To teach my 5 yo to call 999 in an emergency?

Cubs leader here, but also did Squirrels for 2 years and did Emergency Aid Level 1 with them (I do level 3 with Cubs) and they all ‘got it’ so definitely not too young at age 4.

My DC are all grown up now. I was a lone parent. DC by age 2 knew how to call 999 on a landline and to say what was wrong, name age and address.

DC decided to prove that that was the case whilst I was in the shower one morning after watching an episode of postman Pat with the emergency services and calling 999 telling them that I’d left him and there was a fire. 🙈

As part of their ‘people who help us’ topic, DD’s primary school did role play scenarios based on having to ring emergency services. I became a single mum when she was 6 - I made sure that she knew how to use the landline and put emergency contact numbers for DM and my sister beside it.

I am rainbow leader and we cover this in rainbows (age 4-7y) as part of our first aid badge. Knowing how to ask for an ambulance, that you will go through to operator first, practising saying full address, explaining that you need help etc.

With my own rainbow, we reinforced at home by showing her how to dial 999 on my phone, how to open the front door, etc. She is very sensible so can trust she wouldn't misuse. We also taught that if she couldn't open the front door for any reason, to go to the back door and shout help to our neighbours (she knows all their names).

We live in London, so for getting lost we have talked to her about who to ask for help on the tube / public transport, not getting on a train etc, pushing the big red help button. The silicone wristband idea above is a good one though, especially for school trips.

Absolutely yes!

When I was a Guide Leader (with my own Rainbow unit too) I taught girls appropriate first aid and emergency calls from the age of 5. How to make the call, what information the call handler might ask, even doing practice scenarios with my Leaders pretending to be the call handlers.

Little ones should also know their full name, address.

If I was still in GGUK I’d also teach the older girls (older Brownies and up) about WhatThreeWords too.

Appropriate to age first aid is also a good skill, adding
more knowledge as your child gets older and able to
do things like CPR (it takes a lot of oomph!), assessing for injuries (teens), specialist knowledge on things like hypothermia for older teens that may be more adventurous and go out and about.

I had one Brownie (nearly 8) who was given a bravery award at school for helping her friend who’d fractured their arm when they were at the park
and friends fell, getting help from another adult present who called 999, reassuring her friend, making sure she didn’t move until help was there, giving the ambo crew on scene help with address to find friend’s parents, she was calm throughout, and an absolute star!

St John’s Ambulance have a variety of resources and training, starting from 5 years old with Badgers.

Parents should learn basic first aid too (so many easy to follow tutorials on YouTube from the St John Ambulance channel). That includes treating minor illnesses, knowing the signs when to get help and when it’s safe to treat at home.

Lead by example!

I taught DD and DS basic first aid as kids, now both adults, DD works in the NHS on the frontline, DS’s MIL is a paramedic and ensures he keeps his knowledge up to date lol!

I can only speak for Apple products, but you can dial 999 from a mobile phone; if the screen is locked, tap ‘Emergency’ and then 999 as usual.

I also taught both kids water safety, vital especially with teens and this hot weather.

yanbu
if you travel a lot to europe teach to dial 112, which also works in uk.

My mum taught me to do this on a landline when I was 3. Not 999 but my grandparents number. I had to do it too as she was unresponsive with sepsis. I managed ok but had to do it twice to get through.

I taught ds to use the landline when he was 5, and rehearsed an emergency call with him by role playing it. We also had a list of numbers for dh, my parents and ILs and our address (just first line and postcode) next to the phone. He also knew where the door keys were should he need to let emergency service people in after making a call or get out in an emergency. He was a very sensible 5yo though, which helped. I was pregnant at the time and had low blood pressure that made me prone to fainting and was worried I may faint or fall while dh was at work. He never needed it thankfully, but he’s now a very sensible 19yo, he even insisted on sharing Men B symptom posters and emergency contact information in his uni flat WhatsApp group

With regards to getting lost and stranger danger.

I told mine to shout my full name instead of "mum" because it's more likely you'll register a faint "first name, surname" than "mum" , especially if you're in a child friendly place and there are lots of kids talking to their mums.

I told them to look for a person that worked there and I told them not to leave the place/shop they were in.

I also talked to them about 'tricky adults' rather than stranger danger. Mostly covered by the idea that normal adult strangers never ask kids for help or offer them treats. And to always trust your gut. I also showed them the clip from kindergarten cop where the class points at the wrongun and screams "stranger, stranger, stranger" at him. I told them to make a big fuss because a tricky adult would feel scared of all the normal adults around them knowing he was weird and the normal adults would make sure everything was safe.

Ah that's really dreadful, sorry to hear that. We've had a couple of burglaries on our short road but thankfully nobody got hurt, just stuff taken.

Yes, we've taught our nearly 5YO how to call emergency services. I have a landline on my desk for work so we've taught him on that and we've practiced what to say on there by simulating a real call. He can say our address and knows our names.

I was going to suggest Echo/Alexa but I didn't realise it can't call emergency services. As a back up could you teach them to call someone who would be able to intervene?

Alternatively do you have an Apple Watch or similar? My DS has accidentally called emergency services on that before while I was wearing it.

We had to discuss intruders unfortunately as a neighbour was attacked a couple of years ago and it really scared my son. So we put a plan in place following that. The previous “loose plan” to burglars was to send me after them as a naked Scottish woman with a temper at the best of times woken up from sleep with mumma bear protective instincts would be enough to scare anyone stupid enough to break in 🤣

You need to make sure your DC know their own full name, your full name and at least part of your address.

The other safety thing to teach kids is that unknown adults never ever need their “help”

A genuine adult who needs help, asks an adult, not a child.

My Mum has an Alexa that calls me and sends me an SOS text if she tells it to call for help- maybe set that up with a friend or relative?

Its obviously a joke to reassure them, my children know their and my names.

They say their own names. If you read my comment, this happened to me many many times as a child. "To the mum of Kingdom, your child is here". In different languages in different countries, because it happened A LOT.

If this has never happened to you, well, you don't have the experience i have.

Agree with making sure they know your name, and their address.

When my siblings and I were young 6, 5 and 3), we lived abroad for a short while. My parents drummed our address into us, like a chant. 55 years later, we can still all recite it at the drop of a hat!

My son’s martial arts class covered this as part of his grading and we continued the lessons at home. learning phone numbers and home address. covered calling 999, and what to do if a fire starts in the house, stay low to the ground, how to get out of the house etc. if you are lost in a shop look for someone in uniform.

Absolutely. This is one reason why a landline is essential. People don’t realise how hard it can be for their young DC to access their phone. All they need to do with a landline is pick it up and press 999.

Teach your child fire safety. Teach them never to hide from the fire - never get in a cupboard. Get down on the floor where the air will be cleanest. As well as the usual about not messing with matches and candles.

In terms of getting lost, teach them to ask shop staff for help. Failing that, a woman with DC.

Alexa cannot call emergency sevices in tbe UK.
You can set it up to call an emergency contact.

Make a call. I’m a type 1 diabetic and on my own. I’ve always told my kids from as soon as they could understand the words what to do and say. I’d do regular reminders too. It may freak them out a bit so you have to be calm and reassuring. And you need to make sure your phone is kept in a regular place.

Yes probably from starting school so from 4. We also had embossed silicone wristbands that they wore if we were out and about which had our phone numbers on them, google, there are loads of companies that do this now. I actually recommended them to the school for school trips with the school mobile phone number on it.

I said if you lose me, stand still and shout my first name, turn around slowly in a circle and look for me. Do not move from that spot. I will always come back for you.

If you lose them you are meant to start yelling I am looking for a boy, he is blonde, 6 years old and he is wearing blue shorts and a white t shirt, never their name. This makes it very obvious to anyone around you who you are looking for rather than just shouting a name, you could be looking for your dog.

Mine knew how to check for breathing and how to check if a heart is beating. Also recovery position but that is hard for little ones. Also that the lifeguards are an emergency service too.

Something for tinies, when they're out in public, knowing their parents' actual name ie not 'mummy'!

I've not tried it but calling 999 from Alexa is s great shout for small children or indeed anytime someone can't reach or access a phone.

Nobody is going to say that over a tannoy. You need to teach them your names.

Make sure he learns your names. I used to work in a shop and if a child got separated from their parents the only thing we could page for was their name. Unfortunately a lot of kids did not know their parents names.

News article with offical advice from a few days ago

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdrvjjz04jjo