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By Ken Korber
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We spend years teaching children mathematics, history, reading and standardized test preparation. Yet practical health skills such as recognizing an emergency, responding to a burn, calling 911, understanding choking hazards, and practicing basic safety often receive far less consistent attention.
I believe we have a serious imbalance in the way we prepare children for life.
Why are we waiting until after an emergency happens before teaching children how to respond?
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I came to this question through years of working with children in clinical settings. I kept asking myself how I could make health information relevant to a 3-year-old or a 6-year-old sitting in front of me.
My answer was storytelling.
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Children understand stories. They understand characters, repetition, pictures, routines, and play. I realized I could use those familiar tools to introduce health concepts without making the experience feel like another lesson in a classroom.
That approach has shaped my work as a clinician, educator, and children’s author.
Health education for children can be inconsistent, developmentally inappropriate, or introduced after children have already encountered the risks we are trying to explain.
Medical terminology is designed for precision between professionals. Children need language they can understand and remember.
Most parents want their children to be safe, but explaining what to do during a medical emergency is difficult.
And in schools, teachers are already responsible for an enormous curriculum, and practical health instruction competes with academic requirements.
And we know which will win in the end.
We need to rethink what we consider foundational education.
Teaching Skills That Save Lives
A 2025 systematic review of health literacy research in children aged 9–12 found that children’s health literacy encompasses multiple dimensions, including functional, interactive, and critical skills, alongside teaching-learning processes such as pedagogy, content delivery, and learning environments that account for children's developmental needs.
That matters because health literacy is not simply knowing the name of a disease. It is knowing what information means and being able to act on it.
Teach your children how to call 911, memorize important phone numbers, and recognize emergency warning signs. It is a necessary life skill.
The American Heart Association has highlighted research showing that children can learn lifesaving skills and participate in emergency response.
Its programs teach students CPR, AED (automated external defibrillator) use, and first aid, while research cited by the organization indicates that many children are capable of performing Hands-Only CPR correctly.
If children can learn these skills, then the question becomes how we teach them.
The Power of 'Camouflage Education'
I believe the easiest answer is through stories, characters, repetition, music, books, games and interactive experiences.
A story can show a child how to recognize danger and ask for help. A recurring character can reinforce the same message across several books until the concept becomes familiar.
That is the principle behind what I call "camouflage education." The educational message is embedded within an experience children already enjoy.
I have seen how powerful that can be. When a character demonstrates the behavior we want a child to understand, the child can form a relationship with that character while absorbing the lesson.
Parents can reinforce it. Teachers can revisit it. The child can encounter the same idea repeatedly without feeling as though they are being lectured.
Like burn prevention, for example.
The American Burn Association, citing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data, reported that nearly 398,000 people received medical care for burn-related injuries in the United States in 2021.
It also emphasizes that many burn injuries are preventable and that children are especially vulnerable to hazards involving hot liquids, fire, and unsafe behaviors.
Prevention should begin long before a child encounters danger.
That does not mean frightening children. It means making safety feel familiar.
A child who has repeatedly encountered the idea that a hot surface can hurt, that fire requires an adult, that an emergency requires immediate help, and that 911 exists for serious emergencies has already begun building a mental framework before a crisis occurs.
Building Health Literacy for Life
The same philosophy applies to stroke awareness, CPR, choking, poison prevention, nutrition, hygiene, emotional well-being, and disaster preparedness.
The American Heart Association now actively promotes stroke education for children, including teaching young people to recognize warning signs and understand the importance of getting help quickly.
The future I envision is one where health literacy becomes part of childhood itself. Children growing up knowing how to respond to basic emergencies.
Parents have simple tools for reinforcing those lessons. Schools are incorporating age-appropriate safety education into existing learning. Healthcare professionals have resources that allow them to communicate with children directly.
A Foundational Life Skill
The alternative concerns me. If we continue treating practical health knowledge as something children encounter only after an emergency, we will keep depending on frightened children and unprepared families to improvise during moments when seconds can matter.
We have an opportunity to change that.
And we should start early.
Health literacy should stand alongside reading and mathematics as a foundational life skill. If we expect children to become capable adults, we should give them the knowledge to protect themselves, recognize danger, and help others.
Teaching a child how to solve a math problem may prepare them for a test.
Teaching a child what to do when someone needs help will prepare them for life.
Ken Korber is a surgical and cardiovascular physician assistant turned children’s author and founder of Little Health Ambassadors, which produces children’s books and educational materials about health and safety.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
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