Health & Relationships
FIRST AID TIPS to teach Children It’s never too soon to teach your children what to do in an emergency. Katie Giles from Bumps and Bashes has some advice… One of the most important things a child can do in an emergency is call 999. You can teach younger children by allowing them to touch the buttons on the phone to practice and memorise the numbers. Teaching the child to memorise their address and phone number is also useful in order to assist the emergency services. Children should get familiar with the primary assessment of a casualty which can be remembered by the acronym DRAB: • DANGER – Check the surroundings are safe around the casualty. Are there any dangers such as cars, wires, glass or fallen objects? • RESPONSE – Talk to the casualty and check for a response. “Hello can you hear me?” This way you can tell if the casualty is conscious or not. • AIRWAY – If the casualty is unconscious, tip the head back and use two fingers to ensure that the tongue is not blocking the airway. • BREATHING – Practice checking for breathing by looking to see if the chest is moving up or down and listening by placing your ear next to their mouth.
Children can often begin to practice the following First Aid skills: • Applying pressure to a bleeding wound. • Apply cold running water to a burn for a minimum of 10 minutes. • Applying ice to a swollen injury. • Pinch the nostrils (the soft part of the nose) for 10 minutes for a nosebleed. • Placing a person into the recovery position. • Be familiar with the contents of a First Aid Kit. Complex skills such as CPR and choking techniques probably need to wait until your child is older. Arming your child with basic First Aid skills will boost their confidence and will help them know what to do in a medical emergency. For more information, visit www.bumpsandbashes.com or call Katie on 07899 993 916
Getting the BEST Behaviour from Your KIDS IIChildren’s behaviour is a direct result of what they experience – mainly with us. RelationshipII IIcounsellor Ruth Murtagh explains why when we talk to them politely and show that we areII IItrying to understand them, our children can feel valued and will develop self-respect.II
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Praise, praise, and praise some more! It’s surprisingly hard to remember to notice and comment on what a child is doing well, or what they are trying hard at. But it’s a very important habit to get into. Make it your mission to notice the ‘little’ things. It will boost their self-esteem and help you both to bond. And try and be specific. “I noticed how patient you were in the shop while we were waiting in the queue. Thank you.” Remember, praise motivates children to do more great things, criticism demotivates them from trying.
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Give support rather than criticism. We all want our kids to be the best they can be… and it can be so tempting to tell them what they did wasn’t quite right, their clothes don’t match, or just comment on the mistakes while they were reading to you, etc. (After all, that’s what we got when we were kids!) But criticism is destructive. It eats away at our children’s self-esteem and generally makes them feel, like they are not good enough. If we praise them for their efforts and suggest what we want them to do, instead of what they didn’t do, it’s more helpful. “Thanks for wiping the table, you’ve done a lovely job. Could you just check the corner over there?” Is nicer than,”You haven’t done it properly.”
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If you feel disappointed, make sure it’s with the behaviour and not the child. It’s a very different message for our children to hear,”You’ve spilled a lot of your food on the table, please eat over your plate;” to,“You’re so messy!” The latter statement is a damaging label, making it harder for a child to feel able to change.
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Show empathy: Try looking at things from their point of view. None of us like it if people judge us, saying things like,“Well why did you do that?” or “You must have done something wrong for them to do that to you!” Our kids feel the same. Showing that we understand their feelings is so good for developing the bond between you both, and gives them great social skills, for example “I can imagine how disappointing it is, that you didn’t win the prize. You tried really hard.” Talk to your children as if they are the children you want them to be. Children see themselves in the way they think we see them. We can create opportunities for them to feel successful, and see themselves differently. It’s the easiest way to help change behaviour for the better. So, If your child hasn’t got the best manners, prompt them to say ‘please and thank you’, and then tell them how polite they are. If they are shy, tell them how impressed you are at how they talked to the people in the shop. If they seem a bit unreliable and ‘scatter-brained’ tell them you have an important job that needs doing by a reliable person and they are the person to do it, because they are so sensible. Then watch them rise to the occasion!
Ruth specialises in couples’ and parenting support in the Leeds area. Email her at: counsellingleeds@gmail.com 7