Single parent - teaching child 999

[starrynight009]

Hi all,

I live on my own as a single mum with a nearly 6 year old and I've been shaken up recently by a local mum collapsing at home whilst alone with her two young children. I want to teach my daughter to call 999...something I should have done a long time ago. Problem is we have no landline and my mobile phone is always locked in case it gets stolen. Doing an emergency call with my locked phone is weirdly complicated and I constantly lose my phone in my house myself so she'd never find it quickly anyway.

Has anyone come up with a solution for this? I wonder if it's worth getting a landline or a cheap pay as you go mobile phone which I can leave unlocked and in the same place in the house so she knows where it is. Obviously won't help when we're out and about but we don't tend to go places where we're completely alone so I worry less about that.

Or is it best to just teach her to leave the house and knock on neighbours doors? We know our neighbours well enough.

What do you all do?

A charged accessible brick PAYG with no password to unlock sounds very sensible

Idk about I phones but my android has an "emergency" option on the lock screen that allows calls to 999

When DD was around that age school taught them how/when to call 999 in drama class and also made them learn off a few important phone numbers (mainly close family members) as homework one week. I think it’s a good idea in general for everyone to do as in an emergency situation you may not have a mobile phone full of contacts available

I was also a single mum with the same concerns - we had a landline so I made sure that DD knew how to use it and wrote some important numbers beside it that she could ring in an emergency (999, DM and one of my sisters who lives nearby).

I’ve taught my kids to get to the emergency call bit of my Lock Screen and how to call 999. We’ve practiced a few times. But landline or brick phone could be an option?

You can call 999 of a mobile without unlocking it you will just have to show her how

Yes I am the same, I have taught my son to use Alexa to call people. Easy peasy, he just says ‘Alexa call 999’

Thanks everyone! I think I'll get a brick phone as, honestly, I can't find my own phone half the time. At least if I get a second one I can tell her where it is and it can stay there, i'll just have to check it's charged up once in a while.

May I also add, teach her your address. Many children this age have no idea beyond 'I'm at home'

If you often can't find your own phone, are you really going to remember to charge a rarely used one?
Maybe get a 'home' for your phone when you're in the house?

Knock on neighbours door I reckon. If it's the middle of the night, your phone might be in a predictable spot?

Fireman Sam is quite good for showing how to make an emergency call, and you can find the script online to role play an emergency call with her. I remember doing this at brownies.