Safety Lessons
For the past three years, our life as been atypical. We've lived in a residence hall with ultra-sensitive smoke detectors and a fire alarm wired right to the fire department. We even have sprinklers. We are surrounded by a community of students. Even if we don't know them personally, they know us. So our walks are full of conversations with strangers.
As we think about transitioning into a "normal" living situation in the next year or two, we've begun to have conversations about safety. We talked about safe ways to get out of the house in the event of a fire (and stressed that we never, ever hide!). We coached them through calling 9-1-1, the situations that would call for it, and the information they would need to give. We talked about ways to put out a kitchen fire. Today we talked about strangers.
It began with a conversation about what to do if they got lost. I told them they should sit down where they are and not get up for any reason. I will be looking for them, and I will find them in the last place I saw them. Which, of course, brought up the issue of strangers. I told them that if they were ever away from us and someone tried to pick them up or lead them away, they should scream--louder than they've ever screamed-- "FIRE!"
"But why FIRE, Mommy?"
"Because it gets people's attention. You yell for all you're worth and someone will hear you. You scream and scream and scream. This is the only time I'll tell you you can you kick and hit and bite and do whatever you can. You get away from them. If someone you don't know picks you up, you do all of that."
I barely got through saying it before my eyes welled up. Even as I type, I have tears streaming down my face. Tears of fear for the many, many dangers that could threaten my children. Tears of grief because the world in which we live makes it necessary for me to have this conversation with my children. Tears because there are children, right here in my own town, who have called for help and received none. It breaks my heart like nothing else.
I think the seeds have been planted. Thomas is busy playing out all the different scenarios of how he'll punch and hit a bad guy over the head with a chair and grab my sewing scissors to "scissor" him and make sure that he can't take him to his castle. I tried to emphasize that real bad guys don't look like the bad guys in the movies. And they don't live in castles. I hope they've at least begun to understand....
To end on a lighter note, the day after we taught them about fire safety, I was cooking bacon on the stove. I looked over to see flames shooting out from under the pan. Micah was in the lobby with the kids. Henry had just come in to tell me something. I told him as calmly as I could to go and get Micah. Our fire system, like I said, is ultra-sensitive. I wanted him to help me open windows before we triggered an alarm. Henry went running to the lobby, "Daddy! Daddy, come quick! The kitchen's on fire!"
Drama aside, nothing cements a life lesson like seeing it in person the very next day. I got the fire put out with a kitchen towel (although Henry reminded me that baking soda might have worked) and we didn't trigger an alarm. What an exciting life we live around here!
As we think about transitioning into a "normal" living situation in the next year or two, we've begun to have conversations about safety. We talked about safe ways to get out of the house in the event of a fire (and stressed that we never, ever hide!). We coached them through calling 9-1-1, the situations that would call for it, and the information they would need to give. We talked about ways to put out a kitchen fire. Today we talked about strangers.
It began with a conversation about what to do if they got lost. I told them they should sit down where they are and not get up for any reason. I will be looking for them, and I will find them in the last place I saw them. Which, of course, brought up the issue of strangers. I told them that if they were ever away from us and someone tried to pick them up or lead them away, they should scream--louder than they've ever screamed-- "FIRE!"
"But why FIRE, Mommy?"
"Because it gets people's attention. You yell for all you're worth and someone will hear you. You scream and scream and scream. This is the only time I'll tell you you can you kick and hit and bite and do whatever you can. You get away from them. If someone you don't know picks you up, you do all of that."
I barely got through saying it before my eyes welled up. Even as I type, I have tears streaming down my face. Tears of fear for the many, many dangers that could threaten my children. Tears of grief because the world in which we live makes it necessary for me to have this conversation with my children. Tears because there are children, right here in my own town, who have called for help and received none. It breaks my heart like nothing else.
I think the seeds have been planted. Thomas is busy playing out all the different scenarios of how he'll punch and hit a bad guy over the head with a chair and grab my sewing scissors to "scissor" him and make sure that he can't take him to his castle. I tried to emphasize that real bad guys don't look like the bad guys in the movies. And they don't live in castles. I hope they've at least begun to understand....
To end on a lighter note, the day after we taught them about fire safety, I was cooking bacon on the stove. I looked over to see flames shooting out from under the pan. Micah was in the lobby with the kids. Henry had just come in to tell me something. I told him as calmly as I could to go and get Micah. Our fire system, like I said, is ultra-sensitive. I wanted him to help me open windows before we triggered an alarm. Henry went running to the lobby, "Daddy! Daddy, come quick! The kitchen's on fire!"
Drama aside, nothing cements a life lesson like seeing it in person the very next day. I got the fire put out with a kitchen towel (although Henry reminded me that baking soda might have worked) and we didn't trigger an alarm. What an exciting life we live around here!
