Safety First

We had quite the family home evening tonight . You know, the kind that you laugh at, scratch your head in bewilderment and wonder if the kids really got anything out of it in the first place. Hallee asked if we could talk about our family emergency plan so I turned it over to Troy to lead the discussion. We quickly discovered that Hope had a LOT to say about the topics. All of them. Most of her thoughts were somewhat off base but deep to say the least.

First Topic - FIRE
Troy quickly gave the basics. Hallee chimed in with her info. Then Hope took over. "Ya, and when you get to the door, you don't want to open it, cause you don't have gloves. So you just need to yell outside the door, "Hey put on some gloves so you can open the door and then the guys will put on gloves and let you out." Hmmm.....

Next we discussed the whole stop-drop-and-roll thing. Hope had a different idea...."OR", she says, "You can just wait for someone to turn on their sprinklers and wash you off." Maybe not.

Next Topic - STRANGER DANGER
Next we went over possible scenarios of a stranger trying to get them to come with them. We gave out the usual enticements. Things like, "what if they ask you to help them find someone/something." Hallee immediately said you should never do it and Hope agreed. But then we added candy to the equation. Hope got a huge smile just thinking about it. Eeeekkk. Would it really be that easy?

WHAT IF YOU GET LOST IN A PUBLIC PLACE?
Hallee said to find a mom with kids or go to the counter. We said she was absolutely correct. Hope said, "Ya, cause people without kids are bad and they might take you!" Ok, we had some explaining to do. We tried to explain that a mom with kids was simply a safer choice which obviously cleared it right up for her. "Ya. And you wouldn't want to go live with "them" (meaning people without kids). So apparently you find a mom in the store with kids because they would be fun to live with since you have "lost" your mom?

EARTHQUAKE SAFTEY
Troy tried to show them what an earthquake might feel like and that things would probably fall off the walls and break. Then he turned to me to make sure I knew where the water and gas valves were located. I had no clue. He explains where the gas valve is located. Hope was even more helpful. "Or you could just go to the gas station mom."

We covered other topics like what do you do if you find a gun at school, or a friend wants to show you their dads gun, matches and other fire hazards and so forth. Honestly, Hope had a "rationale" answer to everything. She said them with such conviction that I'm sure she could get almost anyone to believe them. At first Troy and I did our best not to burst out laughing and give her an alternative solution but she seemed happy with her own solution. By the end we were both exhausted and wondered if anybody had gotten ANYTHING out of our little safety talk. Whew. Glad that talk is over. And after the way this one went I can't WAIT to see how the birds and the bees talk is gonna go. Now THAT should be fun.