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How to help your child learn your phone number (without the tears)
Most of us don't know a single phone number by heart any more. Our phones do the remembering.
But if your child is lost, and the friendly shop worker asks "What's your mum's number?", that number has to be in their head.
When to start
Police in Regina, Canada, advise teaching children their name, address and your phone number as soon as they're able. Parenting guides suggest most children can learn a full number by around age four or five, and should know it by the time they start school.
Start with one number. Add a second once the first is solid.
Ways that actually work
- Sing it. Set your number to a tune your child already loves, and split it the way you'd write it, like 5 and 6 digits for a UK mobile. Parenting guides call a song the best way to learn it.
- Make it their passcode. Some parents set their number as the unlock code on the child's own tablet. Only do this on a device that's just theirs.
- Let them dial it. Practise pressing the numbers on a real phone, then call you from it.
- Quiz in the car. Ask for it on the way somewhere busy, along with your full name. "Mum" isn't much help to the person trying to reach you.
- Make it a game. A sticker or a high five each time they get it right.
A backup for little ones
Until they know it by heart, put your number on a sticker or write it inside a clothing label or shoe. Keep their name hidden. Child safety groups warn that a child who hears their name is more likely to follow someone they don't know. Our free cut-out cards below are made for exactly this.
Teach the emergency number too
Show them your country's emergency number: 999 in the UK, 911 in the US and Canada, or 112 across most of Europe. Show them how to make an emergency call from a locked phone, and explain it's only for real emergencies. A toy phone is good for practice.
Keep checking
Kids forget things they don't use. Ask for your number once a week, especially before holidays and big days out.
Free shareable
Call my grown-up cards
Eight cut-out cards for your phone number. Pop one in a pocket, school bag or shoe. There's no space for your child's name, on purpose.
Free shareable
Our school run
Who's doing drop-off and pick-up each day, the walking route, and what your child does if nobody turns up.
We're building Mya'Shield, an early alert device for parents. Until then, a memorised number is one of the best safety tools your child can carry.