Expect the Unexpected :: Prepare for the Worst

0

plan for worstAs a mom of two young children that lives a town over from where the unthinkable happened in Sandy Hook, every news report of a school shooting or tragedy hits home hard and brings tears to my eyes.

I think of my innocent children and how they have no idea how scary the world can be.

Yesterday my daughter’s preschool teachers talked to their 4 and 5-year old students about what to do if someone came into the school with a gun. That is terrifying. My 4-year old listened and cited back to me what her teachers said. I know she doesn’t really fully understand what could happen. However, I’m assured that at least she has been prepared the best she could be.

We will keep talking about it, just like we keep talking about strangers and fires.

Although it is terrifying that this conversation even had to happen with a 4-year old, it is a reality. I am overcome with love for her teachers for tackling the subject so that they are prepared. They are telling them that they would do their best to make sure that everyone went home safe. 

Aside from the politics and gun control debates, we all have to realize that we need to be prepared. As scary as it is, this is the world that we live in. We live in a culture where we are taught to expect the unexpected.

We have homeowner’s insurance in case anything unexpected happens to our house. We have smoke detectors, fire drills, and firemen to protect us if a fire starts. We have airbags, seat belts, and car seats in our car to protect us if a crash happens. We have locks on our doors and alarm systems installed to protect us from intruders. We tell our kids not to talk to strangers if anyone tries to take them away from us. As parents, we write wills, so our children will be taken care of if anything happens to us.

Nobody hopes that something bad will happen, but we have to expect the unexpected to protect ourselves. We have to protect ourselves and our children even if what could happen is out of our worst nightmares. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that our children should be prepared for the worst to happen too. 

We need to keep the discussion going to protect ourselves. We need to educate our children about what to do in an emergency when we are not there, including fires and school shootings. We hope it never happens, but the fact is that we don’t know. We don’t have a crystal ball, and human beings are unpredictable and cannot be controlled. Because of this, we have to do our best to protect ourselves and our children.

If we knew nothing bad would ever happen, we could save a lot of money and cancel our auto, homeowners, health, and life insurance policies. We could unhook our smoke detectors and take the car seats out of our cars. But we know bad things will happen, so we have safety measures in place in case our nightmares ever come true.

So what can we do to prepare?

Have open discussions with your kids about proper gun use, mental health, and what to do if something happened at school. Have conversations with your school administrators about their emergency plans, get involved in improving their procedures, staff training, or necessary equipment.  If you own guns, keep them locked up. Teach your children that guns are not toys and that they should be respected. Take away the curiosity and the glorification.

If you see something, say something, without hesitation. Ignoring an issue is not going to make it go away.

We {myself included} want to keep our kids in a bubble, safe at home when we hear about scary events on the news. But we can’t – we have to keep living our lives. We can’t shelter them from the real world. If you don’t have a smoke detector in your house or practice fire drills, it’s not going to prevent a fire from starting. Bad will inherently happen. That doesn’t mean we have to live in fear.

Here are some resources that can help you be aware and prepared:

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here