What if you got separated?

What do you teach your child to do when they accidentally got separated from you or during an emergency?

I have thought about this many times and yet not sure how to teach Reese to response in case he got separated. At almost 5, what can he do?

So I told him and explain to him that if he got separated from us, first thing to do is to look around and find a woman stranger (find a man only if there is no woman stranger around) or a security guard to help you. Tell her/him you got separated and ask her to help you call mummy/daddy.

I made Reese memorize our mobile numbers. Told him not to cry and be brave so that he can say our mobile numbers correctly to the stranger. Next week I will teach to remember our home address.

We live in a condo, so I taught him what to do if he was accidentally left in the lift alone. Told him to go straight up to our floor and wait there for us.

Another very important thing is to teach him how to dial 999 or is it another number in case of an emergency? Gosh... see how ignorant I am? I have to find out because I remember they have a different number that is for all emergency? Being a parent sure isn't easy.

We live in a scary and violent world. We may think that we will never be careless enough to lose our children or faint in the house... but we never know. Children are never too young to be educated to response to an emergency. Kids are smart! If you haven't started to educate them in this area.... start now! :)

Oh... if you have even better ways to help kids stay safe... share with me...