Put their Pediatrician and Dentist name and number. They are truly the emergency contacts.

Older person here who always used my kids classmates’ parents as emergency contacts. Get to know a few parents at back to school night or through volunteering. People always did this for emergencies or carpooling.

As for unfriendly neighborhoods, I live in one, also. I’m the older neighbor who would be happy to help someone out. The younger neighbors show no interest in being friendly. I’ve taken over misdelivered mail, packages, etc. Never a thank you or acknowledgement. Don’t want to be bffs with my neighbors but feel like you should at least know each other a little. I just keep my distance.

Put people who know how to track you down, even if they're not local. I always used my parents as a contact, even when they lived across the country. If something happened to my kid, you bet my mom would not stop until she found me. At work many of the parents I know would list an admin person, because part of their job is knowing where everyone is.

The kids usually want to exchange their own phone numbers (their parents' number) with friends unless they are too young to do that. Get the phone number from your kid or the school directory. You could even use an older sibling's number once they can drive. If you really don't know anyone local, put someone out of state.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is whack. I wouldn’t want some random neighbor making decisions on behalf of my kid in an emergency. I’d rather have my mom, who isn’t local. If it’s re pickups, try coordinating with other parents in the neighborhood.

This is why they do it. If your child is puking and needs to go home, or has a broken arm and needs someone to come to the ER, they want someone local. Or if school is unexpectedly dismissed due to something like a power outage and you can’t get there they know who can take your child home. My kids are in high school and there was a single time that neither my husband or I could get to school to pick up a sick kid, and it was nice to have another local parent on call.

Go ahead and put your parents as the last two, but just put the numbers of two of your kids’ friends’ parents and be done with it.

But what if there IS no one local? We don't know our kids' friends' parents.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also lie about health insurance group number/phone number/address because I am too lazy to get the real information. Nobody actually uses or needs this information.

+1

LOL I do this also. If my kid were injured at schoo, obviously a parent would be at the doctor or hospital to provide the info anyway. Not like they would withhold treatment until they get the info. Not to mention- we are in the system for local health care centers anyway. I don’t see any logical reason whatsoever the school needs the info anyway. It is just a CYA thing.

So, it is impossible that you and your husband get in a car crash in the way to school. So no one picks up your child. And you have left the school, and your kids, with no responsible adult to call?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not a super social person at all, but I’m shocked how many people here do not know their neighbors. I have 15 (20?) neighbors that would go get my child in an emergency. Now, there are people in our neighborhood that no one knows and they never come outside. But that is their choice.

I think the bigger question is why people are living in communities where they don’t know anyone, not even casually. Seems so so odd to me. My parents were not the social type at all and still knew all their neighbors! Obviously not the month you move in, but over a year or two you should know the majority of your immediate neighbors. If not, that’s on you and you should fix it right away.

Not every neighborhood is friendly. We’ve lived in our house for 8yrs and aren’t friendly with really any neighbors. One elderly couple (on one side of us) is nice but they travel constantly. Elderly couple on the other side is very unfriendly and the husband has a lot of health issues- they also do not like kids. Tried three times to chat with a family a few houses down (they have one child) but they were completely uninterested. They are absolutely never home either- never see the kid outdoors, ever. Many neighbors further down the block are friendly-ish when we see them on the street maybe once a year but we’ve never gotten together or even exchanged numbers etc. Mostly empty nesters. Zero of these people would even know my kids’ names for sure- much less their ages or where they attend school. None of these people socialize with each other either, as far as I can tell. No one is ever outside. I’m amazed when I hear about friendly neighborhoods.

My kids are all tween+ so would call their own close friends’ parents (who we are friendly with as well). They do not live in our immediate neighborhood.

So put those people...?

Anonymous wrote:I’m not a super social person at all, but I’m shocked how many people here do not know their neighbors. I have 15 (20?) neighbors that would go get my child in an emergency. Now, there are people in our neighborhood that no one knows and they never come outside. But that is their choice.

I think the bigger question is why people are living in communities where they don’t know anyone, not even casually. Seems so so odd to me. My parents were not the social type at all and still knew all their neighbors! Obviously not the month you move in, but over a year or two you should know the majority of your immediate neighbors. If not, that’s on you and you should fix it right away.

Not every neighborhood is friendly. We’ve lived in our house for 8yrs and aren’t friendly with really any neighbors. One elderly couple (on one side of us) is nice but they travel constantly. Elderly couple on the other side is very unfriendly and the husband has a lot of health issues- they also do not like kids. Tried three times to chat with a family a few houses down (they have one child) but they were completely uninterested. They are absolutely never home either- never see the kid outdoors, ever. Many neighbors further down the block are friendly-ish when we see them on the street maybe once a year but we’ve never gotten together or even exchanged numbers etc. Mostly empty nesters. Zero of these people would even know my kids’ names for sure- much less their ages or where they attend school. None of these people socialize with each other either, as far as I can tell. No one is ever outside. I’m amazed when I hear about friendly neighborhoods.

My kids are all tween+ so would call their own close friends’ parents (who we are friendly with as well). They do not live in our immediate neighborhood.

I’m not a super social person at all, but I’m shocked how many people here do not know their neighbors. I have 15 (20?) neighbors that would go get my child in an emergency. Now, there are people in our neighborhood that no one knows and they never come outside. But that is their choice.

I think the bigger question is why people are living in communities where they don’t know anyone, not even casually. Seems so so odd to me. My parents were not the social type at all and still knew all their neighbors! Obviously not the month you move in, but over a year or two you should know the majority of your immediate neighbors. If not, that’s on you and you should fix it right away.

Anonymous wrote:That is whack. I wouldn’t want some random neighbor making decisions on behalf of my kid in an emergency. I’d rather have my mom, who isn’t local. If it’s re pickups, try coordinating with other parents in the neighborhood.

This is why they do it. If your child is puking and needs to go home, or has a broken arm and needs someone to come to the ER, they want someone local. Or if school is unexpectedly dismissed due to something like a power outage and you can’t get there they know who can take your child home. My kids are in high school and there was a single time that neither my husband or I could get to school to pick up a sick kid, and it was nice to have another local parent on call.

Go ahead and put your parents as the last two, but just put the numbers of two of your kids’ friends’ parents and be done with it.

If I put down a neighbor, and they got called, they would not remember who we are.

You can use the phone number for the time and weather. You can call him Tim E. Weather.

If it's a real emergency and you have no one to put down, whoever is there with your kid is the default person who will have to deal with it.

Do you kids not have friends? Ask their friends’ parents

Anonymous wrote:That is whack. I wouldn’t want some random neighbor making decisions on behalf of my kid in an emergency. I’d rather have my mom, who isn’t local. If it’s re pickups, try coordinating with other parents in the neighborhood.

This would never actually happen so it doesn’t matter.

Befriend a neighbor quick!

Make something up.