How to Teach a Child Fire Safety
In the year 2010 alone, 1,988 children from birth through age 14 suffered fire-related injuries, according to U.S. Fire Administration. Before you begin worrying that your child could become one of these statistics, teach her the facts about fire safety. Help to prevent the likelihood that your child will start a fire or not know what to do in the event of a fire-related emergency by giving her the information she needs to keep herself safe and maximize her chances in the event of the unthinkable.
Instructions
Discuss fires and fire safety with your child in a calm, rational manner. Avoid using an alarmist tone or making your child fearful all of the time. Provide your child with basic preventative information such as that he should never touch or play with matches or that the stove is always off limits. Use the language that she'll understand, such as simple wording for a kindergarten-aged child or more complex sentences for your fifth grader. Add in information on how to know if there's a fire in the house -- such as listening for the smoke detector to beep or smelling smoke. Develop a fire escape plan together. Draw a map of the house, noting each person's rooms and the exits. Create viable escape routes, such as exiting from the front door, as well as secondary routes, such as the first floor family room window. Mark the escape routes clearly on the plan. Come up with a meeting place that is outside of the house, such as across the street in front of the neighbor's porch. Instruct your child to never open a door that is hot to the touch, using a secondary escape route if possible. Practice the escape plan with your child, pretending that there is a real fire in the house. Practice how to stop, drop and roll in the event that your child's clothes catch on fire.
