A family emergency plan is not a document. It is four decisions that everybody in the household has heard, and a piece of paper that records them.
The four decisions.
- Where we meet if we cannot go home. One place close by, one further away in case the whole area is affected.
- Who we call. One person outside the area whom everybody contacts, so nobody is trying to reach everybody.
- Who collects the children, from where, and who else is authorised to. Tell the school or nursery this name.
- What we take, and who carries it.
On paper, in more than one place. In a wallet, on the fridge, in each bag. A plan that exists only in a phone is a plan that ends with a flat battery.
Say it out loud once a year. Ten minutes at the kitchen table is the whole exercise. Children remember it better than adults do, and asking a seven-year-old to repeat the meeting point back to you is how you find out whether the plan exists.