Life can throw you curveballs when you least expect them. As a father, preparing for the unexpected is essential to protecting your family. Whether it’s a sudden storm, an accidental fire or a health emergency, having a plan to cope with a crisis can make all the difference. Taking extra precautions now can help you gain confidence in keeping your loved ones safe, no matter the unforeseen circumstance.
Understand Potential Crises
Emergencies can take many forms, and understanding what you and your kids could face without notice is a primary step toward being prepared. Consider the chances of natural disasters, such as storms, floods or wildfires, and health emergencies, like unanticipated illness or injury. These can catch you off guard, requiring immediate quick thinking.
Financial setbacks, such as losing a job or having to pay for something urgently, can stress out your household and make meeting everyday needs tougher. Even power outages or community emergencies can create apprehension.
Formulate an Action Plan
Understanding where the highest chances of unexpected crises lie means you’re already better off than you were. The trick is to take your newfound knowledge and create an action plan to combat a crisis’s impact if it does happen. Doing so means putting functional steps in place so action replaces panic in any of these situations. You can predict some situations, but never all of them, so planning against the most likely risks to your family and environment will give you more peace of mind.
Take your list of crises and ask yourself relevant questions for each. What community disaster warnings are in place? Do you have a list of emergency contacts handy? When you’ve noted your answers, sit with your children and discuss how to address things that need your attention.
Hold a Family Meeting
Talk about potential crises and reassure your kids that working together to find solutions will make dealing with problems much easier. You’ll already have thought of many answers to your questions. However, it’s always better to have outside input from other loved ones, as feedback and brainstorming may reveal something you’ve missed. For example, one of your children might mention that a bedroom window leaks when it rains — something you didn’t know. If flooding is on your list of crises, you’ll make a note to seal and caulk your windows in case of high floodwaters. This is a good idea, since just 1 inch of water can lead to over $25,000 in damage.
Once you’ve reviewed all your points with your kids and added any extras they’ve suggested, you can discuss each member’s roles if unexpected emergencies arise. Working calmly as a team in a crisis can increase everyone’s sense of safety and help you connect.
Also, talk about what might happen if your family separates during a natural disaster. Discuss meeting points outside your neighborhood and city in case of a flood, wildfire or earthquake. Formulate a family and pet evacuation and communication plan in case of a crisis. If you have kids away at college or in the military, also update them on your plans.
Holding a family meeting fulfills your role and responsibility as a dad while growing your family’s connection and sense of belonging.
Use Your Meeting to Prepare
After your meeting, you’ll have the buy-in from your children. With their input, put together a disaster supply kit — emergency food, water, bedding, flashlights, copies of essential documentation, medication, a comprehensive first-aid kit and toiletries. You can add some basic tools, a can opener, maps, batteries, duct tape and anything else you think will help during a crisis. Keep these supplies somewhere easily accessible.
Plan what you’ll do in specific situations. For natural disasters, find the safest places in your home for each type of emergency and a route for evacuation. Show everybody how to shut off the water, gas or electricity, and train your kids to use a fire extinguisher safely. Make sure you have a list of emergency numbers for the police and fire departments, neighbors, friends and family living elsewhere. Ensure everybody knows where it is.
Practice Your Plan
Practice your shelter and evacuation plans at least every six months, and refresh your kids on what to do in a medical emergency. Check and update your disaster supply kit often, replacing its water and food supplies every six months. Add any essential new contact information to your emergency numbers whenever you receive new ones.
Remember to be a calming and relaxed influence when you run through your set plans. Even the thought of an unexpected crisis can be traumatic for children, so consider their feelings and emotions throughout the process. Be the dad you are and not a prophet of impending doom.
On the point of trauma, remember that even the best-laid plans cannot guarantee avoiding an unexpected crisis. If one happens, the after-effects remain even when results turn out as favorably as you hope. Natural disasters, accidents and other life-changing events result in varying levels of trauma, so creating stability for your loved ones is your fatherly responsibility. Prioritize their emotional and physical health in these situations, while growing a network to offer support and recovery solutions.
Unexpected Crises Are Unavoidable — Preparedness Is Key
As much as you want to keep your family safe and secure, accidents and disasters can always happen. Preparing your children as best you can for the most probable emergencies means your chances of outlasting them with as little trauma as possible are much better. You know you will — it’s what dads do.
Jack Shaw is the senior editor at Modded and a single father with a special interest in navigating the ins and outs of being a parent. As parents, the work we put in isn’t always recognized, but it’s absolutely essential to the health and well-being of our children. You can find more of Jack’s work in publications like Tiny Buddha, Parent.com, The Company of Dads and more.
