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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>First Fire Drill Today...
jenboo 09:20 AM 05-15-2014
...was a joke

We had our first fire drill. It was me with 5 kids (one was out sick). The group consisted of
4 month old
17 month old
just turned 2
just turned 2
4 year old...

The little ones had no idea what was going on. I tried to explain it to them. The 4 year old got it. When I opened the door, they all took off to try and go play...I had to chase them down. We did it again and went out a different door (i put a picture of fire on our main door so we couldn't use it).
By the end I had 3 kids in tears who wouldn't even walk.

I guess we will be doing this at least once a week until they associate the alarm with going to the door. Thank goodness it wasn't a real fire!
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daycare 09:34 AM 05-15-2014
Originally Posted by jenboo:
...was a joke

We had our first fire drill. It was me with 5 kids (one was out sick). The group consisted of
4 month old
17 month old
just turned 2
just turned 2
4 year old...

The little ones had no idea what was going on. I tried to explain it to them. The 4 year old got it. When I opened the door, they all took off to try and go play...I had to chase them down. We did it again and went out a different door (i put a picture of fire on our main door so we couldn't use it).
By the end I had 3 kids in tears who wouldn't even walk.

I guess we will be doing this at least once a week until they associate the alarm with going to the door. Thank goodness it wasn't a real fire!
try making up a song and have the kids march in a line out to your safety spot.

I have brain issues right now, aka lack of coffee, I am trying to think of the song that we usually sing....ugh

I am sure someone else can help.

But if that does not work, pair up the four year old holding hands with the other two year olds and you take the little ones..
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ihop 09:35 AM 05-15-2014
First of all..
I have been doing fire drills at least once a month for eight months and they are still a disaster. While its not the best training for them, I started doing them right before outside time and strap them to the tot a longs on the stroller and throw the babies in. Kids freak out a lot less because they are distracted by thinking we are going for a walk. The older ones already have shoes on and are prepared since they already put the toys away.

I feel like its a terrible worthless activity every time we do it but I know some of it sinks in.
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jenboo 09:47 AM 05-15-2014
Originally Posted by daycare:
try making up a song and have the kids march in a line out to your safety spot.

I have brain issues right now, aka lack of coffee, I am trying to think of the song that we usually sing....ugh

I am sure someone else can help.

But if that does not work, pair up the four year old holding hands with the other two year olds and you take the little ones..
Ill have to try a song. Our smoke alarms are so loud though...We might have to yell the song

I tried have the 4 year old hands with the 2's but they would either fall to the ground and refuse to walk or run away from her.

I guess we will just keep practicing and hope they get it.

How would you go about getting kids from different rooms. Today I planned the drill while we were all in the same room but sometimes I want to try it when the baby is napping and everyone is in the other room...Would you send the older kids out the door (its a gated entry way so they can't get out to the street) and grab the baby?? I want to make sure Im ready if anything happens...
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drseuss 10:06 AM 05-15-2014
Here's my take on fire drills. The older kids are the only ones that will really even remotely 'get it' when you practice emergency drills. To me, those drills are more for the provider, especially when you've got such a young group. My group is young, too, with one dcg just 5. She gets it, nobody else does. I see it as keeping my own bearings greased and knowing realistically what the logistics of getting everybody out in a hurry. I do my fire drills and the babies are crying the whole time because I have to put them out a window when we are downstairs. I literally grab both of them under one arm so my other arm is free to guide the twos. The twos are stiff as a board because they are freaked out. Not fun, but it keeps ME practiced.
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daycarediva 10:26 AM 05-15-2014
My 2.5-5's GET IT. For anyone under that age, the drill is for you, to be honest.

I am BIG on safety. During fire safety month we have the fire department visit, look at the fire truck, hold the hose, and we practice drills with them here.

We do weekly fire drills. I place a block with a picture of fire on it somewhere, and the child who finds it will SCREAM "FIRE!"

They drop down low and crawl to the safest exit in RECORD time. They know where to go if an exit is blocked. They know not to touch anything, even shoes. They know to GET OUT AND STAY OUT, where to meet and STAY THERE, and they know to call 911. The fire department even allowed us to practice calling 911, told the dispatchers ahead of time and everything so they have ALL had real life experience doing so.

We also learn about home safety, stranger safety, street safety, bike safety, playground safety, what to do if separated from an adult. They learn their parents full names, their addresses and phone numbers while in my care.

I had a dcb (3 at the time) get separated from Mom at the mall. He walked up to a security guard, told him he was lost, and told him his Mom's FULL name. Mom called ME crying and thanking me, telling me how amazed security was.
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drseuss 10:30 AM 05-15-2014
Originally Posted by daycarediva:
My 2.5-5's GET IT. For anyone under that age, the drill is for you, to be honest.

I am BIG on safety. During fire safety month we have the fire department visit, look at the fire truck, hold the hose, and we practice drills with them here.

We do weekly fire drills. I place a block with a picture of fire on it somewhere, and the child who finds it will SCREAM "FIRE!"

They drop down low and crawl to the safest exit in RECORD time. They know where to go if an exit is blocked. They know not to touch anything, even shoes. They know to GET OUT AND STAY OUT, where to meet and STAY THERE, and they know to call 911. The fire department even allowed us to practice calling 911, told the dispatchers ahead of time and everything so they have ALL had real life experience doing so.

We also learn about home safety, stranger safety, street safety, bike safety, playground safety, what to do if separated from an adult. They learn their parents full names, their addresses and phone numbers while in my care.

I had a dcb (3 at the time) get separated from Mom at the mall. He walked up to a security guard, told him he was lost, and told him his Mom's FULL name. Mom called ME crying and thanking me, telling me how amazed security was.

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Christina72684 10:30 AM 05-15-2014
We only have to do ours quarterly, but our inspector suggestions monthly. Well it's been a long time since we did one (I wont lie, I bet it was in October when we were doing Fire Prevention Week). So here's my inspector doing her usual things at our inspection and she says, "I'd like the kids to do a fire drill, but don't warn them. I'll hit the alarm and see how they do." Oh.....okay, awesome! Luckily I only have preschoolers but it was one kid's 2nd week here and another girl only comes 3 mornings a week so neither had done a drill yet. She hits the alarm and half the kids get up and run to the door and the other half (I only had 8 that day) sit where they are and look at her like they're confused. Luckily it was only like 10 seconds before they got up, but I was so embarrassed. Then we ran out the door in our bare feet across white rock to our meeting spot. It wasn't horrible, but could have been a lot better! She said she's seen worse
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melilley 10:38 AM 05-15-2014
My kids love to do them! In fact, on the days that I do them, they ask all day for me to push the button and talk about it forever after...lol
I have 2-1.5, 2-2.5, 1-3 and depending on who is here that day, some 18 mo and under.
The kids who are 1.5 to 3 all know to run to the door when they hear the alarm, or at least my two 1.5 year olds see the others go to the door so they follow. They all think it's a game. The younger one's do run around a little, but seem to catch on and follow (not all the time).

Hopefully with practice, they will get the hang of it and it will get easier for you!
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Childminder 12:55 PM 05-15-2014
Ahhh yes aren't they fun? We got new smoke alarms in October and have drills quite frequently now, they are way to sensitive. They even go off when we shower and open the bathroom door into the hall.

I practice them when the older kids are here and they are pros at "saving" the littles. I know what to do so I don't do them when I just have infants and young toddlers. We always talk about what to do first and then I sound the alarm for example, wait 5 minutes and have the drill.

My favorites are the "Big Tomato' drills that a group of children about 5 years ago called our tornado drills. I can still visualize these huge tomatoes flying around as we run for cover.
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daycare 01:08 PM 05-15-2014
my husband used to work for the FD.

He makes me do one once a week. He said that I can never really prepare for the real thing, but having a set plan in palce like where is the log book, how will you contact all of the parents once out of the house, what if you forget your cell in the mad rush of getting everyone out. Do you know of a neighbor that is normally home that you could rush to and keep the kids safe, use their phone?

Like my hubby said, the best thing we can do is just have a plan set in stone. It will never happen the way we practice it when the real thing hits.

I sound the alarm, everyone drops what they are doing and we line up to go out the door.

Yes, it is more for us than the kids, but the more you do them the more they will understand. When I hear that sound it is an emergency and I line up go out the door.

having the song in place also helps them to remember what to do too..

What happens if there is a fire ?
Do you know what to do ? Oh !
GET OUT ! QUICK , GET OUT !
get out ! Quick ,get out !
get out ! QUICK, get out !
Stay very low and go. GO !

What happens if there is a fire ?
Do you know what to do ? Oh!
STAY OUT ! DON'T GO BACK !
stay out ! Don't go back !
stay out ! Don't go back !
Don't go back in the house. No !

What happens if there is a fire?
Do you know what to do ? Oh !
GET HELP ! CALL FOR HELP !
get help ! call for help !
get help ! call for help !
call 911 for help ! oh!

I dont have any really little kids, youngest is 19 months right now.
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gracepatiencelove 01:51 PM 05-15-2014
Awesome thread with great suggestions.

OP I have a young group, too. They get super nervous about it. I tried talking about it all day and they're still kind of like "....what is going ON!?!?!"

It's been 9 months of me dreading doing it. I think I might take a page out of PPs book and do it weekly until *I* am more comfortable.
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nothingwithoutjoy 04:08 PM 05-15-2014
Reading this today, I realized oh, yeah, it's time I did a fire drill. I have some new kids who've never done it, so I talked about it first, then went to hit the button, and--nothing! Took it down to check the batteries, and one had exploded! Replaced them; still didn't work (it's wrecked). Damn! Glad I checked!
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