Teaching your kids about fire safety and prevention is crucial for keeping them safe, but can also be a bit tricky. After all, you want to emphasize the seriousness of fire prevention, but you don’t want to completely scare them. Here are a few tips for teaching kids about fire safety in an age-appropriate way:
Create a Fire Escape Plan
Your whole family should be on the same page about what to do if the smoke alarm goes off or there’s a fire. Discuss the best places to exit from and give each family member a designated role. For example, your role may be to wake up any young children and carry them outside. An older child’s role may be to make their way outside as quickly as possible and meet at an agreed upon meeting place like a neighbor’s yard. Once you have a plan in place, do a few practice runs.
Teach a Healthy Respect of Fire
Some children are naturally curious about fire, so it’s important to emphasize from an early age that fire is a serious matter. Set rules about how far away kids need to stay from open flames, including candles and campfires. Lock up lighters and matches out of the reach of kids.
Visit Your Local Fire Department
A fun and educational way to teach your kids about fire safety is to plan a visit to your local fire department. With a little advance notice, fire departments are happy to show kids around, let them explore a fire truck and the station, and teach them some basic facts about fire safety.
At ProTec our monitored fire alarm systems are fully integrated with our home security systems. We have been serving the home security needs of Greenville, Greer, Spartanburg, and the Upstate since 1994 and we ready to help you in choosing the right security systems for your home.
Give us a call today to learn how we can help keep your home and family safe.