Children calling 999

Small children are capable of using a mobile. My son knew how to unlock mine from being very young although as others have said you can make emergency calls from a locked phone, not sure that was the case when DS was small.

Remember to also teach them their name and address and your mobile number. My son could recite my number from being 2 or 3. He was a runner and I was scared he might get lost! He was also told to approach a member of staff or someone with children if that happened, it never did.

All that aside, theres nothing stopping you having/keeping a landline phone if you prefer. I have only recently got rid of mine.

Also if you have fibre broadband at home you can plug in a phone via your router, you do actually have a telephone connection even if like us you never use it.

I have emergency on my Lock Screen on my iPhone, if you tap it you can then dial 999. Very simple

If they dial 911 by mistake as a lot of kids are influenced by American stuff on YouTube etc it will still put them through to our 999 operators.Found this out recently at first aid training for work.

Not really. This is a non issue.

if the address is too tricky for small kids then teach them the what3words words to give. That will get the emergency services to the right place.

I haven’t had a landline in 20 years.
I can’t see the logic in keeping a landline on the off chance an accident may happen in the home and a child may need to contact emergency services and might not know how to do it via a mobile phone.

I’d presume most children are shown how to call emergence services on a mobile phone - It was on the curriculum of the stay safe program in DDs school.

Don’t forget they need to know their address!

I’ve been through it with my DC, although they’re old enough to have phones now.

They also learnt how to contact the emergency services at school, as well as first aid and how to use the AED and do CPR which is fantastic.

I've nearly always been alone with DC as ex worked long hours. I don't think they'd manage dialling 999 on my phone so I've told them to go to a neighbour, we're lucky to have a lot of friends and teachers on our street though. It did used to worry me when we lived remotely

Agreed, you just show them what to do. It's no more complicated than picking up the phone and pressing the numbers

-and then making an emergency call from a locked phone is a bit complicated for smaller children.

It's not really. Show them what to do.

I've shown my 5 year old how to make an emergency call on my phone.

You could also buy an unlocked PAYG brick phone that you keep charged in an accessible location.

The best argument for landlines is actually that its possible for 999 to instantly trace your exact address with them, whereas from a mobile its GPS - which is not always totally reliable. So you also need to make sure the child knows their address.

To add to my post above, I have an android and having added my emergency contacts anyone can call them from the "emergency call" button on my lock screen.

There's also space for medical information.

I'm sure dialling 999 used to override the pass code but maybe I'm forgetting. I would teach children how to use landlines & make an emergency call from a mobile...and if out & about to ask an adult to call 999

But yes, good argument for landlines and I think they've having a bit of a resurgence anyway

As a nanny, I've always taught children from about 4 or 5 (depending on the individual child) how to call 999 using the emergency button on the lock screen, also making sure that they know their address and how to unlock the front door (if asked to by an adult).
My sister's kids saved her life by calling for an ambulance at age 6 and 4 when she fell unconscious due to a diabetic hypo. It's really important that kids know how to do this.

You can dial 999 from a locked phone.

Mine has an "emergency call" button below where you enter the pass code.