Seasonal Preparedness: Dad’s Complete Guide

You don't need a bunker. You need a short list and a rhythm. The families who sail through storms aren't survivalists. They're the ones who treat preparedness as a house habit. Like flossing, but for weather.

It's surprising how little this takes. The dangerous idea is that preparedness is a big, dramatic project. That belief is itself a risk, because it makes you postpone starting. If you think you need a generator, a truck, and a wall of MREs, you'll never begin. What you actually need are a few bins, a few repeated reminders, and a clear plan for the few things that really matter.

Kids take their cues from you. If you feel like you have things under control, they feel like things are under control. Calm is not a feeling you summon at the last minute. It's a side effect of having done the simple things a week ago.

The 80/20 of preparedness for a family is boring: water, light, meds, documents, and a place to go in each season's worst case. Boring is good. You want simple decisions you can make with noisy kids around. You want the version of the plan that still works when you're tired.

Start with water. One gallon per person per day for several days. If that seems like a lot, do one shelf at a time. You can buy a few gallons every grocery trip and be done before you notice. Don't forget pets. Add shelf-stable food you actually eat. A manual can opener seems like a joke until the power is out at dinner. If you have a baby, put formula, bottles, wipes, and diaper cream in a zip bag and label it. Keep a week of essential medications and a printed list of them with dosages. Paper still works when your phone is out of battery.

Light and power are next. Headlamps are better than flashlights because they make both your hands free, and when you're doing a diaper in the dark you'll understand why. Put spare batteries in the same bag as the lights so you don't end up hunting for them. Add a small battery bank for phones and the charging cables that match your devices. Include a first-aid kit you actually know how to use, a thermometer, and fever reducers appropriate for kids. Toss in copies of IDs and insurance cards in waterproof sleeves. Heavy-duty trash bags, duct tape, a multi-tool, and work gloves make more problems solvable than you'd think.

Make a small pouch for each kid with something familiar in it: a stuffed animal, crayons, a deck of cards, a small book. Add a printed family photo for each child. It helps if you get separated and it helps even more before that, when they're scared and need a friendly anchor.

Tailor for special needs. If someone has mobility limitations or dietary constraints, write a simple care sheet and put the critical items in the top of the bin. You won't remember details when you're stressed. The point of the care sheet is to let your future tired self be lazy and still do the right thing.

You can rotate by season with a handful of add-ons. Spring: rain ponchos and an extra tarp. Summer: sunscreen, wide-brim hats, and electrolyte packets. Fall: fresh batteries for detectors and a fireproof pouch for documents. Winter: hand warmers, warm socks, and extra blankets. Store your kit where you can grab it without excavating a closet. Under the stairs is ideal; the front hall closet is good. Put a repeating reminder on your calendar to check expirations and swap seasonal items. The calendar is more important than the bin. It is the part that keeps you honest.

If you do nothing else this week, buy water, two headlamps, and the meds your family needs, and put them in one place. Then every Sunday add one seasonal item. Habits beat heroics.

Preparedness gets real in the spring. This is when you need a safe room for tornadoes, and a plan for floods. Pick your safe room now: lowest level, interior, away from windows. If you have a basement, choose a corner. If you don’t, pick an interior hallway or bathroom on the lowest floor. Teach the difference between a watch and a warning: a watch means the conditions exist; a warning means it's happening and you should go now. Do a two-minute drill with the kids. It feels silly the first time. The second time it already feels more normal.

If you live where tornadoes happen, stash helmets and sturdy shoes in the safe room. Shoes matter. After a storm the ground is full of glass and nails. Put a whistle and a flashlight there too. If you have a baby, add a carrier so you can keep your hands free while you move.

Floods are the other spring risk. Look up your flood map and know which way you’d go for higher ground. Keep your go-bags off the floor. Store critical documents and backups in waterproof bags. If you live where floods happen a lot, get sandbags or water barriers before the forecast turns ugly. And do not drive into water across a road. You don't know how deep it is or whether the road is still there under it.

Do a quick house check before the rainy weeks start. Clean gutters. Extend downspouts farther from the foundation. Test your sump pump. If you rely on it, consider a battery backup. Take pictures of rooms and valuables and stash them in cloud storage. Read your insurance. Flood damage is often a separate policy. You don't want to learn that while you are standing in the kitchen in boots.

Summer is loud: heat, hurricanes, smoke. Heat hurts small kids and older adults fastest. Plan shade, hydration, and cool spaces. Watch the forecast for heat advisories and move outdoor plans earlier or indoors. Dress kids in light, breathable clothes. Take regular cool-down breaks. Learn the early signs of heat illness: dizziness, headache, nausea, confusion. Fans help. AC helps more. Community cooling centers exist for a reason.

Never leave a child in a parked car. Not for a minute. Cars heat up faster than your intuition suggests. Tie the habit to something you never forget. When you buckle a kid in, put your phone or wallet in the back seat. If a caregiver is late or plans change, send a quick text to confirm handoff. One extra ping is worth it.

If you live in hurricane country, learn your evacuation zone before the season. Keep your gas tank half full. Make a go-bag you can lift with one hand: water, snacks, meds, chargers, copies of documents, a change of clothes for each person. If you’re advised to evacuate, do it early. Roads don’t get better during a storm. At home, secure outdoor furniture, trim branches over the roof, and protect windows with rated shutters or pre-cut plywood if that’s what local guidance recommends. Charge devices. If you may lose water pressure, fill bathtubs. Turn your freezer to the coldest setting to buy more time if the power goes out.

Wildfire season is about space and clean air. Create defensible space: clear leaves from gutters and roof valleys, move firewood and other combustibles away from the house, trim low branches so fire can't ladder up into trees. On smoky days check the Air Quality Index. Higher numbers are worse. Keep windows closed. Run a HEPA air purifier in a bedroom or your main living area. Set HVAC to recirculate and put in a clean filter. If you have to go out when it's bad, wear a well-fitting respirator mask designed for particles.

Fall is the time to get your fire safety right. Test every smoke alarm. Replace batteries unless they're built-in 10-year units. You should have smoke alarms in every bedroom, outside each sleeping area, and on every level. Press and hold the test button monthly. If an alarm is more than 10 years old, replace it. Test your carbon monoxide alarms too. CO is invisible and odorless. You can’t negotiate with it.

Before the first freeze, service your furnace or boiler. Keep anything that can burn a few feet away from heaters and fireplaces. Make sure vents and chimneys are clear. If you use space heaters, buy models with tip-over protection. Put them on solid floors. Don't leave them running when you sleep or leave the room.

Practice a family fire drill. Pick two ways out of each room and check that windows open easily. Choose a meeting spot outside, like the mailbox. After dinner, set a timer and do a short drill. Show kids how to crawl low under smoke. Make the rule clear: once you're out, you don't go back for anything.

Round out fall with the small storms that come standard. Clean gutters again after leaves fall. Trim dead limbs. Check that your yard drains move water away from the house. If you have a generator, read the manual now. Decide where it will live outdoors when you need it. Never run it in a house, garage, or shed, even with doors and windows open.

Winter is cold and quiet until it isn't. Turn on weather alerts on your phone and follow storm forecasts a day or two ahead. Keep your vehicle ready: tires inflated, tank at least half full, ice scraper, jumper cables, small shovel, sand or kitty litter for traction, blankets, snacks, water, and a phone charger. Pack extra mittens, hats, and socks for kids. Wet gear makes cold worse fast.

Protect your home against freeze. Insulate exposed pipes in garages, crawl spaces, and along exterior walls. Find your main water shutoff and label it. During deep cold snaps, keep the heat on, open cabinet doors under sinks along exterior walls, and let a trickle of water run if your local guidance says it's needed. Disconnect garden hoses and cover outdoor spigots.

Plan for staying warm during outages. Do not use a gas oven for heat. Do not bring charcoal or camp stoves indoors. Gather the family into one room and layer up. Keep sleeping bags and extra blankets handy. If you have a fireplace or wood stove, follow the rules for it, keep combustibles away, and store ashes in a metal container outdoors.

Generator and carbon monoxide safety are non-negotiable. Operate generators outdoors only, far from doors, windows, and vents, with exhaust pointing away from the house. Install CO alarms on every level and near sleeping areas. Test them monthly. Replace them per the manufacturer’s guidance. If a CO alarm sounds, get outside to fresh air and call for help.

Keep food safe during outages. Put thermometers in the fridge and freezer now so you don't have to guess later. Keep doors closed. When in doubt, throw it out, especially meat and dairy. Plan simple shelf-stable meals you can eat without cooking. Keep a manual can opener with your food.

Everyone benefits from a written plan. Write down key contacts: parents, pediatrician, nearby relatives, one out-of-area contact. Add medical needs and meeting spots: one near home and one outside the neighborhood. Print a copy for each adult’s wallet and take a photo of the plan for your phone. Make a small contact card for each kid’s backpack. If you have to leave in a hurry, it's a lot easier to be the person with the card than the person trying to remember a phone number under stress.

Map two ways out of your neighborhood and one route to higher ground if you're near flood zones. If you live with hurricanes or wildfires, learn the official evacuation zones and shelter locations now. Pick a buddy family you can swap help with if one of you has to leave in a hurry. Practice a quick “grab-and-go” drill where each person grabs their one bag and meets at the car. If a drill is a hassle, your plan is too complicated.

Turn on alerts. Wireless Emergency Alerts on your phone are designed to wake you up for a reason. Sign up for your city or county’s local alert system. Put the weather app you actually use on your home screen. If you often lose cell service, consider a weather radio. Teach kids what an alert sound means and what you'll do next.

Put preparedness on autopilot. Create quarterly calendar reminders: test alarms, rotate water and food, check expiration dates on meds and baby items, and update sizes for spare clothes in go-bags. At the start of each season add the relevant items to your kit and do a 10-minute family review. Kids learn fast when you repeat things on a schedule. So do parents.

Preparedness works best when it feels like house maintenance rather than a special project. You don't psych yourself up to test smoke alarms; you just do it on the first weekend of the quarter. You don't wait for an emergency to buy water; you add a few gallons to the cart and put them on the bottom shelf. The most valuable thing in your kit is not any object but the habit of checking it.

The nice thing about getting this right is that it's cheap. Almost everything here costs less than the mistakes it prevents. In fact most of the cost is attention. Buying a headlamp is easy. Remembering where you put it is harder. That's why everything lives in one place, and why you label that place.

There is also a surprising side effect. When you do a two-minute shelter drill, or test alarms, your kids see a model of how to handle problems: do small things early, in a calm way. They learn that scary events don't require panic. They require a plan you already have. You can tell them this, but it's more powerful to show them.

If you want a single rule that covers most of this, it's to make the default the thing you want. Default to having water. Default to having documents printed. Default to drills being short and automatic. The less you have to decide in the moment, the better your decisions will be.

And if you want a single next step, write and print a one-page family plan tonight. Put the bins by the door. Set recurring reminders for the start of each season. That's the whole trick. Small things, repeated, become security.

Notes

[1] Watch vs. Warning: A watch means conditions are possible. A warning means it's happening or imminent—take action now.

[2] AQI: The Air Quality Index measures particulate and other pollutants. Higher is worse. Use it to decide when to limit outdoor time, run purifiers, and wear masks.

[3] CO (carbon monoxide): A colorless, odorless gas from fuel-burning devices. Never run generators or grills indoors or in garages.