Teach your children well…

We need to teach our children fire safety responsibility.  Nobody else is going to do it for us.  The schools our children attend?  Their teachers and administrators are already overwhelmed with mandated programs and underfunded for the programs they must deliver.  Your local fire department?  Nope.  The best departments—and I worked for one of the best—only devote a small fraction of their total budget to fire safety education.  Many smaller departments—particularly volunteer staffed fire departments—do not have anyone teaching fire safety education.  And that was before diesel fuel cost almost $5 a gallon (most modern fire trucks run on diesel fuel).

I’ve got a question for you: when your child comes of age, who’s going to teach them to drive?  Most likely it will be you or your spouse or both.  Perhaps they will get some training through a Driver’s Education program at school, but I’m sure before you hand over the keys to the family car for the first time you’ll spend time in the car with them behind the wheel.  Before you think about that “scary thought”, let’s make sure that they make it that far.

Let’s make this summer the year we all conduct our own “Fire Safety Summer School”.  It’s usually only a week or so after school is out for the summer before we start hearing, “I’m bored!”  Be ready this year with a weekly curriculum of fire safety topics that they need to learn now to become fire safety risk managers.  Follow the same model that my Mom used to teach me to drive m-a-n-y years ago (Thanks Mom!):

Responsibility. Mom taught me everything there was to know about operating a car and taking care of the car. She started out letting me drive in parking lots and on the back roads where we lived where there wasn't much traffic. She focused on making sure that I knew the traffic rules, driver courtesy, what happens when you don’t do maintenance, etc.  I learned everything I would need to successfully obtain my driver's license and become a safe and courteous driver who understood my responsibilities as a driver. But none of that allowed me to start driving the family car on my own.

Authority.  For that, I had to go down to the local office of the New Jersey Department of Motor Vehicles to take and pass the driving test, both written and practical. Only by demonstrating competency by passing those tests did the State of New Jersey give me the authority to operate a motor vehicle legally. By successfully obtaining my license, I entered into an agreement with the State of New Jersey: I could legally operate a motor vehicle so long as I obeyed the state's rules on operating a motor vehicle.

Don’t forget this part.  Validate that your children have learned the knowledge and skills to be fire safe every day.  Have them show you what they’ve learned and that they’ve learned it all correctly.  Then give them their license: what fire can they use, if used properly, and what fire is “off limits.” For example, they can set up and light the family’s charcoal grill, but they fry food using fats or oil on the stove without adult supervision; your teenage daughter can have a fragrance candle in her room, but only in a safe holder.

Accountability. Along with that license came the accountability piece. By obtaining my driver's license, I also understood and accepted that there would be consequences if I failed to follow the rules. Violations of those rules, such as exceeding the speed limit or being involved in a motor vehicle crash or other such activity would earn me "points": earn enough points and the State of New Jersey would revoke my license to legally operate a motor vehicle, my authority.

When you child violates the agreement, you must enact the consequences.  If your teenage daughter leaves the candle burning in her room unattended, regardless of the container, she must lose authority to have the candle in her room.  If you find you teen lighting the charcoal grill improperly, you must suspend their privilege to do that task.

Teach them fire safey this summer…don’t wait for someone else to teach you child to “drive.”

…and know they love you.

(Teach Your Children Well.  Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young)