Benefits of Childcare Course for Parents

First Aid Training

Infographic on Benefits of Childcare First Aid

Childcare first aid refers to the skills and knowledge to provide care to infants and children during health emergencies. It is important to know childcare first aid, as it differs to the care provided to adults, and can mean the difference between life and death.

As a parent, your child’s safety is a top priority

While we cannot be prepared for every safety risk, we can be prepared for life-threatening emergencies by taking child-specific first aid and CPR courses. Here we will discuss 5 benefits of a childcare course for parents.

What is the Australia Wide Childcare Course?

At Australia Wide, we provide 3 primary courses: CPR, First Aid, and a Childcare Course. In our Childcare Course you will learn:

Skills necessary to respond to a first aid emergency
How to perform CPR
How to communicate with first responders
Plus lots more

The course is designed for educators and support staff who work in an education environment and require first aid certifications. However, the material is equally beneficial for parents. Here’s why:

Parents carrying son on shoulders on beach vacation. African family of mother and father carrying son on his shoulders on vacation.

As a parent, your child’s safety is a top priority

5 Benefits of our Childcare Course for Parents

1. Focus on Children’s Needs

Most first aid courses cover first aid training for all ages. While this is important and necessary, our Childcare Course provides training specifically for children. Not only does the CPR training focus on child-appropriate CPR methods, but we provide first aid training for anaphylaxis and asthmatic emergencies. Children are at greater risk for airway emergencies and as a parent, you will be better prepared.

2. Mindset Management

One of the most common complications during an emergency is the responder “freezing up” or the inability to act. Whether you are someone who considers themselves “cool under pressure” or not, when your child is involved in a life-threatening emergency, it is difficult to control your fight or flight response. A first aid course will provide parents with the knowledge necessary to act in an emergency and with mindset tools to maintain an action-oriented mindset during an emergency.

3. Independent Action

In 2019, Cardio Partners published an article with the following alarming statistic: every minute that passes without CPR, a person’s chances of survival decrease by 10%. We cannot rely solely on the response of ambulance services in an emergency. Our ability to act fast can be the difference between life and permanent organ damage. Parents should receive CPR and first aid training so that they can initiate lifesaving techniques and carry them out until more help arrives.

4. Child-Specific Instruction

Perhaps you have been trained in CPR. Or you know to start compressions. But do you know the exact placement of your hands for a child? Did you know that the placement of your hands and the rate of compressions differ between infants and children? Do you know how to use an AED on a child? CPR and first aid methods and skills are different based on the age and development of children. As parents, we should not rely on word of mouth or television to inform ourselves. A child-specific course is necessary for effective CPR and first aid.

5. Parent to One, Parent to All

There will come a time when your child takes part in play dates and sleepovers. Depending on the age of the child, another parent may or may not be present. If you have very young children and more than one parent is around, you may find yourself responsible for providing first aid to another person’s child. Multiple parents can work as a team in emergencies, but someone needs to lead the first aid efforts. If another parent is not present, and you are watching over multiple children by yourself, you will want to have the skills and knowledge necessary to carry out first aid and CPR independently until emergency services arrive.

Arming yourself with knowledge and confidence is the most important thing you can do for a child’s safety. The techniques you will learn in our childcare course are not complex. The instruction is clear, direct, and not open to interpretation. Learning these skills should not be intimidating, but empowering. Take action today by signing up for a Childcare First Aid Course.

Additional Resources

If you would like to learn more about child-specific first aid, check out our article library here. You can review or print first aid charts here. Or review the articles below that are particularly useful for parents:

Originally published at https://www.australiawidefirstaid.com.au/resources/benefits-of-childcare-course-for-parents
as part of the Australia Wide First Aid Articles Library

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