire Situations- There are some things that children are often likely to do that can actually cause a fire to occur. Teach your children never to play with lighters. It doesn’t matter if is a child proof lighter or not, children easily figure things out. Small children should never use the oven or stove when their parents aren’t supervising and this includes the microwave.
These are the most important things to teach your children about fire safety. Children will be much more likely to survive a fire if they know how to take care of themselves without an adult around to tell them what to do. Teach your children about fire safety so you never have to worry about whether or not they can handle themselves in an emergency situation.
