Teaching Kids How to Respond to Medical Emergencies

Disclosure: In any review for a product or service, products or compensation may have been provided to me to help facilitate my review. All opinions are my own and honest. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC Guidelines. Please see “Disclose” and "Terms of Use" tabs for more information.

When we have children, it’s our responsibility to mentor and mold them—to teach them all of the things
that they need to know to thrive as adolescents and young adults. In the midst of teaching them about
manners, hygiene and life values, sometimes other things are inadvertently overlooked; things that are just
as important, like how to respond to medical emergencies.

If this is not something that you’ve given a lot of thought to, but you know that it’s vital to your child’s
personal development, here are three things to teach them about what to do should an unfortunate
circumstance like a medical emergency present itself.

Teach them some important phone numbers. Every day, the news features heart-wrenching stories of
children that witnessed a parent, grandparent or babysitter that was hurt in the home, but they didn’t know
what to do. Depending upon the age of the child and the situation at hand, their ability to assist may be
limited, but they can always call someone. Make sure they know how to dial 9-1-1, along with a couple
of other numbers, including a neighbor and your cell number if you happen to be away at the time. In this
cell phone age, a lot of people do not have home phones. However, if you have a child living with you,

because of this issue, make sure that you do and that the numbers are also posted as a way of back-up on
the refrigerator or in their room.
Encourage them not to panic by role playing with them. Honestly, this one is hard for even adults
to follow through on because an emergency implies something happening that was totally unexpected.
However, it’s important that if there is a medical emergency, especially when there is not another adult at
home, that a child is able to clearly and properly convey their name, their address and what is going on
around them. If they are young children, don’t expect them to remember more than the basic facts. Once
they are middle school age, it’s a good idea to do a bit of role playing of different kinds of instances so that
they can learn what the most beneficial response may be. Make sure to let them know that no matter what
happens, it wasn’t their fault and that there’s no real “right or wrong” in these kinds of situations. The most
important thing is that they do their best.
Get a neighbor involved. There used to be a time when everyone knew their neighbors. That’s not always
the case these days, but if you have children, this is something that should be made a priority. Depending
on the severity of the matter, a child needs to know that there is an adult somewhere nearby, even if it’s
just for the sake of comfort. Make sure that one of your neighbors has a couple of your emergency phone
numbers too. Also, be sure to ask permission to discuss with them, in front of your child, that it’s OK for
your child to run over to their home should they need some help. No one is looking for a pharmd educated
neighbor, but if there is an adult that’s accessible in times like these, it brings about a feeling of relief to all
that are involved.