Disclosure: I did not receive any monetary compensation in exchange for this post
Like many other 3 year olds (A) is really into heroes, especially the everyday ones like firemen, police officers, doctors and the like. So today the kids and I went to visit the Larchmont Firehouse where my brother is a firefighter. Something I have been meaning to do for quite some time. What a lovely day it was. We got a tour of the firehouse, got to ring the bell on the truck, tried on the fire gear, and pretend to drive the truck.
One of the things that my brother did was to put on the gas mask and show the kids. The firefighters know that they look a little scary in the mask and that was the point. He wanted to show the children that it was just them, and then did a little exercise where he told them that if there was ever an emergency and someone who was dressed like him asked if there was anyone there, they had to wave their hands and say “I am over here!!!” I thought this was a really important lesson, the kids thought of it as fun, but we adults who were there all felt a bit relieved that our children will not be afraid if they ever have that situation.
As parting gifts we received some fire safety materials a great fire safety activity book for (A), some cool stickers (which (A) put all over his shirt), a neat magnet, and the added plus, tons of smiles. One of the things that I found to be really interesting was that there were many people who were passing by and just stopped in with their children. The firefighters all welcomed them with open arms, gave them the tour and a goody bag. Although I did know that you could take a tour, its not something I’ve ever thought of doing and probably would not have gone if my brother wasn’t a firefighter.
Paid fire departments have this open door policy and you can visit any time. If your local fire department is volunteer this may not be an option as there isn’t someone there 24/7. Almost every department does something special in October for fire prevention month. I will look into local departments and post any that are holding events.
