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

[Sparklesbigtoe]

Ok I’m probably not BU. Just posting for traffic. But I’m wondering if you have a 4-6 yr old, what have you taught them (if anything) to do in various emergency situations? Eg. Alone in house with unconscious parent, getting lost in public, strangers etc? I’m a single parent and live alone with my 5 yr old son. I worry sometimes that he wouldn’t know what to do if I had some kind of accident and became unconscious. I’ve switched between telling him to go to the next door neighbour and calling 999 on my phone. But both could be complicated- my phone is often in random places around the house and he might not be able to find it, the neighbours might not be home, he’s not strong enough to unlock the big lock on the door that gets locked at night etc etc. So just wondering, esp if you’re a single parent, what have you taught your dc to do in this situation? And also if they get lost? I’ve told him to tell someone who works at wherever we are if poss eg. A train station or if that’s not possible, to look for a woman with kids (which I remember was what my mum always taught me). Regarding any kind of potential abuse I’ve told him never to keep secrets and not to believe anyone who says they will hurt him or his family if he doesn’t keep a secret. But I’m wondering if there are better ways to go about these things, so any advice much appreciated!

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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. 🙈

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.