Preparing Your Child To Make A 9-1-1 Call Parents Families.com

Preparing Your Child To Make A 9-1-1 Call

One of the first things I taught Tyler as soon as he learned his numbers was how to dial 9-1-1 for emergencies. I explained how important it was that he dial the number only when there was a problem such as if I became sick and he couldn’t wake me. If you haven’t taught your child how to use this lifesaving service, you definitely should. Don’t know where to start? Here are a few tips:

(1) Make sure your child knows what constitutes an emergency. What’s an emergency to a young child may not actually be one. Give concrete examples such as if mommy or daddy is hurt or sick and can’t wake up, if someone is chocking on food, if someone is trying to break into the house, if there’s a fire, etc.

(2) Role-play what might happen after the call is made. Let your child know that an operator will answer the phone and ask what the emergency is. Explain that they should tell the operator what happened as clearly as they can. Make sure your child knows his address because the operator will ask for verification. If your child is calling from a landline phone the call will be traced but the operator will still ask for the location. If calling from a cell phone, your child will definitely need to know the address.

(3) Explain to your child that they should not hang up until the operator tells them to do so. Also, if they get a recording they should not hang up, but stay on the line because calls are answered in the order they are received. Hanging up will simply delay help.

(4) Most importantly, make sure your child knows they are never to make crank 9-1-1 calls. If they happen to dial the number by mistake they should tell the operator. If they simply hang up, the police might be dispatched to your house to make sure everything is okay.

Training should be done as soon as your child recognizes his numbers and can dial a phone. If you have an old phone you can use it to practice dialing. Fortunately, kids sometimes don’t understand the seriousness of medical emergencies so they are remarkably calm during times of crisis. And I know none of us wants to think that we’ll have an emergency when we are home alone with a young child but it does happen. The thing to do is equip our kids with the skills necessary to handle the situation.