I was wondering when is the right age to start teaching them how to call 000 if something was to happen to me?

I know some kids are smart, more switched on etc - but my 'right age' question is more along the lines of when is the right age for them to understand that it is for EMERGENCY only, not because they know how to ring 000.

DH works away months at a time and it scares me to no end about what would happen to the kids if something did happen to me and it was a while before someone found me hurt etc.

Do you think a 3 year old could comprehend the whole "If mummy fell over and you couldnt wake me up" type talk...
He is a very smart little boy and talks clearly. He knows his name and address to tell them where to come, so that doesnt worry me!! Im more worried about him calling them just to say Hello! (he is a talker )

Any advice, opinions etc!!

I think so yes.

I started telling my daughter abour emergency numbers when she was about 2/2.5. I'd drop it into conversation with her, we'd play on her phone and dial 000 and go through the whole "call 000 for a fireman if there is a fire, a police man if mummy says to call the police man, the ambulance if mummy (or nanny or daddy) falls over and you can't make them get up etc.

She is almost 3 now and she knows she can only call 000 if its very important, she knows they are too busy just to call and chat to. She has never called them just to say hello and she can reach the phone.

Hopefully she'll never have to use it but i like knowing she CAN if she needs to.

From memory, DD was learning about police etc at pre-school last year (3), and we went from there - explained when we would need to ring, and what the emergency crews do.

She has also been learning the landline number and her address, all good to know in case of an emergency.

And like B-B-M's DD she knows not to ring them for a chat

I recently taught my 2y9m DD what to do if Mummy falls over and can't talk to her and she is scared about Mummy. I ask her every day what she would do. I have her show me (unplugging the phone earlier) and we go over what she should tell the nice lady or man on the phone. She hasn't tried it and it's been about a month.

If you are worried he may call for a chat, offer a different number (maybe Dad's mobile on speed dial or a grandparent) for that. Keep reinforcing the idea that 000 is for when Mummy is hurt and can't talk to him and he is scared about Mummy. Good luck.

I remember an article on the news a while back about a 4 yr old who had managed to call 000 when he mum had some sort of malaise. He was able to give enough info to get her help and the people on emergency numbers are trained to deal with kids and know what questions to ask so even if your child can't recite their address or explain perfectly what has happened they should be able to get across enough information to get some sort of help. I think they would probably be pretty good too at distinguishing between a real emergency and some just random calling up by a child (although obviously you want to avoid this).
Impressed at the older 2 yr olds out there who can do this. My just 2 yr old twins can't actually talk enough to ring anyone so I don't figure there is much point in me teaching them this yet. Certainly my four year old has been told what to do and we have even practiced dialing 000 (with the phone off the hook). We probably started this when she was just under 4. My older kids know all this, as well as our address, phone number and our nearest cross-street. When you call 000 they first ask if you need the police/fire dept/ambulance and so I practice asking these questions of my children too so they are prepared (although if your child didn't know how to answer this I'm sure they would get the info needed out of them in another way the important bit would be just getting them to think to dial the number).
If you are worried they will just call for a chat maybe you could show them how to speed dial grandma or something and explain that if they just feel like talking this would be a more appropriate option! But generally I have found they recognize the seriousness of the whole thing and wouldn't do this.

I've been wondering about this too. I might start teaching DD as i do worry what would happen if i was hurt. I'll also have to move the phone as it's high up out off DD's reach!

Gee ive never thought about teaching my DD1 this. Maybe i should try and teach her. She is 3y3m and pretty switched on.