Emergency Preparedness - Contact Numbers

If you forgot your cell phone, or if it ran out of batteries, would you be able to dial a number to come to help you?

When I was younger I would have looked at you weird and responded, of course. Back ten years ago you had to remember a number or keep it written down.

Now - I plug it into my cell phone and call it good.

Last week I went with my sister to upgrade her kid's phones. They did not even know their own phone number, let alone anyone else's number.

Once upon a time my children knew my number. They knew my cell phone number down well when we lived in Colorado. When we lived in Georgia they managed to remember it most of the time. When I switched over to a California number they were all done with memorizing. They were confused what area code we were even living in.

Then my older two got a cell phone, I plugged in my number, and then I stopped worrying about it.

Until one day we went to run an errand and my cell phone was dead. The thought crossed my mind that if something happened I would have no idea what number to dial.

Not very good emergency preparedness.

This week we are working on memorizing two numbers.

The first number is my phone number. If anything happens they need to be able to tell this to someone.

The next number is a family contact in another state. This is our agreed upon contact should anything happen here.

Do you have an out of state contact? If not then it is suggested that you do. If a disaster hits in your neighborhood then it is easier to get through to a less congested phone line - somewhere where their is not a disaster. Our contact is also a cell phone number. It is easier for a text message to go through, then a phone call to connect.

Some ideas to help remember a number.

1 - find a pattern - this is how I remember a number. If I can identify a pattern then I can remember the number.

2 - sing a song - turn the number into a song to help remember all the digets.

3 - use a nemonic devise - The kids remembered my number in Georgia because of the ages of themselves and their siblings.

4 - practice, practice, and practice - I will randomly quiz them on the way to school. We will post the number up in our living room so they can look at it and remember. They will quiz each other when I am not even paying attention.