Recently I was talking with a friend who is a scout master. They [the scouts] had been planning a trip to a local airport to experience helicopters. Sounds like real fun to me ;]. However at the last minute the flight crew called to cancel the outing due to the weather, it being below zero F and therefore unsafe to fly. Yes had it been a combat mission, they would fly it, but this wasn’t.
The point being that the leaders had to contact all the parents to cancel the outing. Of course the parents were not home as they had just dropped the kids off at the meeting place. NONE of the boys knew their parent’s cell phone numbers and the leaders only had the home phone numbers. So there was no way to contact the parents to come back early to get the kids. One of the kids told the leader that she could call the parents if she had an iphone…. No concept that regardless of type of phone that you still had to know the person’s phone number. :[ – this is something that every family should already have taught their kids years ago.
The discussion went that soon the troop would be having a ‘class’ assignment for the kids to learn the parents phone numbers. I chimed in with the information that when our kids were younger we had made up dog tags with their names and our contact information on them and we required our kids to wear the tags at all times in case something should happen that we got separated or if they were at school and got hurt. To set an example, I still wear my dog tags, the ones the military issued me along with the current ones with family & my main doctor’s numbers. My medical conditions are also listed.
This leads into this post- each and every one of us, including the children should have a hard copy list of the family’s contact information on them at all times when away from home. Most of us, me included, have phone numbers saved in our phones. What if we are out and about and something happens with our phones? For instance if your phone[s] are lost or stolen, if they power down and we don’t have the charger with us or what have you.
Your Family Disaster Contact Plan
Fill in the pertinent information regarding your household disaster contact plan in the space below or on another sheet of paper.
Once you have completed this form, make photocopies and supply one to each member of your family or team and to your out of area contact person. –Attach a current family / team picture to the back of this and laminate it. This is so that if someone is missing you can point to their picture when you are asking around for them.
In the event of an emergency in our home, we will meet at __________________ [location close by your home.]
In the event of an emergency and we are unable to return home, we will meet at: _________________________Location, _________________________ Address _________________ telephone number.
Emergency contact for our family is:
Name________________________ Address______________________
Daytime phone number _________
Evening phone number _________
Cell phone number[s] ___________
E-mail address ________________
Our web group site is ___________________________ it is suggested that ALL members of the family / team either be made ‘moderators” or that the site not be moderated at all.
Once you have the information filled in you can laminate it so it will be weather proof and then carry it in your wallet, purse or backpack. You could also get a pet id tag with the most important information on it and wear it as a necklace, bracelet or on your key chain. It may be wise to carry both in case you or the kids get hurt and cannot talk.
What are your thoughts on this [or any other] topic?