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Hurricanes, floods and fires how prepared is your family?
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Homes that were spared from the Brian Head Fire are pictured on Friday, June 30, 2017. The evacuation order for Brian Head and Dry Lakes was lifted 13 days after residents were forced from their homes by the raging fire. - photo by Erin Stewart
I like to think Im prepared. I have food storage, water, 72-hour kits and countless cans of kidney beans waiting in the wings to save my family in an emergency.

But watching hurricanes and wildfires ravage cities and lives this month has been a wake-up call. Would I have enough gas to sit in hours of evacuation traffic? How would I get out in a flood? If I had to leave right now, what would I take?

As Ive watched the images coming in from these sites, my heart especially goes out to the parents trying to save their little ones from rising waters, trying to make them comfortable and safe in a shelter, worrying if their babies have enough food.

So this week Ive been reassessing my own emergency preparedness. Unfortunately, Ive discovered some pretty serious holes. I dont have much cash on hand. I havent updated my emergency kits for my toddler sons changing diaper size and eating habits, and I havent restocked my kits after Ive pilfered them throughout the year for sunscreen, medicine and granola bars.

And perhaps most important, I dont have a written plan. Ive heard from countless sources that you need to write down your emergency plan because in a crisis, you wont think straight. You wont remember if you decided if you were supposed to shelter in place or meet your husband at your in-laws' four hours away. Your brain shuts down, so you need to have a written plan you can follow without thinking.

When an emergency strikes, the time for thinking and taking and planning has already passed. The Red Cross has great online resources at redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies with lists of supplies for 72-hour kits and questions to get you talking with your family about your emergency plans.

A few recommendations that stood out to me were these:

1. Choose a place to meet family members near your home, as well as one outside of your neighborhood in case you have to evacuate. My husband and I have a rendezvous spot in our yard, then one an hour north in case of evacuation, one several hours south in case of a regional evacuation and then one we refer to as our zombie apocalypse plan. Write these down and put them in your emergency kit or, better yet, in your wallet.

2. Choose an out-of-area contact person. You want someone all family members can call to touch base with in case you cant contact each other.

3. Plan your evacuation route and practice evacuating twice a year. Grab your emergency kit and drive your route. Plot alternate routes in case roads are impassable. Make sure you have your route printed out.

To be honest, I hate planning for emergencies. Thinking through worst-case scenarios freaks me out, and often when Im updating our kits I devolve into a state of mild panic thinking about a world where Im using a flint to cook dinner and rationing squares of toilet paper. In those times, when Im looking at a rock-solid hunk of something called a survival calorie bar, I really just want to stuff everything back in the bag and pretend that bad things are never going to happen. Not to me at least. Not to us.

But the truth is, they do. And the whole point of preparation is so when the crisis comes, youve already made the plan, packed the bag and filled the water jugs. I cant stop the disasters from happening, but I can protect my family by preparing now. So even though I want to zip it up and never talk about the emergencies I hope we never have, I make myself do it, and then I can at least rest assured that if the day ever comes when we need that disgusting survival bar, its ready. And so are we.
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How to avoid 'sharenting' and other paparazzi parenting habits
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A recent study revealed parents often spend up to two hours staging a single photo of his or her child to post online. - photo by Amy Iverson
Before having kids, some people just dont appreciate their friends baby posts. But after having a child of their own, three fourths of new parents jump right on the parental social media bandwagon. If you have become a member of this group, there are some rules to follow for posting responsibly.

Much of a parents worry is how to teach their children to use social media responsibly. We talk with our kids about privacy, oversharing, and setting restrictions on their devices to keep them safe. But parents themselves need to look in the digital mirror once in a while. Before having children, it doesnt take as much effort to think about what to post online. Its up to us to decide what we share about our own lives. But once you become a parent, there are many questions to think about regarding what is appropriate to post about your kids on social media.

In a recent survey, kids clothing subscription company Mac and Mia surveyed 2000 new parents to find out how they are documenting their kids lives on social media, and what concerns they may have.

First of all, people without children seem to feel a bit differently about the onslaught of baby pictures online than those who are parents. 18 percent of people say before they had kids, they were annoyed by their friends baby posts. But after having children of their own, 73 percent admit they post progress pictures of their little ones every single month.

Not only are new parents letting the world know each time their baby is a month older, but they are posting about their kids every few days or so. Men and women report they post 6-7 times per month about their baby.

And while 70 percent of new parents say the benefit of using social media is how easy it is to help family and friends feel involved, there are some downsides. Here are a few tips to avoid the pitfall of becoming paparazzi parents.

Dont miss the moment

In the Mac and Mia survey, some parents admitted to spending up to two hours to get the perfect shot of their baby. That seems a little extreme. New and old parents alike should be careful about spending so much time taking pictures and videos that they dont enjoy the moment. Years ago, I decided to never live an experience through my phone. A study by Linda Henkel, a psychology professor at Fairfield University in Connecticut, found that when people took pictures of objects in an art museum, they didnt remember the objects as well as if they simply observed them.

This photo-taking impairment effect can happen to parents as well. If we are so consumed by getting the perfect photo, we can miss out on the moment all together, and our memory of it will suffer.

Dont forget about privacy

60 percent of couples say they have discussed rules and boundaries for posting their babys photos, according to the Mac and Mia survey. Even so, men are 34 percent more likely to publish baby posts on public accounts. If parents are concerned about their childrens privacy, keeping photos off of public accounts is a given.

In the Washington Post, Stacey Steinberg, a legal skills professor at the University of Florida, and Bahareh Keith, a Portland pediatrician, wrote that sharing too much information about kids online puts them at risk. They write that all that sharenting can make it easier for data thieves to target out kids for identity theft. Check that your privacy settings are where they should be and never share identifying information like full names and birth dates.

Dont be paparazzi parents

36 percent of parents say they take issue when their childs photo is posted online by someone else. Responsible social media users will always ask permission before posting a photo of another child. But parents should also think about whether their own children will take issue with their own posted photos a few years down the road.

When parents are constantly snapping pictures and throwing them on social media, it can be easy to forget to pause and make sure the post is appropriate. I always use the billboard example with my kids. I ask them to picture whatever they are posting going up on a billboard in our neighborhood. If they are okay with that, then their post is probably fine. Parents should ask themselves this same question when posting about their children. But they should also ask themselves if their child would be OK with this post on a billboard in 15 years. If it would cause embarrassment or humiliation, it might be best to keep it private.

Once children reach an appropriate age, parents should include them in the process of deciding what pictures are OK to post. Researchers at the University of Michigan surveyed 10- to 17-year-olds and found children believe their parents should ask permission more than parents think they should. The kids in the survey said sharing happy family moments, or accomplishments in sports, school and hobbies is fine. But when the post is negative (like when a child is disciplined) or embarrassing (think naked baby pictures or messy hair), kids say to keep it off social media.
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