It’s Always A Good Time For Fire Safety

Disclaimer: I was not compensated for this post.

Parenting is a big job and there are lots of requirements and responsibilities one must undertake to ensure that your children have the tools they need to be productive, responsible and successful members of society. Being the parents of three little boys certainly keeps my husband and I extremely busy; we try to make sure that we cover all the necessities as well as indulge in some recreation. Last week, we had a close brush with what could have been a pretty dangerous emergency situation. My oldest son, 6 years old, decided to attempt to roast marshmallows on our gas stove which resulted in a fire in our garbage can. Thanks to my mothers’ intuition, I was able to get to the kitchen, remain calm and put out the fire which was starting to spread. Thank goodness the only aftermath of the incident is a charred garbage can, a melted plastic spoon & and a flustered 6 year old.

Fire safety is a topic that we have briefly touched upon in conversation with our children: but we obviously haven’t discussed it in depth with them. They know the generic prompt: call 911 in an emergency situation. My boys are often in and out if the kitchen alone to get snacks, pour themselves juice, throw away trash or to put dishes in the sink to be washed. The kitchen has never been off limits for them; they even come and go while I am actively cooking or baking. Sometimes we even cook/bake together but I always supervise and monitor everything they do when we are cooking together.

This recent incident has opened my eyes and is forcing us to address this super important topic with the boys. Talking about the importance of not playing with fire, using the stove without an adult and overall fire safety is simply not enough. My first instinct was to bombard the boys with gruesome pictures of unfortunate burn victims but instead I searched the WEB for websites, apps, downloads and even places to visit to enforce the importance of fire safety , fire prevention as well as potential outcomes of fires. I found lots of information; some useful, some not. We have opened up a discussion with the boys, navigated the websites and are planning a visit to our neighborhood fire station. My top 3 resources are:

1. Here in New York we have the FDNY Fire Zone where there is a hands-on fire safety exhibit that we are planning to visit. Plus the website is filled with tons of resources. There is also the New York City Fire Museum which houses a collection of preserved history and cultural heritage of the fire service of New York and to provide fire prevention and safety education to the public, especially children.

2. Fire Safety Dogs website where Tango, Molly & Siren offer information about programs, safety tip & coloring pages.

3. Dad of Divas has a great post: 5 Things To Prepare Your Family For A House Fire fire safety & preparing a family escape plan.

-SD