It can be difficult to bring your spouse around to the idea of emergency preparedness. It’s one thing to have a great intellectual and even heart-felt discussion about tragic disasters throughout the world or nationally that leave families and children hungry and without shelter. However, to convince your spouse to put some of your paycheck toward preparing for a flood or an earthquake takes some know-how.
1. Don’t Bombard Your Spouse with Information
Bring them along slowly, one step at a time. Don’t cram several worst case scenarios into a one hour meeting. Your spouse will shut down emotionally and mentally, even if they appear attentive and interested in what you have to say. Prioritize what you want to protect yourselves against first, based on your location and what’s happening in the news. For example, if major earthquakes are devastating different countries around the world, talk about the news with your spouse first, and use one meeting to talk about earthquake preparedness. Don’t suddenly transition into talking about preparing for bio-weapons or hurricanes, which can lead to information overload. Talk about “smaller” emergencies first, such as a flat tire after dark or a power outage that lasts for more than a day.
2. Be Prepared
To be effective in a discussion with your spouse about emergency preparedness, you must be prepared. Don’t come to the meeting without many answers, or that can cause your spouse to doubt that it’s worth preparing at all, or that you know what you’re doing. Learn about emergency preparedness and draft a plan. You should value your spouse’s input and wisdom, and modify your plan as needed. However, don’t show up empty handed, or answer “I don’t know” to most of the questions they will have.
3. Do the Math
Emergency preparedness takes money, for supplies, kits and some repairs to your home or cars. When money is tight, it can be hard to persuade a spouse to use what little money you do have for food storage, water filters and other necessities. Put your spouse at ease with a budget, showing them how you can both make this work. Most likely you both will have to make sacrifices in a spending area or two, and you should be ready to make suggestions on how much to cut or completely eliminate. Couch the budget to your spouse as a draft, and encourage them to help you modify it. Make “Emergency Preparedness” one category of the budget, and use subcategories underneath, such as “Light” and “Communications”.
4. Refer to Experts
Although you may be an expert on emergency preparedness because of all the reading and research you’ve done to date, it helps to show your spouse what the experts are saying. Find sources that your spouse considers credible, and share news and information on emergency preparedness from those experts or organizations. Invite them to read an article, blog post or other book with you, and follow that up with how you can apply what you’ve learned in your home. Ask questions and elicit commentary from your spouse, to help you figure out where they stand on emergency preparedness.
5. Attend a Class Together
Many spouses will agree to attend classes that benefit the family, such as a CPR class. Take advantage of attending classes together that your spouse will find beneficial, and that also relate to emergency preparedness. It’s a way to have someone else introduce the topic for you, and teach vital skills to you and your spouse at the same time. Class attendees and the teacher might share information and personal anecdotes on emergency preparedness that will reassure your spouse that it’s normal and responsible to be prepared.
Don’t delay speaking with your spouse about emergency preparedness. Before you get started, take the time you need to strategize your best approach using these 5 tips.