Do you have a landline? How would your kids make emergency calls?

[allegrolinda3]

Do y’all have landlines at home? If not, do you have any setup where your kids could make emergency calls?

I use my cell phone as my primary phone. My kids are too young to have phones (pre-k), but my oldest is old enough to have my number memorized, and it occurred to me I should also teach him about 9-1-1 and who to call in case of an emergency. Except, first I’d need to make sure he has a mechanism to make a call in case of emergency.

Curious how other parents approach.

 

[verytired]

@allegrolinda3 Do you have an Alexa at home? They can call anyone on my contact list using Alexa.

 

[allegrolinda3]

@verytired We do. I haven’t enabled Alexa to access my contacts to date, but this is probably a good approach. (Not a way to teach them about 9-1-1, but at least gives them a plan in case of emergency). Can you authorize Alexa to call some contacts but not others?

 

[verytired]

@allegrolinda3 I have no idea if you can adjust contact settings in Alexa, but it’s super helpful for them to just say “Alexa call Simon” (my husband) when they need to.

 

[stars_andwonder]

@allegrolinda3 Haven’t had a landline in ages. I did use a voip box to google voice with a landline phone, but honestly never used it.

FYI, you can call 911 with an old or disconnected cell phone. They can’t call it back and it may not have location.

 

[aedani]

@allegrolinda3 I trained my daughter how to call 911 from an early age, discussion and reinforcement regularly. She also has a phone that is not connected to the cellular network and knows how to call emergency services from that phone. She knows that you can still call emergency services without even unlocking a device. And she has our home address memorized. It's great that you are thinking about that!

 

[lov2speaktongues]

@allegrolinda3 We have a house phone that is available for use by anyone in the house. It is great not just for emergencies but a phone the kids can use to talk to friends and family and one of us can use as a backup phone in case our phone is broken until we get a new one.