Many of you will look at the headline of this article and think back about the song of the same name made famous by The Carpenters. Some will remember an older movie and book of the same name. Some may not remember any of them, but suffice it to say that they all deal with the fact that we need to look after the youngest members of our population, as they often don't have the full understanding of the world to make the best decisions.

The National Center for Health Statistics released a report last year on the risk that fire poses to children. The report found that young children face the greatest risk of death or serious injury in home fires. This is sadly reinforced in the news on a regular basis. On Christmas morning of last year in Connecticut, a house fire killed three young children while their mother barely escaped with her life.

The very youngest children need to have a responsible adult look after them in an emergency. This task must be made perfectly clear to the family so there is no confusion later about which adult was in charge of which child. The task must include how to move quickly from the adult's room to the child's room, closing the door and how to escape from the door and the window in an emergency.

Take the entire family along on a fire escape plan of the house. This reinforces the plan to all family members, and information is picked up along the way. Show two ways out of every room in the house, and where the smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors are. Discuss maintenance of the units and test them while they are with you. This gets them used to the sound so they can later recall the source of the sound when awakened at night.

Make sure everyone is aware of the outside family meeting place, and the importance of getting there to do an accountability of all family members. Then discuss the procedures for calling 911 including that 911 should be called from outside the home from a cell phone or neighbor's phone. Lives cannot be replaced, while most contents can.

Young children love to practice fire safety behaviors so give them a chance to show their stuff. The “Stop, Drop and Roll” technique is important to know how to put out a fire if it gets on clothing, but most children don't roll all the way onto their backs - they rock on their front and sides. Help them learn this correctly, and allow plenty of time to practice.

Kids also love to crawl. Once the family escape plan has been discussed, practice it a few times. You can do one practice run standing, and try the next one crawling, as you would to get under the heat and smoke that develop in a house fire. Place emphasis on a hands-and-knees crawl — not a belly crawl. You can crawl much faster on your hands and knees than on your belly, and you should head to an exit.

If you need help with any of these tips, feel free to stop by any Livonia fire station for help.

Tom Kiurski is training coordinator for the Livonia Fire Department.