Emergency! What to Teach Your Kids About Safety and First-Aid

Teach Prevention. The most common ailment that brings children to the emergency room is injury from falls, says Lois Lee, M.D., director of the Injury Prevention Program at Children’s Hospital Boston. The second most common is injury from motor vehicle crashes – the No. 1 cause of death among kids in the United States. There are two “always” that should be observed, Lee says: Always wear a helmet when biking, skateboarding or rollerblading, and always wear a seatbelt when in the car.

Be Prepared.

Post emergency phone numbers on the refrigerator or where they can be easily seen. Include 911, and numbers for the doctor, parents’ cell phones and close neighbors. List any special medical conditions, such as asthma and allergies, and instructions for what a child should do if he is having an asthmatic attack or allergic reaction and a parent isn’t home. Buy a first-aid kit or assemble your own with antiseptic ointment, bandages and gauze pads, tweezers and Band-Aids® in various sizes. Include instant cold packs, or keep an ice pack in the freezer. Talk with your kids about when to use each item and keep everything where they can find it. Child health experts recommend that teens learn CPR around age 15, younger if they plan on babysitting.

Emphasize the Rules.

"The most important thing for a child’s safety and well-being is to follow the rules laid out by the parents," says Cronan. Children should not answer the front door when home alone, and parents should lock up alcohol, medications and guns, she says. Other rules can be made on a case-by-case basis. Decide, for example, whether kids will be allowed to play on the Internet, cook or have friends over when home alone.

For more information on safety and first -aid, visit:

American Red Cross - Offers classes for kids and teens, including Babysitter Training and Basic Aid Training for ages 8-10.

Hinda Mandell is a freelance writer from Needham, Massachusetts.
First published in the Boston Parents Paper, May 2008