Maia's preschool room has week-long themes that structure their learning and exploring. One week last fall it was "Emergencies." Maia learned about fire safety, and got to meet a fire fighter and check out the truck a little... until he was called away to a fire. They know a lot about ambulances, as they often see the-grandmas-and-the-grandpas utilizing them for medical reasons and mobility transport.
But also importantly, was learning about 911. Many a conversation was had, in the dark at bedtime, about fires and emergencies and dialing 911. Often the same questions over and over, and so hopefully the repetition has been helpful. She had been told that if she was to come out of her room after nap and see her mommy or daddy on the floor with blood coming out of their head, she would need to call 911. (And we'll hope that never happens!) So we talked about how to dial the phone.
Maia asked a LOT about fires. She knew "Stop, Drop and Roll" and she knows from the fairly frequent fire drills at school that she needs to get out of the building in case of a fire... but how does she get out of our house? This is a trickier thing when trying to teach a 3 year old, knowing she cannot open her windows. So we've talked a lot about what to do if the smoke alarm goes off at night. To feel the door, not the handle. If the door is hot, she needs to get down to the floor and crawl to get the better air. She can put a blanket by the door to keep the smoke out. She needs to knock on the window to let fire fighters know she is in there. Fire fighters are good people. Grandpa was a fire fighter! If fire fighters come in to her room, she is not to hide, but to yell so they can hear her. And while I supplement what she has learned with these other tools I hope she'll never have to use... I have a mini panic attack inside, as all mothers do, and some difficult dreams while I process what I would do. But I'm so glad we're talking about them now.
