The Thrill of the Drill

We have had a fire drill scheduled in Homeschool Tracker for about two months now. It also gets K.Z. a sign off in his Tiger Cub book. As silly as it sounds we just have not had the right opportunity to execute the drill. After our excitement (frustration) with our smoke detectors last week and our children's less than stellar response to it I decided today was the day. Our resident firefighter was diligently working away in his home office so I enlisted his expertise (and height to reach the detector).

For the first drill we decided to give them warning. We had them put on boots and we all went upstairs to the girls' room. We first went over what to do, what not to do etc. and then Mr. Clean and K.Z. went off to K.Z.'s room. I had the girls sit on their beds and I stayed with them. When the alarm went off I could see genuine fear in the girls. Xena started to get anxious, so I talked her through the steps of checking the door, not forgetting to hold her sister's hand, etc. K.Z. was long gone!

We got them out to the meeting place outside (purposely without coats) and then let them back into the warm house. After a brief discussion about what to do in other emergent situations (dialing 911, etc.) we let them resume their normal activities, but not before Mr. Clean let them know that the next drill would be a surprise and could be any time and any day. They would have no warning. Want to guess how long he lasted? The next drill was about 3.5 minutes after the first one ended. I am taking away his smoke detectors!