Planning and preparing for a power outage
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EmailPreparation and planning are a part of every adult’s life. Discover resources to help you prepare for a power outage and ideas for keeping your children busy until the power comes back on.
Preparation and planning are a part of every adult’s life. We prepare and plan for car and home maintenance, meals, kids’ activities, bills, deadlines at work, and much more! The weather, however, is something that we inevitably have difficulty planning for, especially when severe weather results in a power outage. Because power outages don’t typically happen often, we forget to prepare and plan for when a power outage does occur.
A creative way to prepare
One way to prepare for a power outage is by practicing it. Ask your family to pretend for a day (or a portion of a day) that you don’t have any power. Choose a time to not use any electricity around your home. Use only candlelight. Don’t use computers, television, sound systems or phones. Eat food that can be prepared without the use of electricity.
Afterwards, you can reflect on how that affected you and your family. What was it like to turn off electronic devices? Was it peaceful in your home without the constant notifications? Did it affect your sleep?
Plan for family activities
Don’t forget that planning and preparing your family for a power outage includes finding things for the kids to do. Here are a few suggestions from Michigan State University Extension for keeping kids busy during a power outage:
- Give them their own flashlight! Ask them to read, make shadow puppets or tell stories using their flashlight in some way.
- Play board games your family has not played in a while. Get the kids up and moving by playing charades, hide and seek or creating an obstacle course.
- Enjoy some arts and crafts time! Gather up some simple supplies for kids to draw or create with.
- Make food together. Create a snack or meal that you wouldn’t normally make out of food that’s accessible in your cupboard.
- If it is safe, go outside. Depending on the season, choose an outdoor activity to enjoy together. You could build a snow fort in the winter, ride bikes in summer or go for a walk in any season.
- Go camping inside. Pitch a tent or create a fort for playing, reading, sleeping and having fun!
- Have a bonfire outdoors and make dinner or dessert!
Don’t forget to involve your children in planning and preparing for a power outage. By helping, your child can gain valuable life skills such as communication, critical thinking, decision-making, personal safety, empathy, cooperation and much more.
Planning and preparation are keys to becoming ready for a power outage. Having the necessary supplies and a list of things to do for kids will help to alleviate stress for the entire family.
Here are some additional resources to help you plan and prepare for a power outage:
- The American Red Cross: This site provides information about preparing for, responding during and recovering from a power outage. They also provide a comprehensive list of supplies to gather in preparation for a power outage.
- Ready.Gov: Here you will find information about what you need to know when the power goes out unexpectedly, including guidelines for food and water safety.
- MSU Extension: Resources to help families, farms and communities deal with severe weather, power outages, food safety and related issues can be found on the MSU Extension Severe Weather and Natural Disasters website.
