9 Home Safety Life Skills to Teach Kids

Hey guys, okay. So next up in my life skills series is home safety. So I have a bunch of just really simple home safety essentials that will be really good to teach your kids and You can do it in a way that won't freak them out all very basic But really really important. Okay. The first one is to assemble a first aid kit So we actually have a central location had already had one where you know They're band-aids and antiseptic and tea tree oil and what-have-you but then my daughter Violet did a first aid unit in Girl Scouts and she like Went through and refreshed our supplies and made like a little box an official box for the first aid kit sign on it It was so awesome. So I'll actually link up In the recap post for this video Or you can search Boston mamas calm and just search life skills But there's a great post from REI that I have linked up in that blog post Which I like because instead of being this huge exhausting list it breaks it into like first aid basics, which is what our kit includes and then like leveling up different other buckets of first aid supplies, so Definitely check out that post if you're not sure what to include in your kit Second lock the windows and doors. It is like crazy to me how much I hear people complain or just like report Theft whether it's home or auto and then it turns out like the doors were unlocked So just get into a rhythm in a routine What we do is at the end of the night once everybody is home for the night We just do a walk around as we're snapping off lights and we check all the doors and windows to make sure everything is locked up Okay, third Stow an emergency house key. So like when I was a kid in the 70s We literally hid a key under the mat. Don't do that So, you know whether you've got like a little lockbox or a fake rock or whatever Land on the location of your emergency kit key with your kids teach them where it is and tell them not to tell other people Where it is okay for Check stove burners. So I have to admit I'm a little OCD about this now because a little while back I was walking through the kitchen and smelled gas and it turned out that There was like a stove burner just like slightly on We freaked out. So whoever is old enough and capable to use the kitchen Teach and actually Violet doesn't use the stove my eight-year-old But we've taught her like all those knobs should be like in this position to be off Teach everybody about how important it is that those stove burners be off Okay five related Teach your kids where the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in your house are and like what the chirping means Like how to go look for one if a battery needs to be replaced teach them how to replace the batteries those are actually kind of like Fun projects for kids my kids love like either changing batteries or using the little tester kit to like test whether the batteries still have charge Okay, six use a fire extinguisher Identify a central location for it test it out with your kids really really simple now seven is to learn key phone numbers and it is crazy how much because of like Program phone numbers and whatever like how few numbers I actually know by heart but the one thing that we have made sure our kids know is My husband and my phone numbers and then we've taught them about 9-1-1, which is obviously just for emergency But teach them those key phone numbers Okay, and then the last were kind of neighborhood oriented but number eight is to establish a family meeting spot So like when your kids do fire drills at school, there's like a designated spot where the class goes That's away from the building but near the building do the same thing with Your home and identify a nearby spot that is like not right next to your house. Say if it's Fire God forbid or something so that you know where to meet up in the event of an emergency and Then finally this might at first feel a little bit like what this is a home safety tip But my last recommendation is to meet your neighbors so we have lived in a variety of places and it's kind of amazing to me how Until our current home like the neighbors barely knew each other you only met each other when you were all shoveling in the winter and it was just like There wasn't any sense of community now. We're in a neighborhood where Everybody pretty much knows each other and you know We know everybody in all the houses around us and it builds a safer community Like I have no doubt and we have we've watched out for each other You know one time we reported something suspicious when we saw it happening because we were tuned into our neighbor and we cared about that person so, you know meet your neighbors and actually Kind of a twofer is that you know If you it's really important to loop your kids into that and have them know who's who are the neighbors around you Not only for their safety, they'll have other people looking out for them They'll be they'll know who other people are and it'll help them You know give them a little practice with social skills with other human beings. So Those are my nine recommendations for really simple home safety tips You can teach your kids if you want the sort of written recap including that REI first aid link that I mentioned go to Boston moms calm and just search life skills and you will find a whole slew of life skills Actually, you could do home safety life skills and you'll find it. So until next time and let me know if you Tackle one of these things and how it goes. I'd love to hear it