This post is sponsored by the National Fire Protection Association
Know what I’ve realized as my kids get older? The baby days were a breeze.
Oh yes, I said it.
A BREEZE.
Give me permanent exhaustion and sore nipples over kids’ soccer concussions and free-will any day. I much prefer to keep my children in a bubble and dictate their every move. I would like to choose their friends (based solely on their parents, of course), and oversee play-dates until they’re 30-years-old. I’d also appreciate the option of shielding their eyes and covering their ears when something inappropriate unfolds in their presence, and I’d like parental controls at school so I have the ability to keep them from certain experiences until they’re emotionally ready.
DON’T YOU JUDGE ME.
I’m being totally unreasonable, I know this. You and me? We’re not in control. Life is scary, man, and sometimes it’s easier to live in my ear-muffed bubble than to have the hard talks with my kids. A few years ago, we lost a neighbor in a house fire and that conversation wasn’t fun. But it was necessary. And that’s the thing about a lot of this parenting stuff: it’s hard yet necessary.
So since this week (October 8-14) is Fire Prevention Month & Fire Prevention Week, I’ll be snagging some talking points from The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), and we’ll be having one of those hard yet necessary talks at the dinner table. The one that reminds my 8, 6, and 3-year-old’s fire doesn’t just roast marshmallows.
I’m incredibly grateful for the NFPA because I tend to ramble when discussing uncomfortable topics. So yeah, the birds and bees should be faaaaaaantastic in a few years.
Anyway, the NFPA has great materials for parents and educators to help us help our kiddos. Their site:
- Makes learning engaging and memorable for children
- Have materials geared towards preschool through primary elementary school aged kids
- Launched Sparky’s Fun House, a new kids’ app for 2017 Fire Prevention Week. Kids have to get Sparky the Fire Dog, the NFPA’s offical mascot, out of the Fun House when the fire alarm goes off. It’s a game to them, but they’re also working on math and other core concept skills while learning about fire safety. I love hidden gems like that.
Sparky makes this scary topic more accessible for little ones. He even has a whole site dedicated to fire safety education, Sparky’s School House. My girls will love the coloring pages and music videos, and my son will hang on every detail of historical The Great Chicago Fire. There are a lot of different resources and approaches to explaining the importance of fire safety. There’s also Sparky.org, the NFPA’s site created for kids It’s engaging and meets each kiddo on their level through activities, printables videos and web-based games, which is great because there are so many different kinds of learners.
So do it, you guys. Talk about the hard stuff because it’s necessary. If you make their favorite dinner (AKA: order pizza) and have their tablets nearby with Sparky loaded and ready to go, it’ll make the topic more approachable for the little ones. Good luck!
Your two-cents here: