Preschool children safety and first aid training experience

The safety protection of preschool children is always prevention rather than rescue, and first aid operations must not copy adult standards. They must be in line with the physiological characteristics of children aged 3-6 years old. At the same time, the ability boundaries of ordinary teachers and parents must be clearly defined, and rescue operations cannot be performed blindly.

I have been a main teacher in a public park for 6 years. I have participated in many similar trainings before. Most of them were theoretical lectures on PPT. This time it was all real practice. My palms were sweating right after the training started. The coach directly put a 3-year-old child's simulator on the table. It was soft and felt almost like a real baby. He asked who would come up to demonstrate how to deal with foreign objects stuck in the throat. I was the first to raise my hand. I followed the adult Heimlich maneuver I had learned before and wanted to hug my waist and press my stomach. As soon as I put my hand up, the coach slapped me: "Are you trying to stab the baby through the stomach? The abdominal muscles of those under 3 years old are thin, so it is easy to injure internal organs. You have to pat the back first and then press the chest."

As soon as these words came out, I immediately remembered what happened in our class in 2021: There was a child in the middle class who secretly hid the jelly brought from home in his pocket. During the extra meal, he took a sip while I turned around to set the tableware. At that time, his face instantly turned purple like a purple grape, and he couldn't even cry. The health teacher had only learned adult first aid before. She hugged the waist three times from behind and did not come out. Instead, the baby started to roll his eyes. Later, he called 120. The operator instructed us on the phone to turn over and pat his back and press his chest. It took almost two minutes to cough up the jelly. Later, when we went to the hospital to take a X-ray, the baby's ribs were slightly bruised. I still feel scared thinking about this.

Speaking of which, there is quite a controversy within the industry as to whether first aid certificates should be universally available to all employees in the preschool field. The emergency center strongly promotes "universal training for all employees", saying that it is best for all teachers and staff in kindergartens and childcare institutions to hold first aid certificates when working, and even compulsory education for parents. After all, the first scene of a child's accident is basically in the hands of teachers or parents. If you really wait for 120 to arrive, the golden 4 minutes will have passed long ago. Choking on milk or getting stuck in a small nut may lead to death. However, many pediatric experts hold different opinions, saying that ordinary people do not have long-term practical experience, and the slightest mistake in force or position can easily cause secondary injuries: in the past, some parents slapped the back of a child with a stuck throat, and the foreign object was patted deeper into the airway. There were also cases where the baby who fell on the head had a slight concussion, and the parents were anxious to pick it up and shake it, which directly caused a cerebral hernia. Instead, it is better to dial 120 as soon as possible and follow the operator's guidance step by step. I can understand both sides. After this training, I feel that there is no need to go to extremes. General training must be done, but there is no need to require everyone to meet the standards of professional first aiders. As long as they can "identify risks, do not make mistakes, and know how to ask for help in time."

Many aspects of this training broke my previous inherent perceptions. In the past, our kindergarten always felt that safety protection meant covering all the edges and corners, covering the floor with 3 cm thick floor glue, and even the slide handrails being wrapped in soft sponges to prevent children from bumping into them. As a result, the child safety expert who came this time directly said that this is "over-protection": you have blocked all the risks that can be encountered, and the baby has no idea what pain and danger are. If he goes to play in a place without soft bags, he will be seriously injured if he falls. Instead, it is better to let the baby have small bumps within a controllable range. For example, if he falls and skins his knee while running too fast, he will naturally know to look at the road next time. I gave it a try this semester. When I played outdoors, I no longer chased after me and yelled "Don't run, don't jump." As long as I didn't hit people with rocks or jump off a two-meter-high platform, I let them do whatever they wanted. Don't worry, the number of injuries this semester was actually reduced by half compared to the previous semester.

There is also the treatment of burns that was always talked about by the elderly at home. In the past, when parents picked up their children, they said that the baby had a small blister, and the grandma used toothpaste to cool it down. This training directly showed a real case: the back of a 4-year-old child was burned by hot water for a second degree, and the elderly at home applied a thick layer of soy sauce and toothpaste. When going to the hospital, the doctor had to scrape off the solidified toothpaste bit by bit before debriding. The baby was in pain, and the risk of infection was increased. There are so many bells and whistles when it comes to correct operation. Regardless of the degree of burn, first rinse it with running cold water for more than 15 minutes. Do not apply anything on it. After rinsing, cover it with clean gauze or plastic wrap and go to the hospital. I later posted this video to a parent group, and a few grandmas argued with me, saying that their generation had grown up like this, but I didn’t argue. Two days later, a child knocked over a water glass at home and burned his hand. My mother followed the method and rushed the baby for 15 minutes to the hospital. The doctor said that the treatment was very good, and there were no blisters. No one in the group mentioned the toothpaste and soy sauce anymore.

In our line of work, we stare at twenty or thirty children who are as energetic as little monkeys every day. It is a lie to say that we are not afraid of anything happening. I used to think that learning first aid was to be able to survive when an accident happens. After this training, I realized that the biggest benefit of learning these is that you know how to eliminate the problem from the root: for example, when cutting fruit for children, cut it into strips instead of rounds; for example, do not let children under 3 years old touch jelly or whole nuts; for example, you are not allowed to run or laugh when eating. Just like what the instructor said at the end of the training: The best first aid skill is that you will never need it in your life.