My son is already pretty well known by the local fire department. He is obsessed with fire trucks - he has already told me with conviction that he wants to be a firefighter - astronaut when he grows up (didn't we all?). The volunteer chief brought an engine by for half an hour at his last birthday party for the kids to climb on, which was a big hit, and he's got an invitation to go up on a tower-ladder in a few weeks. He's got all the plastic helmets, badges, and coloring books he could ever want!

As for how we educated him, it's an ongoing process. His daycare had the local fire department come by with an engine to discuss fire safety about a year ago, and we built from there. Actually, I got a lot of ideas from this board, and Blast's posts about his kids - I throw out "what would you do" questions on occasion and discuss his responses with him. We’ve talked about strangers who want to talk to him, fire, crossing the street, dogs, other animals, and getting lost in the supermarket, among other things. I try to give him knowledge without scaring him, and I think I’ve been pretty successful.

He doesn't always "get it," but he is only four. My favorite was when he learned that you could smother a fire with sand. That night he told me that if the house were ever on fire he would rescue me by running to the beach with his pail and shovel to bring sand back to the house to put out the fire (we live two blocks from the beach). I corrected him and told him if the house was ever on fire, he should leave the house as quickly as possible and run to the neighbor's to have them call for help.

More recently, I've confirmed that he actually could dial "911" on the phone all by himself if he ever needed to, which is nice to know. I told him it was not a game, but if his mom or I were ever hurt or really sick and were not responding to him, or he was ever somewhere that he felt scared and unsafe, he should find a phone and call "911" to tell the operator that he needs help, and he would not get in trouble. I figure I never know what could happen, and he might give me a fighting chance someday if I hurt myself around the house. Stranger things have happened.