Teaching kids to dial 911 isn’t merely emergency preparedness. It could one day safe your life. Most importantly, kids must learn that dialing 911 should never be part of a game, a joke, or a prank.******
SO WHAT SHOULD YOUR CHILD DO AND SAY IN THE EMERGENCY?
*If possible, dial 911 from a house phone and not a cell phone. Tell your children that 911 is actually spelled 9-1-1 on the phone keypad and not 9-11. Have them practice on a pretend keypad or inactivated phone. Tell them never to practice on a real phone.
*Tell your child to stay as calm as possible and teach them coping mechanisms they can use to stay calm.
*Role-play a variety of scenarios with scripts so your children begins to recognize what constitutes an emergency and what isn’t. Practice questions they’ll be asked by the 9-1-1- dispatcher and the answers they should provide.
*When the dispatcher answers the phone, your child must be able to provide his or her name, address, phone number, and must be able to describe a little bit of the emergency. If your child doesn’t know the location of the emergency, educate your child to notice what’s around him such as street signs, buildings, stores, highways,, parks, etc.
*Your child should tell the dispatcher what kind of help is needed (fire, doctor, police, etc.). Most importantly, if the emergency such as a fire or robbery is in your home, your child should know to leave and should know where to go in case of an emergency. Call it a safe place.
*They should tell the dispatcher where the emergency is located.
*They should stay on the phone until the dispatcher tells you to hang up or until emergency help arrives where your child is.
***WHAT IS AN EMERGENCY?
The following are situations that your child should consider an emergency:
A Medical emergency where someone is hurt.
There is a car accident.
You see someone choking.
One of your friends has an allergic reaction to a bee sting or food.
You see a robbery or someone breaks into your house.
Someone has a gun and is threatening to hurt others.
A stranger is following you home from school.
There is a natural disaster like a tornado, an earthquake, a flood, or a landslide.
You see a fire or an explosion.
A friend falls out of the window and gets hurt.
The following situations are not considered emergencies:
You lost your pet, a special toy or stuffed animal.
Your big brother is picking on you.
You’re practicing a fake emergency.
You’re bored and making a prank call.
You’re lonely and bored.
Do teach your child that using 911 for a non emergency, especially for a crank call is illegal because it prevents real calls from getting to the dispatchers. If real emergencies can’t get through the phone lines, innocent people can get hurt or die.
