Delta Tutor · Free, no sign-up
Practice a 911 call
A practice call for children roughly nine to thirteen, and a fair thing to sit and do alongside them. It walks through what a call taker actually asks and in what order: which service you need, then where you are, then what happened, then stay on the line. There is nothing to type and nothing to sign up for. What your child practises stays on this device unless you choose to save it to an account, and even then we never ask for their name, age or address. The Hang up button stays on screen the whole time on purpose, because hanging up early is the thing that goes wrong in real calls and it is better practised here.
Someone is hurt or sick
A person needs help, and you are the one who is there.
The house does not feel safe
Fire, smoke, or somebody at the door when you are on your own.
For the grown-up reading this
Two things are worth doing tonight, and neither of them needs us. Have your child say your full address out loud, including the unit or buzzer number and the nearest cross street, and see how far they get. Then agree where the family meets outside if the house has to be emptied. Most households have never picked one.
This practice teaches recognising trouble, getting an adult and calling for help. It deliberately does not teach how to use anybody’s medication or how to perform a physical technique on another person. Those belong in a room with an instructor.
What 911 actually knows about where you are
Most people assume 911 can see exactly where their phone is. That is true of a phone on the wall and much less true of the one in your pocket, and the gap between those two is worth understanding before your child ever needs it.
A home phone
They have your address already.
A wireline phone is, in the CRTC’s words, “associated with one fixed location or address”. The address arrives with the call. Nobody has to say a word for it to be on the screen.
A cell phone
They get a circle, not a door.
Carriers use GPS and tower trilateration to find a caller’s approximate location — the CRTC puts it at generally 50 to 300 metres. The City of Calgary is blunter: accuracy varies “from pinpointing the cell phone to within a radius of a few metres to several kilometres”.
What moves that circle is where you happen to be standing. Dense city blocks with many towers narrow it; a rural road with one distant tower widens it a long way. Hills, valleys, basements, big buildings and a weak signal all push it the wrong direction. It is not a number you can rely on in advance, which is the entire reason this practice makes a child say their address out loud rather than trusting the handset to do it for them.
If your child cannot speak
Choking alone, or hiding from someone in the house: the line still matters. An open call gives them the circle, a hung-up call gives them nothing, and Calgary’s own guidance is to stay on the line — if you hang up, “we have to call you back and that could tie up the line for someone who really needs it”. Teach the phone down on speaker, line open, and any noise they can make.
Texting 911 is not an option here
This one catches people out, so it is worth being flat about: in Calgary, “text messages sent to the digits ‘911’ do not reach emergency services”. The T911 service exists, but it must be registered with your wireless provider in advance and is intended for people who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired. Do not let a child grow up believing texting 911 is a fallback.
And the practical conclusion, which is Calgary’s advice rather than ours: “If possible, always call 9-1-1 from a land line rather than a cell phone.” If your home still has one, show your child where it is.
Sources: CRTC, 9-1-1 services by phone type; City of Calgary, safety tips for different phones; City of Calgary, T911 FAQ. Checked 22 August 2026.
A free practice aid written by Delta Emergency Support Training. It is not a course, not a certificate, and not medical direction, and it is not a Canadian Red Cross programme. In a real emergency, get a grown-up and call 911.
This is what Stay Safe teaches in a room, with a Youth Leader.Stay Safe!
My emergency card
Fill this in with a grown-up, then put it where everybody can see it.
- Our address
- Apartment, unit or buzzer
- Nearest cross street
- A grown-up to call
- Another grown-up to call
- Where our first aid kit is
- Where we meet outside
In an emergency call 911. Say where you are first, then what happened, then stay on the line. Practice from Delta Emergency Support Training. This is practice, not a certificate.