If Ye Are Prepared

"If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear."  Doctrine and Covenants 38:30

Over the last few weeks, Matt and I have felt that Jackson is ready to learn emergency procedures.  We decided last week to start talking about our fire escape plan and what we would do in case of a fire.  For Family Home Evening last week, Matt drew up a floor plan of our house, and we talked about exits on the main level of our home.  That's about all we could get to.  Seriously, it took several minutes to get Jackson to "see" the house on paper.  It was a new concept for him.  "No, that big circle in the backyard is the trampoline, NOT the sun or a swimming pool."  We took 5-10 minutes only to go over the plan and the exits because, well, we were reaching the "limit."

Last night it was my turn to continue the plan.  I decided that Jackson really needed to practice and really know what to do.  We talked about what he would do first (roll out of bed and touch the door with the back of his hand), second (decide if he can go out the door, or if he needs to go out the window), and third (leave the house through the window or the front door).  I showed him how to unlock his window, slide the screen over and climb out the window. . . okay, this is where I say I may regret my decision in a few years when he decides to sneak out of the house. . .

He was set, ready to go.  Until I told him that we were really going to practice -- once without the smoke alarm and then with the smoke alarm.  Begin panic attack.

"Mom, no, no, no, no."  Insert fingers into ears, start crying and making a mad dash out of your room. (That's what he must have heard instead.) 

Have you heard our smoke alarm?  If you live within a mile radius of my house, then you know just how loud it is because it has probably alarmed you.   Basically, it's a buzzer, you know like from a high school basketball game -- not a horn -- a buzzer.  But imagine your ear right next to the buzzer when it goes off.  That's how loud it is.

Also, the buzzer is trippy.  I can be cooking bacon, and it will buzz.  The syrup overflows and smokes, it buzzes for several minutes.  Cole screams and Jackson panics.  Sometimes a bit of dust makes it go off.  In good news, it will always wake us up.

For a child with hearing sensitivities (and a baby), the buzzer is sheer torture.

Back to the story:  I had to grab Jackson.  At first I kept a calm, reassuring voice, but when that didn't work, I had to hold his hands by his side and talk louder.  Then I had to yell.  "Jackson, it's OKAY!  It's not going to go off yet."  It took three minutes or more to calm him down and explain what was going to happen.  He was hysterical, panicking -- not about "what if there's a fire," but about "the alarm is going to go off, and I won't know when."

We were finally able to practice, but he was leery the rest of the night.  When we were done with Family Home Evening, and I told him that Dad won't push the button again, he pronounced, "Dad, you're mean!"

In good news, he can open the window by himself and get out.

But the moral of this story is,

If you are prepared, you won't have to fear, but you will have severe panic attacks and will demand to go to sleep with your ears plugged in the meantime.