Emergency Preparedness Awareness Award

With Spring weather being so unpredictable this year, I thought now would be a good time to work on the Emergency Preparedness Award.

The requirements are different for each cub scout level, however the guidelines for all scouts can be found at http://www.scouting.org/Media/Publications/EmergencyPreparedness/award.aspx

For Wolf Den:

1. Complete Wolf Cub Scout Achievement 9*—Be Safe at Home and on the Street. This is a check of your home to keep it safe.
2. Complete Wolf Cub Scout Elective 16*—Family Alert. This elective is about designing a plan for your home and family in case an emergency takes place.
3. With your parent or guardian's help, complete one of the following activities that you have not already completed for this award as a Tiger Cub:
   • Take American Red Cross Basic Aid Training (BAT) to learn emergency skills and care for choking, wounds, nose bleeds, falls, and animal bites. This course includes responses for fire safety, poisoning, water accidents, substance abuse, and more.
   • Make a presentation to your family on what you have learned about preparing for emergencies.
   • Join a Safe Kids program such as McGruff Child Identification program. Put on a training program for your family or den on stranger awareness, Internet safety, or safety at home.

I found great resources on the following websites to help with this program:
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If you want to buy kits:
http://www.mcgruff-safe-kids.com/boyscouts/mcgruff-identification-kit.html
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If you want to make your own:
Internet Safety, Stranger Abduction, Gun Safety
http://www.fbi.gov/kids/k5th/safety2.htm
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Finger Print Kits
http://www.fbi.gov/kids/k5th/fingerprintcard.htm
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Emergency Preparedness
http://www.ready.gov/kids/home.html

BSA Family Activity 4

This weeks BSA Family Activity comes from the Teaching Responsibilty section of the BSA Family Award. The teaching responsibility section we are working with is Being Prepared. You may choose one of these activities to fullfill one of the Teaching Responsibility.

From the BSA Family Workbook: The Purpose of Being Prepared is to help the family realize the importance of being prepared for situations that may occur and identify areas where they need to become better prepared.

Some activities are:

• Let family members assemble a first aid kit for the house and one for the car. Explain to children how each item is to be used. Wolf Elective 16C


• Teach first aid skills to the family, make sure that they know what first aid means : Aid given first, before professional help arrives. Learn what to do in the case of minor cuts and scratches(Wolf Requirement 3C), Severe bleeding, fainting, broken bones, burns, stopped breathing, and poisoning. Parents and older children can take a first aid course together, through the Red Cross or another group. Emergency Preparedness Award


• Role play with your children how to say no if someone offers them a cigarette, an alcholic drink, or drugs, including medicines their parents or doctors have not said they need. Wolf Requirement 12B


• Review the rules for internet safety (Internet Scout Patch). Make a small chart listing the rules and place one by each computer in the house.


• Review the safety equipment needed for any sports your children play. Make sure that children have and use helmets when bike riding, inline skating or skateboarding. make sure that helmets are properly fitted. Wolf Requirement 9E


• Children need to know how to contact their parents, family members and emergency help. Role play with your children some telephone situations like the following:


• >> Pretend to call 911. tell the emergency, give the location and stay on the line until the operator tells you to hang up. Wolf Requirement 9A


• >> You are home alone and someone calls to speak to the parent. What can you say so that the caller does not know that you are home alone? Wolf Requirement 9C


• >> You answer the phone and it is a salesperson asking for information about your family. Wolf Requirement 9C


• >> You answer the phone and the caller says things that make you feel uncomfortable or uses bad words. Wolf Requirement 9C

These are all great activities for your family.