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.

 

[allegrolinda3]

@lov2speaktongues Is it a land line, or more like an extra low tech cell?

 

[lov2speaktongues]

@allegrolinda3 Extra cellphone

 

[mrsoolee]

@allegrolinda3 I showed my 5 year old how to make emergency calls on my phone. If you have an iPhone, they can call 911 without unlocking the phone, I’m guessing other phones have a similar feature.
I showed her because I have a weird fear of something happening to me while I’m home alone with them. My phone is pretty much always within an arms reach of me and so I’m sure they could find it if needed.
We’ve also been working on memorizing our address too but now we are moving, we’ll have to start over…

 

[jdubya]

@allegrolinda3 If you've been impaired and they need to call for help. Teach them to activate your phone’s emergency setup. On my iPhone they’d have to presss the side button 5 times for 911 to be called, and emergency family members be notified.

 

[biblethumper7]

@allegrolinda3 Here's some tips you might find useful:
https://nt.gov.au/emergency/emergencies/teach-your-child-to-call-000

Remember that in many countries you don't need a SIM in a phone for it to make an emergency call.

Also the number changes from country to country, so here in Australia it's 000 but in the UK it's 999.
Fun fact: the number to get an outside line is usually the same as the first number of your country's emergency number.

 

[faithinaction2]

@allegrolinda3 We have a pinwheel phone for our youngest. It’s a phone parents control through a portal. She can always make emergency calls and listen to music, but can’t access the internet or social media.

 

[lionofjudah5]

@allegrolinda3 Gabb wireless for my 11 year old. Cheap, and no internet or apps.

 

[asmith_20002]

@allegrolinda3 This is going to sound weird but it's honestly nothing I've ever worried about because we've always lived in close proximity to our neighbors or had roommates.

That being said there is a way to set up an emergency SOS on most phones that will call both EMS and an emergency contact if you hit the power button so many times. Also you don't need to teach them to dial 9-1-1 if you hold down the 9 on most phones it will automatically transfer you to 9-1-1 these days. Many of us have found that out the hard way!

 

[tonyhans2011]

@allegrolinda3 No landline here, but we have a prepaid flip phone in the house for emergencies.

Printed out the house address, too, and taped to the phone (for when my kid was too young to have it memorized).