3 Easy First Aid tips to teach your kids

As a mama of two wild children and a life lived outdoors, injuries are inevitable.

I am a Registered Nurse and Army veteran, and I have seen quite a variety of injuries in a variety of locations. Nothing prepares you more for injuries, than being prepared!

There are a lot of tutorials out there on "How to adventure with kids", "How to hike with your kids", "How to pack for a hike", etc. but there is no talk about FIRST AID. It is so imperative to be prepared for injuries when adventuring in the wild, especially with kids. If you are reading this today, than I am here to teach you some basic first aid that even your kids can learn and do in the wild! These include basic care for cuts/scrapes, bleeding control and what to do with sprained/strained bones.

I believe in the quote, "Children need to be healthy to be educated and educated to be healthy." We need to teach our children health & wellness, about their bodies, and how to care for their bodies. Of course, it's all age specific, but I strongly believe in empowering our babies to understand how to care for themselves.

I have been slowly teaching my toddler basic First Aid for some time now. He has his own mini First Aid kit with bandaids, disinfectant ointment, gauze and even tweezers for those pesky splinters. He knows exactly what to do, with some guidance of course since he's only 3 years-old. He actually takes pride in caring for his minor booboos. It's that twinkle in his eye that he gets when myself or my husband accidentally get a cut from a tree branch while hiking, a small laceration when working on our cars or we some muscle aches and pains from a long day in nature.

I have a passion for First Aid and really anything medical and I love teaching kids how to be healthy! Here are some basic First Aid tips/pneumonic to teach your children.

CUTS/SCRAPES/WOUNDS

These are the most common injury sustained by kiddos because we all know how much fun they have when playing! The 3 W's are a quick and easy way to remember what to do should your child sustain a cut/scrape. The only other thing I do, is add antibiotic ointment to the bandaid if it's a deep cut. Teaching our children to wash their hands prior whether with soap and water or a disinfectant ointment if water is unavailable, is an invaluable tool to teach them infection prevention!

LIMB SUPPORT

We have all rolled an ankle or landed on our wrist at one point and kids are no exception. R.I.C.E is a perfect way to remember what to do should you twist/roll/land on a limb. With limb support, it's all about managing the inflammation. We feel pain because of the inflammation. If we can manage the inflammation with ice, elevation, and compression, we can manage the pain and heal the sprain or strain faster. If the swelling does not decrease and the pain worsens, then we know we are dealing with more than a sprain or strain and we may have to seek medical attention.

R: Rest- Do not use the injured limb. If it's an ankle, don't walk on it. If it's a wrist, don't use it. Let is rest...

I: Ice- Ice the limb for 20 minutes then remove. Apply it again after a few minutes. Make sure to place a towel or some sort of barrier between the ice and the skin. NEVER apply ice directly to the skin.

C: Compress- Wrap an ACE bandage, Koban or some sort of compression dressing to minimize movement and aid in swelling. Ensure you can fit two fingers underneath the dressing. Never apply it too tight. Check for circulation periodically (skin color is normal, limb is not going numb, etc.)

E: Elevate- Elevate the injured limb to decrease swelling which will help with pain!

BLEEDING CONTROL

This topic may be a little advanced for the younger kiddos but older kids may enjoy learning this one! When it comes to bleeds, they can look scarier than they are. Especially if the injured area is somewhere highly vascular. The face tends to bleed fast and blood tends to drip causing panic and fear. If you can remain calm, control the bleeding and visualize the actual wound after you clear the blood, you will see that it may not be as bad as initially anticipated.

I remember my son running around the corner of a building. He didn't see a step, missed it, and slammed his face into the pavement. Of course, as parents, we freaked out because what parent doesn't. When we picked him up, he had a large amount of blood dripping from his mouth and face. My husband, became more frantic because the amount of bleeding looked so severe. I remained calmed so my son wouldn't become more hysterical. We sat him in the back of my Jeep where I keep water and my First Aid kit. I washed his mouth right away and when I found the source of the bleed, we could assess that it wasn't as bad as the bleeding made it seem. He had cut his lip pretty good but it wasn't a serious situation. We controlled the bleeding with gauze, applied a quick ice pack, and he was good to go a few minutes later.

As mentioned above in my personal story, you can see we used a few of the S.E.E.P steps. We sat him down, examined the bleed to locate the source, we didn't have to elevate anything in this scenario but then we applied pressure and cleaned up the bleed and he was good to go.

It's important to remember to wear gloves and teach kids to wear gloves if they are performing First Aid on a friend. I of course, don't use gloves with my own kids, but kids need to protect themselves when dealing with bodily fluids.

First Aid is such a passion of mine and I love teaching kids all about it. I hope these simple steps help you and children be prepared for basic injuries when exploring whether at home in your back yard or in the wild.

What questions do you have? What other first aid tips would you like to learn? Mountain first aid, beach adventures?

Happy Adventuring!