What would you do if a loved one fell unconscious and stopped breathing during your next celebratory family gathering? What if it was a stranger? What if it was your own baby?!
Based on personal experience, I can say with 100% certainty that I have no way of knowing what I would do, but we both felt that we needed proper training to at least give ourselves a chance at being helpful. We've written about the hours of training we went through last year to prepare ourselves for welcoming home a baby through adoption. Before we knew what that training would include, we imagined it would have something to do with emergency preparedness, but it didn't.
Among the multitude of questions we experienced during the start of the adoption process, we often asked ourselves why birth parents who parent their kids don't have to go through any mandatory training to be trusted with the life of another human being in their care. At a minimum, everyone should know what to do as an appropriate first response in the worst potential situations regardless of how their kids joined their family. Maybe all of the training is just to keep excited, adopting parents busy during The Wait. If that's the case, I see your hours of training and raise you additional classes to keep busy.
We went through almost 40 hours of adoption-related training last year that included what to do in a lot of uncomfortable situations. We left each class feeling one step closer to a slightly larger family and to being able to use appropriate tools to work through the challenges of adoption. Emotionally, we were spent, but excited to put this new-found knowledge to use.
As part of a personal commitment to be prepared in any and all ways for what's to come, last weekend, we were trained in adult, child and infant CPR/First Aid. When it was all over, we walked home quietly. Emotionally, we were spent, but began praying that we will never have to put our new-found knowledge to use.
I assure you, you have no idea how you'll act in the worst of emergencies. But I can also say with certainty that if you don't know what to do, you can't act at all. Check out available classes near you now: http://www.redcross.org/take-a-class
