As I mentioned in an earlier post, the Ad Council has a FANTASTIC web site that provides you with information on how to be prepared in case of emergencies. An emergency could be a flood, fire, blizzard, hurricane, ice storms or many other natural and man made disasters. Their site is called Ready America.

I learned a lot of valuable information from their site. Did you know that it’s best to have an out-of-town contact in case of emergencies? I never knew that. It does make perfect sense.

All family members should know the number by heart and carry coins or a pre-paid phone card in order to make a phone call in case of an emergency. That really gave me food for thought. I used to keep quarters in my kid’s backpacks in case they needed to call home from school. I haven’t put quarters in their backpacks in the past couple of years. I think it’s a great idea to practice with my kids and make sure they know how to use a pay phone and teach them their grandfather’s phone number just in case.

You can’t rely on cell phones. If a tower goes down you won’t have a signal to place a call. You would have to rely on “land lines” (non-cell phones). Something so simple can keep our family safe and together during and emergency.

Have you thought about these things? Do your children know what numbers to call in case of an emergency?

Photo by lemsipmatt