Ice, teaching 911, vital information

Ice

Ice presents a danger to children. Several children are killed each year by underestimating ice, and their ability to walk on it. Frozen ponds make a great play surface for unsupervised children, who like to run and slide across the icy surface. But if they fall in, the coldness of the water, can numb their whole body, making it a bad situation for even children who swim. If the child gets completely submerged, it is also likely they will come up under the ice, not in the original break they fell into. In cold weather, the water can begin to ice together again almost immediately, trapping the child under the ice. Needless to say, it is dangerous.

·	Don’t let children play unsupervised alone, during the winter especially! Not only is there a risk for this, but hypothermia, frostbite, potential sledding accidents, exposure to the elements., are all reasons to supervise your child when out during the winter.

·	Never walk on a frozen body of water, whether it be a lake, pond, stream, or river, unless it is pre-approved by experts for winter sporting.

·	Fill a bucket up with ice cubes, and then have your child stick their hand into it. Have them keep their hand under the water for a few seconds to see how cold it is. Use this demonstration to illustrate how much they never want to fall into a frozen lake or pond.

Teaching your child how to dial 911

911 is an effective tool for children to use. It has been used countless numbers of times successfully by children, not only to protect themselves, but to help get aid to a parent who may be in an emergency situation. Teaching your child how to use 911, even young children, might end up saving your own life.

·	Teach children the number 911, and how to dial it, as soon as they learn to talk, or at about 2 1/2 years of age.

·	Show them where the numbers are on the phone, and show them how to pretend dial it using toy phones or a real phone without touching the buttons.

·	Explain to them that this is a number they can use if they need to get help, but only if it is a real emergency. Give them examples of what might be a real emergency that they would use the number for.

·	Explain to older children how important it is never to play around with that number. Explain to them that once they dial it, it tracks their phone number, and if they are ever caught playing around with that number, the police will know who they are as soon as they dial.

·	Make sure that children do not confuse the number 9-1-1, with 9-11. This has been a problem in the past, and could be even more so after the September 11th episode.

Teach Children Vital information
Begin to teach children their vital information at a young age. This should include:

1	Their first and last name

2	Their parent’s names

3	Their address

4	Their phone number