A (N)ice EZ Idea
Okay, you have to understand: I rarely open forwards and when I do, I hardly ever pass them on. But my friend Bess sent me one recently about an idea so simple yet potentially important that I had to pass the suggestion along to all of you.
With just about everyone, including younger and younger kids, carrying cell phones these days, someone came up wih a great idea to standardize emergency contact info should the cell phone owner not be able to speak for himself. Just program your (or your child's) emergency contact number in the phone's phonebook as "ICE" -- an abbreviation for "In case of emergency." If you have more than one emergency number (e.g. a mom's cell phone and work numbers, let's say), you can designate them as ICE 1, ICE 2, etc.
What do you think...great idea, huh? Let's try to pass it along to everyone. Me? I'm going to get busy right now programming my ICE numbers into my own phone.
Comments
Great idea! My kids have to keep their cell phones in their hall lockers because the school doesn't allow using them during the school day...except for emergencies. I can see their point.
It does make parents uneasy though, to see that a youth sports coach and civil rights lawyer (who once headed an ACLU chapter) was just sentenced to prison for buying sadistic child pornography. You start to wonder who can be trusted with your kids.
It has to be distressing and frustrating for the millions of great teachers and coaches to have these bad apples casting suspicion on their professions.
Technology is a double edged sword. As well as providing mechanisms for contacting help it exposes our kids to dangerous individuals.
It's good that the media is exposing this danger, but some programs are promoting the catching of these criminals as entertainment. Minimizing the serious nature of this subject by presenting it as salacious humor minimizes child abuse...a genuine emergency.
Just wanted to let you know that the new cell phones actually have a listing in the contacts as "in Case of Emergency" You can put up to 3 people under "ICE" with all their phone numbers, emails, etc.
The DMV has a website whereby you can enter emergency contact information. In the event of a car accident, the police just have to input your driver's license # to access your contacts.
