I remember growing up and hearing those "this is a test of the emergency broadcast system" warnings. You know, the big blaring buzz sound that came on the tv or the radio, forcing you to cover your ears??? I always thought that it was sooooo important, and I'd always listen to see if they had any message to run for shelter, drop and cover or anything of the sort afterwards. I don't know, maybe I was a weird kid...slightly paranoid maybe??? But seriously, I really thought it was a big deal!
Now, we have these warnings all the time. It seems like there is often a flash flood warning running across the bottom of the tv screen during the rainy months. I've heard the emergency warnings often, but always felt like we were in a safe place and wouldn't be affected! It doesn't help that our county is beyond LARGE and often, I wave off the warnings now with an "oh, that's for sure a warning for the other side...not for us!"
But now...as mom, and with a tropical storm/possible hurricane rolling straight for us, sometimes I wonder if I should pay closer attention to these warnings! But I guess, living in TX, you get used to these things and hopefully learn which things pertain to you and your family and which things you don't need to stress over!
But I wonder, as Garrett has learned how to bypass the warnings on our TV when they pop-up (which is about every 10 minutes the past two days)...am I teaching him to be watchful and heed warnings as they come??? Or am I teaching him to brush aside these warnings as we are inundated with them?!? Hopefully, there's a good balance there...I don't want him to be scared of the storms... and we always make them into a fun adventure! Plus we're prepared, and it's been an entire family effort to be prepared...Garrett and I have replaced all the batteries in the flashlights and he's even eyeing all the "yummy" stuff in his 72-hour kit! This morning he even asked if the storm would be bad enough that we could eat that food instead!?! So apparently, if you have chocolate pudding handi-snacks and juicyfruit gum in your kit...bring on the wind and rain!