When did you teach your DC about dialling 999? And how?

[MiaSparrow]

I feel DD's old enough to get her head around it now - she's 3.2. But what to say? How on earth do you get them to understand it's only for emergencies?

She's just rather brilliantly told a sales caller where to go: Can I speak to your Mummy or Daddy, please? DD: No, I have to go and finish my Weetabix now. Bye!

So yes, she LOVES the phone.

My ds is an avid viewer of Fireman Sam and he's picking up the concept of dialling 999 from there. Whenever he mentions it I always tell him that that's the number for people who can help us if we need it but we must only phone them if we need special help really quickly like if there's a fire or if we're so poorly we can't go to the doctors. I've no idea if I'm doing it right. He's 3.1. I don't let him play with my phone or the landline just in case he calls them accidentally!

That's the thing, though isn't it? If they're not used to using the phone in general, will they actually dial 999 when it comes to it? Seems there's a VERY fine line. I know I've dialled 999 as a small child out of curiosity...

I don't think that he'd know which number to press to dial 999 just yet. I think, as he gets older, I'll teach him what to do in an emergency and what an emergency actually is. He does have a toy phone that he plays with and talks into, as well as being allowed to talk on the real phone to real people when I call them for him. It is a fine line isn't it.
I remember doing a lesson with some Y1 children about dialling the emergency services so I would imagine that when they get to around 5 they'd have the language and understanding required to grasp the concept properly.