Cuts, scrapes, burns, and bruises can happen to your kids very often. However, you are not always with them when these situations occur. It may happen to them or their classmate when they are playing outside or at school. Teaching your kids first aid prepares them to become more independent as they grow older where they explore more physical and outdoor activities.
What are the main benefits of teaching your kids basic first aid?
- It could help them act calmly during an emergency.
- It will help them provide early treatment to themselves or others when needed.
To teach them first aid, it has to be fascinating and fun so they can learn it. Here are the ways to do just that:
Narrate a story
Every time your kid get a scrape, a nosebleed, a minor burn, or a bump on their head is an opportunity to teach them. Use these scenarios to walk them through the process of how you are treating their injury. For example, your kid had a small scrape. Explain to him the first step you are going to do and what is the purpose of that step (e.g., why you need to use a cleansing wipe and why should it come first).
Involve them in the story
When you are treating their injury, a good way to let them learn and also get their attention away from the pain is to have them do it with you. You can ask your kid to remove the plaster from the packaging for you and have him apply it over his wound.
Roleplay
You don’t always need to wait for an injury to happen before you can teach your kids. You could always improvise and replicate an emergency scenario. Be creative and us a ketchup or a cranberry juice to illustrate blood from a wound. Try to act it out a little bit realistic – act like you are in pain – and teach him step-by-step what to do. You can also use their favorite doll as a subject. Try to explain bone injury or sprained ankle by demonstrating it using their doll or stuffed toy.
Use their imagination
Try to get them as engaged as possible by adding fun to it. Make them feel that they are the superhero in the story. You can also play doctor as this is a proven fun activity that kids play. In this way, they can relax and have fun which will help them learn faster.
Make a first aid kit
Kids love arts and crafts. Try to customize their own first aid kit. You could explain to them what goes inside a basic first aid kit and how each is used. Let them use this kit every time you are doing an emergency roleplay or when you are treating their wound. This will help your child to be more familiar with the contents and understand that a first aid kit is not a toy and is used during emergency scenarios. Remember to select only the first aid items that will not harm your kids as this kit needs to be accessible for them.
Be more artistic
Kids can be very impatient during discussions. Try to educate them by using a colorful chart where they can draw different body parts and which first aid content needs to be used for each. Another variation of this is a coloring activity book. You can print out a cartooned first aid kit item like a plaster, ice or a bandage and let them color and name each item.
Set boundaries
Make sure that your kids know that the most important first aid step is to call for help. Let them know when it is best to ‘just’ call for an adult’s help. Make them understand that calling for help is just as important as treating a bleeding wound. By doing this, you are helping your kids help another person and keep themselves safe too. Examples of scenarios where calling for help is best are: when a person is drowning, when a house is burning, when there is an open wire surrounding the patient, when the injured s on the road, etc.
Do not overdo it
Impatience and fear can ruin their liking to learn first aid. You can teach them this stuff one by one and not on one go. Try to connect the scenarios to their daily lives little by little so they would slowly learn without forgetting.
Overdoing it also means scaring them. Be careful not to inculcate to them that these ‘will’ happen and that not knowing what to do will put them in danger. It is best if they see first aid as a superpower during emergencies and not a requirement. They are just kids, so all they need to focus on is that first aid is fun and they can use it when emergency situations arise.