Emergency Preparedness for Families: Keeping Children Safe in a Crisis

When Children Ask Questions You Must Answer

It is Friday evening. The power has been out for six hours. Your seven-year-old daughter asks: "Is Dad coming home tonight?" Your three-year-old son is crying because the night light is not working. The baby is hungry, and the electric breast pump needs power.

Families with children experience crises differently from individuals or couples. Caring for children is the first and most important factor in any family emergency plan. This means: more supplies, different communication strategies, more thoroughly considered evacuation plans — and above all, realistic expectations of what children need under stress.

Baby Food and Infant Care in a Crisis

If you are breastfeeding, you have a significant advantage in an emergency: no dependency on power or water supply. However, stress can affect milk production — staying calm, drinking enough, and eating enough remain important.

If You Are Formula-Feeding or Supplementing

Keep at least a 30-day supply of infant formula in reserve. Powdered formula is more stable than liquid ready-to-feed and easier to store. Note: powdered formula must be mixed with clean, boiled water. This means your camping stove and water supply must also account for the infant's needs.

Sterilising bottles without power: boiling water for at least 5 minutes. Keep sufficient spare bottles and teats in reserve.

Nappies and Hygiene Products

Plan for nappies for at least two weeks (daily requirement for infants: 6–8). Pre-moistened wipes substitute for baby baths. The key rule: hygiene takes priority over conservation — infections in infants are a serious danger.

Food and Nutrition for Children of Different Ages

Toddlers (1–3 years) and school-age children (6–12 years) have different calorie needs and food preferences from adults. An emergency supply consisting only of canned food and crispbread is barely usable for toddlers.

Age-Appropriate Supplies

For toddlers: puréed canned food (apple sauce, puréed carrots), baby food pouches (long shelf life), rusks, rice cakes. Many of these products have a long shelf life and are available without refrigeration.

For school-age children: oats, nuts (where no allergy), dried fruit, cereal bars, instant noodle soup. Children aged 6 and above can generally consume the same supplies as adults — but they need familiar foods as a psychological anchor. Keep one or two of each child's favourite snacks in the supply.

Drinking Water for Children

Children need proportionally more water than adults. As a guideline: 50 ml per kilogram of body weight per day. A 25 kg child therefore needs at least 1.25 litres daily, more in heat or with physical activity.

School Closures and Childcare

During a multi-day emergency, schools and childcare centres will close. You become the sole caregiver — without the support of teachers, educators, and the structured school day.

Structure for School-Age Children

As with multi-day outages generally, children need structure in particular. Create a daily schedule together with them: learning times, play times, sleep. Books, coloured pencils, board games, and card games are essential — all without batteries. Involve the child in the planning: "What would you like to learn today?" returns a sense of agency.

For Toddlers

Children under three cannot make sense of the situation but respond strongly to parental stress. Your own calm transfers to them — this is not just a tip but a physiological fact. Familiar routines (bedtime ritual, particular songs) stabilise young children even under difficult circumstances.

The Family Emergency Plan

Every family with children needs a jointly discussed and practised emergency plan. Not as a theoretical document, but as a living practice.

What the Family Emergency Plan Contains

Meeting point: Where do you meet if you are not at home and communication fails? Choose a well-known location nearby (e.g., the fountain in the park, the church door).
Outside-area contact persons: Choose two people outside your home city who can serve as a relay point when local networks are overloaded. A call to Hamburg is often possible when Frankfurt has no connection.
Evacuation route: Show children aged 5 and over how to leave the house. Practise opening windows, climbing down (if necessary), and assembling at the meeting point.
Emergency card for children: Each child over 6 should carry a small laminated card with their name, address, parents' names, and two phone numbers. In the age of smartphones, children sometimes forget their own address.

Practising Regularly

Explain the plan to the children. Practise it playfully, not as an alarm simulation that causes fear. After practising, ask: "What did you do?" — having the child repeat the steps consolidates memory.

Toys and Activities Without Power

Children without activities become their own crisis. Preparing for boredom is just as important as food supplies.

What Works Without Power

Board games and card games (for different age groups)
Books: picture books for toddlers, novels for older children
Art materials: pencils, coloured pencils, paper
Modelling clay and construction toys (LEGO, wooden blocks)
Musical instruments (recorder, harmonica)
Jigsaws

Store these materials separately from everyday toys. In a crisis, the "emergency toys" gain a special status that heightens children's interest in them.

Family Emergency Preparedness Checklist

Area	Measure	Age Group
Food	Formula 30-day supply	Infant
Food	Puréed canned goods, rice cakes	Toddler
Food	Familiar snacks as psychological anchor	School-age
Hygiene	Nappies 2-week supply	Infant
Hygiene	Wipes for personal care	All
Plan	Laminated emergency card per child	6+ years
Plan	Meeting point discussed and practised	All
Activities	Board games, books, art materials	All
Water	50 ml/kg/day child requirement included	All