There is nothing scarier to a parent than being separated from a child, especially toddlers. Curious toddlers stray away from parents all the time. It takes a second for them to be distracted and you lose them in a crowd, or they don't notice they've strayed from home until it's too late. It's important to teach children safety measures as soon as they can understand. Teach them their name, parents' names, and home address. Teach them not to go out of the house on their own or to follow strangers. As soon as they can understand numbers, teach them your phone number and their home address. This way if they ever got accidentally separated from you, they can get someone to find you.
Most children don’t even know their parents’ names, they know them as mommy and daddy. Teaching them about their home address and phone numbers is not as easy as it sounds. However, you can use their favorites things to help teach them. Here are some ideas on how to go about it.
Put It In A Song
Toddlers are good at memorizing fun songs. Take a song that they love and use it to teach them your phone number and home address. Do they like the baa-baa black sheep song? Use the tune to help them memorize numbers. Repetitive songs are the easiest way for a toddler to learn.
Take Them For A Neighborhood Tour
Toddlers love getting outside the house for fun. Use every time that you leave the house to teach them about their home address and neighborhood. Explain the route to and from school, store, church, hospital, and anywhere that you may frequent. Tell them fun things about places near your neighborhood to help them grow familiar with it.
It will help them to understand their neighborhood. Take your dog for walks together and show them around the neighborhood. When they memorize routes and landmarks around their homes, it can be of use if they ever get lost. Even when you teach them their home address, they will have an idea of their area of residence.
Make It A Fun Game
Use your phone number to make a fun game or print it out on cards that they can memorize. You can also print it on a big keypad and put arrows on it so that they know the next number. You can draw it on a hopscotch grid outside and have them memorize it as they hop outside. Make a dance routine and replace the numbers with claps or steps. As they dance along, they also memorize the phone number.
Practice Calling On A Real Phone
Kids these days are born in a tech-savvy world. Toddlers can operate phones and computers to find their favorite songs and games on the internet. You will be amazed at how fast a child will learn to dial your phone number after a few repetitive lessons. Kids also love to do fun things.
You can let them call you on a different phone and act excited when they actually make the phone call. Teach them how to unlock your phone, and use the call app. Aside from calling your phone number, it is also important to teach them how to dial 9-1-1 in case of an emergency.
Sources: mobilepromotion.biz, themanylittlejoys.com, anxioustoddlers.com