Improving communication in a large, two-story home with a range of age groups can be both challenging and rewarding. To foster better communication in your home, consider implementing the following strategies. Designate a central area, such as the living room or a dedicated family room, as a gathering space where family members can come together. Establish a routine of weekly family meetings to share experiences, plans, and concerns. Create a shared calendar to keep track of everyone’s schedules and encourage regular updates. Implement tech-free times during the week to promote face-to-face interaction and reduce screen time. Cultivate an open communication environment where family members feel comfortable expressing themselves. Engage in shared hobbies and activities to build stronger bonds, and schedule one-on-one check-ins with teenagers to discuss their interests and experiences. Set guidelines for technology use to ensure a healthy balance between online and offline activities. Facilitate sibling bonding activities to strengthen relationships within the family. Lastly, celebrate each family member’s achievements, fostering a positive atmosphere and encouraging ongoing communication in the home.
Adults may spend time in other rooms to do their hobbies, work in the garage, doing laundry, cooking in the kitchen, playing with the kids, watching tv. It’s all very random and not usually planned, it’s just living.
Suddenly something happens that is unexpected, storms are getting more intense outside. The weather station comes on tv and announces there are severe thunderstorms coming into the area and a tornado warning has been issued, they say “please go to the center part of your home in a closet as the storm is approaching.” The typical warning time is 12 minutes, so you have time to go to each room and gather the family “usually” but sometimes it’s within a few minutes.
Other emergencies in the home could be more time sensitive. While it’s rare, something as drastic as a fire could prove to be challenging when trying to warn your family. If it starts in the kitchen your first thought is to find a way to extinguish it, most homes have a fire extinguisher available. However, you may have to do it the old-fashioned way depending on the type of fire; grease fire, electrical, spark from a gas stove ignited a towel. In those cases, maybe you won’t be able to extinguish it quickly and need to call the fire department and evacuate the home.
Thirty years ago, you had on average about 14 to 17 minutes to escape a house fire, according to Consumer Safety Director John Drengenberg of Underwriters Laboratories (UL). “Today, with the prevalence of synthetic materials in the home, occupants have roughly 2 to 3 minutes to get out.”
Most deaths from a home fire are due to toxic smoke that fill the home very quickly. “The ‘smoke’ is mostly carbon monoxide, but also contains cyanide. Many homes contain a lot of synthetic materials such as rubber, plastic or foam. When those materials burn, they can cause house fire cyanide poisoning.” Cyanide is a poisonous chemical gas that prevents your body from absorbing and using oxygen.
Hopefully a smoke detector will go off and assist you, but the bottom line is you must get everyone out of your home quickly. How do you communicate to an entire family all at once they need to come downstairs and go outside? Text them? Call them? Go upstairs and try to get them?
In a moment like that communication is vital! It’s a “life or death” situation. Preparing for the worse-case-scenario is always better than no plan at all.
What people consider “old technology” actually creates a great way to communicate with your entire family all at once!
Home Intercoms are still the best way to reach everyone instantly in a home. Every room has a speaker that plays music but is also used for communicating. You push one button at the master station downstairs an tell everyone “Dinner is served”, the teenager can call back to say, “what are we having”. Dad can call from the garage to say he has grease on his hands, but he’ll wash up and be there in a few minutes.
IN AN EMERGENCY this is excellent technology! If you can’t extinguish the fire, you use the intercom to say “Fire! Get out of the house!”. Everyone gets the message, and you are out of the home and safe. Of course, a pre-curser to this is to have an evacuation plan, in advance of an emergency.
if you are building a new home, will you consider installing this technology? It’s a small price to pay, around $2000.00 to put this in every room. You would also get a Front Door Station to answer the front door via the Intercom System and a Patio Station for communication and music. Music can be broadcast through the home via the Master Station using the built-in AM/FM Radio, MP3 and Bluetooth Technology. Future systems will link with your security system, use Wifi technology, stereo and music options in each room and work with Alexa.
