Kissing away your kids’ boo-boos and ouchies will only take them so far. To prepare them for future emergencies, try equipping your little ones with basic first-aid skills instead.
It’s never too early to start – studies have shown that kindergarteners as young as age four or five have the capacity to learn and perform basic first aid.
Here are six key skills you can start teaching your child today.
1. Calling MERS999
Make sure your child knows how to call the number for Malaysia Emergency Response Services – 999 – for professional help during an emergency. Stick this number up next to your phone at home.
If you live in an apartment, make sure your child knows what floor you live on.
Teach your younger children how to operate a phone, and also highlight what constitutes an emergency. You wouldn’t want the police to be called in just because baby brother broke his big sister’s favourite toy!
2. Using a first-aid kit
Children love role-playing doctor. Build on their interest by showing them how to use basic first-aid supplies such as plasters, saline sprays, bandages and thermometers.
Equip your home with a child-appropriate first-aid kit filled with essentials that are easily accessible to your young one during emergencies.
Depending on the age of your child, or if they have younger siblings, keep toxic items separate in a more complete kit, locked high away from the reach of little hands.
3. Fire safety
Make sure your child is aware of appropriate fire-safety responses. If the house fills with smoke, stay low and crawl to the nearest exit. If their clothes catch on fire, they should know how to stop, drop and roll.
Incorporate some fun into your child’s lessons through the use of fire-safety games, or practise drills. Pretend to ring a fire bell and shout out the details of a mock fire emergency, so your child can decide on the appropriate actions to take.
4. Stopping bleeding
Cuts and scrapes are part and parcel of growing up. But what happens if that ugly gash is bleeding badly?
Teach your child to apply pressure on their wound with a clean cloth or bandage stored in the first-aid kit. Do not remove the first bandage if it is soaked through, but place another clean one on top.
Remind your kids to check on their wounds, even after the bleeding has stopped, to assess the seriousness of their injury.
If the wound doesn’t stop bleeding, you and your child should know how to seek external help.
5. Taking care of burns
Even for those with an off-limits kitchen area, accidental burns could result from something as unexpected as a spilt cup of hot coffee. Make sure your child knows not to apply ice packs on the affected area, as this could further damage the tissue.
Instead, hold the area under cool, but not cold, running water for a minimum of 20 minutes. Then apply cool wet compresses until the pain subsides.
6. Treating nosebleeds
Nosebleeds can be frightening, especially for younger children. If your child has not experienced one yet, prepare them for this highly possible scenario.
Remind them that nosebleeds are almost always harmless. Teach them to sit and lean their head slightly forward – not back – while breathing through their mouths.
Your child should then pinch their nose just below the bridge for at least 10 minutes, and be patient. Applying a cold compress to the area can also help.
Lastly and most importantly: always teach your child to stay calm in an emergency situation.
Click here to read the original article, which includes a list of resources for teaching your young one first aid.
This article was written by Elaine Yeoh for makchic, a Malaysian-based online site for chic, curious, and spirited parents, and has been providing trustworthy and authentic family-related content since 2013. For diverse stories of parenthood that inform, support, and uplift all families, visit makchic.com and follow them on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.