*SAFETY TIP* for your young children

[Shagley]

There has been quite a bit of talk on some of the other boards lately about people saving money and dropping their land line phones and only having cell phones. That reminded me of a tragic event that happened locally a few years ago, so I wanted to make everyone aware of something that many people don't even think about.

Even though many young children are taught to call 911 in an emergency, please make sure they know HOW to use your specific telephone - whether it be a cellular phone, or a cordless phone.

A few years ago there was a case where a 4 year old could have saved his Mom's life, because he had been taught in school to dial 911 in an emergency. But, at school they taught them on an old land line phone and all they had to do is pick up the phone and dial the numbers to be connected to help. This little boy's Mom only had a cordless phone, and the little boy didn't know he had to push the "talk" button to turn on the phone before you could dial. He tried to call 911 for 2 days, but the phone never worked for him (and he was always told not to leave the apartment by himself, so he didn't go out to get help) - and his Mom ended up dying. Please teach your kids exactly what they need to do to call out on your specific phones. They may know that they need to call 911 in an emergency, but please make sure they know HOW to call 911 on your phones.

 

[PrincessMommyof2]

As an employee in public safety, I thank you for this post.

 

[babiesX2]

Thank you for this post. Excellent point!

 

[NotUrsula]

We have always made it a point to do this, and it is not just your kids -- teach your spouse, too! Everyone in a family should know how to operate every phone, none of this "Dad's Blackberry is for work only; never, never touch it!" stuff. If it works as a phone, everyone in the household should know how to use it to make a call. Have them practice by calling one of the other phones in the household and role-playing.

Remember that with a wireless phone, the person calling has to give clear directions to where you are; the 911 locator systems normally don't work with cell phones. Role-play with your kids that the operator will ask them questions and they should answer as best that they can. It isn't enough to know to how to dial 911 - they have to stay on the phone, and not drop it or fail to respond when the operator speaks to them.

When you are driving around, teach your kids how to recognize a landmark or describe their surroundings from an adult's eye-view. It is a good skill to have for a lot of reasons.

You should also set up your wireless phones to easily pull up an emergency contact address in case you end up hurt and paramedics need to contact your family. Some people put the info in under the heading ICE (for "in case of emergency"). I did mine before that became a popular thing, and what I did was enter it as "!Emergency contact" -- putting a punctuation mark at the beginning of the name will put it at the top of the address book, so it is the first number that pops up when you click on the contacts list.

Oh, and most important of all? Keep phones charged! No phone that has batteries is going to be any good if the battery is dead.