A child's health and safety education always begins at home, and you can start teaching them from a very early age. Even a child as young as age three or four can learn how to make an emergency phone call. Also encouarge your children to learn their home address and telephone number so they can contact a responsible adult if they get lost.

It's good to give your child self-confidence, but at the same time make them aware about the potential for danger. A good way to do this is by reassuring your children that you will protect them whilst at the same time teaching them the skills to deal with situations and to protect themselves.

• Show your child where the first aid kit is and what is inside the first aid kit
• When they have an injury, talk them through how to clean wounds, apply plasters, simple bandages and antiseptics
• Create an emergency response flow chart with your child, and show them how to ask for help. Perhaps start with a well known neighbour or relative, then list telephone numbers that your child can access in case of an emergency
• Reassure your child that there's no reason to be afraid or scared during times of emergency and that staying calm is very important
• Make sure your child knows what to do in case of a fire or flood
• Encourage your children to identify responsible adults they could turn to for help in an emergency e.g. people in uniform such as a policeman or shop assistant
• Download the kids adventure pack for fun and educational first aid activities you can do together

Encourage your children to be safety aware through games and role play. This game will help your children learn more about first aid and encourage them to care for others. It also helps them develop their teamwork skills

• The game ideally works with 4 children or more. Two children hide in the house and pretend to have an injury (e.g. broken arm, cut, burn etc) The other two children have the task of locating their injured friends, identifying their injury and taking the appropriate first aid action
• Take a look at the kids adventure pack for more details. Teach your children how to treat various injuries e.g. how to put on an arm sling, run a burn under cold running water, apply pressure to a bleeding wound or cut and how to put someone in the recovery position