Set Your Clocks and Check Your Stocks!

Happy Halloween! I know the Autumn weather has been here for at least a month and we have all been waiting to set our clocks back, but it is finally time to do just that.

Tonight before you go to bed remember to set your clocks back an hour (Fall back, Spring forward) and tomorrow would be a great day to check your stocks in your family's emergency preparedness kit (or start one) - including changing the batteries in your fire alarms, and reviewing your plans for what to do in the case of a natural disaster.

The Get Ready Campaign from the American Public Health Association has a great website to help your family be prepared for emergencies. It includes lists of what and how much food and water you should have, suggested emergency supplies, ideas for storing documents you might need in an emergency, and even tips for evacuation and taking care of your pets. The are instructions for preparing an emergency plan, recipes, and even a crossword puzzle, word scramble and word search for kids.

Teens in the family can be particularly helpful in developing an emergency plan, creating little emergency cards for younger members of the family to keep in backpacks and lockers, or helping to pack, store, and replace emergency supplies each year. Do not leave them out of the planning, as in a few short years, they will have to start worrying about this at college and/or setting a good example for their own families.

Photo credit: kainet

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