When my son was in school (a few years older than preschool aged), both my husband and I worked. No worries, our son was in after school child care.
Some of you may have older children in this age bracket. Some of you may even have children who are responsible for young siblings.
What do you do when these children start to age out of child care? Some children can be nervous to be home alone (even though they are excited at this new responsibility).
When our son was at the age where he could come home and be alone, he was excited and scared. He was a worrier (I think he gets that from me ), so to help elevate his stress and worry, we created an Emergency Plan Book.
This book contained pictures of each of us (my husband and myself) and a detailed description of each. We had pictures of our vehicles and all the important information (like vehicle colour, make and model. License plate number).
We included a detailed description of how to use the answering machine (this is when landlines were prevalent. You will need to discuss with your children (if they don’t have a phone) what to do).
Then we wrote detailed instructions of what to do if Adam nor I came home. Things like:
Who to call, at what time, (because maybe we were running late).
What to do if you couldn’t get anyone on the phone.
Who could see (and know about), this Emergency Book
We even discussed with neighbours (who were trusted friends of the family), an emergency plan for Parker, if he should suddenly show up at their door.
You may want to include pages like what to do incase of fire. Foods they can eat for snack. And reminders, like if they can answer the door. You can include an evacuation route. Meeting place, … Don’t be limited to what is written here. Think: What scares my child? Maybe include what to do if the power goes out, … .
Then practice. Not just once. Not twice. Make it engrained. This way they don’t freeze and forget. They will KNOW and take action. Don’t make practicing scary; let them know and give nudges and hints, if they need it, along the way.
Even younger children, at the preschool age, can be taught some of the things listed above.
You might think, i don’t want to stress my child out. I understand that. But believe me, our children do worry about these little things. Knowing there is a plan - helps.
We put all this information in an old red duotang, and put it in a specific spot.
While creating this Emergency Plan Book, we discussed everything with our son, each step of the way. We even taught him how to use the fire extinguisher. How, and WHEN, to dial 9-1-1. This gave our son some peace of mind when he was home alone.
Parental Note: This Emergency Plan Book does need to be updated periodically with new pictures and as information changes.
Hope this helps!
See you around!
