Emergency Preparedness Week is held every May across Canada, coordinated by Public Safety Canada. For families with young children, the stakes are higher: children depend entirely on the adults around them to have a plan, supplies, and the skills to keep them safe. This guide walks you through the five steps that turn “we should get around to it” into a plan your whole family knows.

Step 1: Know Your Risks

The first step is understanding what emergencies are realistic in your area. Ontario families should prepare for:

• Severe winter storms and ice storms — power outages lasting days, dangerous roads, extreme cold
• Power outages — from storms, grid failures, or infrastructure damage
• Flooding — spring snowmelt, heavy rainfall, or ice jams
• Tornadoes — southern Ontario is in an active tornado zone
• Extreme heat — increasingly common and dangerous for children and elderly
• House fires — the most common emergency requiring immediate evacuation

Step 2: Build Your 72-Hour Emergency Kit

The 72-hour kit is designed to sustain your family for three days if services are disrupted. Government recommendations provide a baseline. Families with young children need to add to it.

Essential Supplies (Per Person)

• Water: 4 litres per person per day (12 litres per person for 72 hours)
• Food: Non-perishable, ready-to-eat. Canned goods, granola bars, dried fruit, peanut butter (if no allergies). Manual can opener
• Flashlight and extra batteries (or a hand-crank flashlight)
• Battery-powered or hand-crank radio for emergency broadcasts
• First aid kit — see our new parent first aid checklist for what to include
• Medications: at least a 3-day supply of prescription medications
• Phone charger or portable power bank
• Cash in small bills (ATMs and card machines may not work)
• Copies of important documents in a waterproof bag: ID, health cards, insurance, emergency contacts
• Seasonal clothing and blankets

Kit contents per Public Safety Canada (GetPrepared.ca) and the Canadian Red Cross; first-aid-kit contents per Canadian Red Cross / AHA 2024, aligned with the Canadian workplace standard CSA Z1220.

Additions for Families With Young Children

• Formula, baby food, and bottles (rotate stock monthly)
• Diapers and wipes for at least 3 days
• Children’s medications (fever reducer, allergy medication, and any prescribed epinephrine auto-injectors)
• Comfort items: a stuffed animal, favourite book, or small toy
• Change of clothes for each child (sized up from current)
• Child carrier or stroller that folds compactly

Step 3: Make a Family Communication Plan

In an emergency, your family may not be together. Children may be at school or daycare. You may be at work. Cell networks may be jammed.

• Choose an out-of-area contact. Someone outside your region (long-distance calls sometimes work when local calls do not). Everyone in the family should have this number memorised or written down
• Teach children to call 911 and to state their full name and home address
• Help older children memorise a parent’s phone number
• Agree on a meeting point near your home (a neighbour’s driveway, a specific tree) and one outside your neighbourhood (a community centre, a relative’s home)
• Know your child’s school emergency plan — where do they evacuate? Who can pick up your child?

Step 4: Plan Your Evacuation Routes

Walk your family through two ways out of every room. Practice until it is automatic, especially for children. Designate the meeting spot outside the home.

• Draw a floor plan with your children. Mark exits, windows, and the meeting spot
• Practice at different times — during the day, at night, from bedrooms
• Assign who grabs the baby and who grabs the emergency kit
• Practice staying low in smoke — make it a game for young children
• Know two driving routes out of your neighbourhood in case one is blocked

Step 5: Build Your Skills

Supplies and plans matter, but skills matter more. In any emergency, the most valuable asset is a person who knows how to assess, stabilise, and respond.

• CPR and first aid certification — covers cardiac arrest, choking, bleeding, burns, and poisoning. Certified Canadian Red Cross and Heart & Stroke Foundation courses teach the current, evidence-based techniques (aligned with the 2025 ILCOR consensus)
• Fire extinguisher training — know the PASS technique (Pull, Aim, Squeeze, Sweep)
• Basic wound care — cleaning, bandaging, and when to seek medical help
• How to shut off utilities — know where your gas valve, water main, and electrical panel are

First aid and CPR skills per the Canadian Red Cross and Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada, aligned with the 2025 ILCOR international consensus.

Make It a Family Activity

Emergency preparedness does not have to be grim. Build the 72-hour kit together. Let children pick their comfort items. Make evacuation drills a game. Teach older children to use the first aid kit. The goal is not to frighten your family — it is to give them confidence that they know what to do.

For more on age-appropriate safety conversations, see our guide on teaching kids about emergencies.