Tuesday, 03 February 2009
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Family Safety -Does Your Child Know What to do in an Emergency?
by Mama Fox 
My mom emailed me this morning after she heard of a 3 year old who called 911 after her pregnant mother fainted. I looked up the story, which happened over the summer. Her mother just the week before taught her daughter a song on how to dial on her cell phone. When her mother fell and lost consciousness, the girl grab the blackberry and dialed just like her song. They were able to trace the call within a block and the little girl was able to describe her house and her parents' cars and got help to her mother.
It's such a great story and a very important lesson. A few months ago our family talked about when and how to call 911, as well as a fire drill practice. My older boys (3 and 5 years old) know their full names, our address here and and my oldest knows my phone number. We talked about what an emergency is and the different times it's okay to call 911 - like if Mama or Daddy fell and won't wake up, if we are hurt and tell them to or if there's a stranger trying to get into our house.We also told them that if there's a fire, to get outside, don't worry about the phone. We role played a bit and they practiced dialing it on an unplugged cordless phone and I showed H how to call from my cell phone. I told him to use the house phone first though.
We also told them if they call they need to tell the dispatcher what is wrong, tell them our address and stay on the phone until someone, a police officer, a firefighter or an EMS worker, comes to our house. I am confidant that our boys will handle an emergency well because we have taken the time to teach them. It's never too early to teach them about safety. Keep practicing so they know what to do if the situation needs it.Do your children know their address? Have you talked with them about when and how to dial 911? Have you ever had to dial 911 for an emergency?
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About the Author
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- From: mamafox
- Name: Mama Fox
- About Me: Hi y'all, I'm Mama Fox! I'm a young, optimistic homeschooling mama of three boys. This is all about our adventures and at times misadventures of raising little men in today's world and pretty much whatever else is on my mind. :)
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Comments (6)
This is a great post! my 4 year old hasnt learned this, but after this post she sure will! thanks for sharing =)
As an EMT I find it HIGHLY important to teach children when is the proper time to call 911, and also how, it's very important to emphasize the fact that it's ONLY for emergencies, there is nothing worse than putting someone's life on the line to get to a house "in time" to find out it was for a prank call. Since for lack of a better term "I am 911", I find it highly ironic that I have had to call it, but it was for a suspected fire, at my parents house, the week before my wedding.Â
This is very good. I think my little sister is well-versed in our address and so on, but I'm not so sure about my little brother... I should ask my mom to talk to them.
Just a thing to think about, its not all about dialing. I know most people have cell phones these days, but do you have a key pad lock enabled? Have you taught them how to plug it in if it is low on power? Have you taught them how to plug a land line into the wall jack? At my son's last school they taught the basics of 911 dialing, when and how, but they didn't teach how to plug the phone in. One of the moms had a heart attack and her daughter didn't know how to plug the phone into the wall. Mom had unplugged it so she could get some sleep. Several hours later when her father came home it was too late for mom. Make sure they know how do get to a dial tone also. For my kids I keep a laminated sheet with our address and phone numbers just in case. My oldest can read it now, but he has problems with remembering it all for prolonged periods (It doesn't help that we moved recently).
This is a very good post. I have talked to my 7 year old about what to do in case there was an emergency, but I haven't thought to discuss fire situations. I guess that is a subject I need to talk to her about. God forbid we have one but I must prepare her just in case. Thank you for the post.
When my cousin was little, she had a bad memory and a hard time with our address and telephone number. We made both into a song and taught that to her (she LOVED singing). From then on, she never forgot.