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Why young kids should know first aid

By Mark Cox
May 6, 2011 at 10:25 am

The funniest thing about young children – particularly very young sprogs – is they generally don’t realise when they’re being funny. The Red Cross recently did some research among primary schoolchildren to test their first aid knowledge. Here’s a few of our questions and some of the best answers:

What can you do to tell if a person is breathing?
- Cut a gap in their neck.
- Chuck water over them.
- Poke them.

What would you do if a person was not breathing?
- Say to the person: ‘are you breathing’?
- Make sure they don’t die.
- Heimlich remover.

What would you do if your friend burnt their hand?
- Cut it off.
- Put sand on it.
- Stick them in the freezer for one minute.

Do you know what to do if your friend is choking?
- Tell them to stop eating too much.
- Squeeze them on their heart.
- Make them hold their throat.

I especially like the Heimlich remover. In fairness though, it must be a bit daunting for wee kiddies trying to take on board all those first aid facts.

And that’s why the Red Cross has just launched an online first aid education resource to help younglings aged 5 to 11 grasp the basic essentials. It’s specially designed so that teachers – without the need for any prior training – can show children exactly how to give first aid, while gently discouraging them from cutting casualties through the neck or sticking them in freezers. Genius or what?

PS. I’m sure you already know but, just in case, here’s some links with the correct answers to the above breathing, non-breathing, burny and choking questions.

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This entry was posted on Friday, May 6th, 2011 at 10:25 am and is filed under First aid. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • Abbotabel8

     Discuss with your child the purpose of all of the items in the first
    aid kit, making sure that they know that it’s to be used only in case
    of emergencies.  You should check all batteries and the expiration
    dates on ointments and medicines every 3-6 months, and get your child
    involved in the process so that they’ll know the importance of keeping
    the first aid kit up-to-date and well-stocked.

  • jashim uddin

    Its very important for children to know first aid and emergencies. If they don’t have it they can’t take actual steps or they will take wrong steps whats are very dangerous for them.

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Mark Cox

Mark Cox

Mark Cox is UK services writer at the British Red Cross.

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