Be Attentive In Nature
Spending time together with your family in the great outdoors can be an absolutely wonderful experience. But you also want to ensure everyone will remain safe, and some members of your family might not be wilderness gurus. That’s why you, as the leader of this expedition, need to make sure your family understands some important outdoor safety essentials.
This is integral for their safety as well as the safety of the environment you’re enjoying, so read on to learn which safety essentials you need to teach your family so you can all be attentive in nature.
1. Water Safety
When you go camping, it’s very likely that will involve swimming or boating in some capacity. If any of your family do not know how to swim, even if they only intend on pleasure cruising on a boat, they need to learn how in case of an emergency. Fortunately, there are plenty of classes available around the country, even themed ones like mommy and me swim classes.
When boating, always have everyone wear a life vest, and it’s best to get everyone a whistle as well so they can easily call for help. Get everyone into the habit of checking the weather before you go anywhere. Stress that no one should be consuming alcohol when boating. When swimming, instruct family members and especially children to never swim too far out or out of visual range of everyone else.
2. Properly Set, Manage And Observe Fires
Camp fires can be extremely dangerous to yourselves and others if not handled properly. They can also cause catastrophic environmental and personal property destruction, especially if you are in an area where wildfires are common. Fires also have to be carefully observed from start to finish—if you take your eyes off of them even for a few moments, a strong gust of wind could start a brush fire or set your tent on fire.
To start with, teach your family some of the important basics: always set your fire a safe distance away from your tent or vehicle, and use designated fire pits at all times if possible. Teach them that when a fire is burning someone needs to be watching it at all times, and always have water available nearby to extinguish fire in case of an emergency.
3. Always Have And Maintain The Right Equipment
Your family should always be taught to keep a first-aid kit and emergency kit, for example. Don’t forget to mention that it’s also important to ensure nothing in those kits has expired or been used up before departure. Because we don’t crack open emergency kits often, it’s very easy to forget and have items expire, which can null their usefulness in an emergency.
Having a basic utility kit, that contains items like duct tape and utility knives, is also a good idea. It’s also important to teach your family to continuously check equipment they frequently use outdoors to ensure it is functioning properly and structurally sound. Have and teach everyone how to use compasses, maps and GPS. Also don’t forget relevant sun protection such as sunscreen, sunglasses and hats, as well as insect repellent.
Outdoor safety is never something you or any member of your family should neglect. To best ensure an incident-free outdoors trip with your family, make sure you’ve gone over some of the most important safety essentials with them first.
Remember not to neglect any specific information—for example, you should teach your family earthquake awareness if your outdoor trip takes you to California, or what to do during a tornado if you’re camping in Kansas. Be sure to teach your family members every important safety tip you can think of so you can have a fun, catastrophe-free outdoor experience.