When you leave your kids with a babysitter, a grandparent or a neighbor, you are trusting them to handle whatever comes up. Most evenings nothing does. But if a child has an allergic reaction, falls off the couch or spikes a fever, the person in charge needs the right information in seconds, not a frantic search through your texts. This guide covers what to put on an emergency contact sheet for the fridge, what goes on an ICE (In Case of Emergency) card for a wallet or backpack, and how to set both up in one evening.
Why paper still matters
Phones die, get locked, or belong to someone else. A sitter may not have your child's pediatrician saved, and a responder will not know your child's allergies unless someone tells them. A printed sheet on the fridge and a card in a backpack work without batteries, passwords or signal. They also work for anyone who walks in, whether that is a new sitter, a visiting relative or a paramedic.
The fridge emergency sheet
The refrigerator door is an easy place for anyone in the home to find. Keep the sheet to one page, with the most urgent information at the top.
At the top
- Call 911 first in an emergency. Make this the first line on the page.
- Your home address, including the nearest cross street and any apartment or gate code. People forget their own address under stress, and a sitter may never have known it.
- Your cell phone numbers and where you will be tonight
For each child
- Full name and date of birth
- Allergies (food, medicine, insects) and what the reaction looks like
- Medical conditions, such as asthma, diabetes or seizures, and what to do
- Medicines, including where an inhaler or epinephrine auto-injector is kept
- Pediatrician name and phone number
- Preferred hospital
Other contacts
- Two backup adults who can come over if you cannot be reached
- A neighbor who is usually home
- Poison Help: 1-800-222-1222 (the national poison control line in the US)
House information
- Where the first-aid kit and flashlight are
- Where the water shutoff, gas shutoff and breaker panel are
- Wi-Fi name and password, if you are comfortable sharing it
The babysitter guide: routines and rules
A separate page, or the back of the fridge sheet, can cover the everyday things that prevent small problems from becoming big ones:
- Bedtime routine and times for each child
- What they can eat and drink, and any foods that are off limits
- Screen time rules
- Who is and is not allowed to visit or pick up the children
- Whether the sitter can leave the house with the kids, and where they can go
- Comfort items: the stuffed animal, the night light, the song
- House rules about doors, pools, stairs, stoves and pets
If you have a pet, add a short section: feeding, medicines, the vet's number, and any behavior a sitter should know about.
ICE wallet cards for adults and kids
An ICE card is a small card that tells responders who you are, who to call, and any health information they should know. Adults can keep one in a wallet. For kids, a card can go in a backpack pocket, a lunchbox, a sports bag or a car seat.
What to put on an adult ICE card
- Name and date of birth
- Two emergency contacts with phone numbers
- Allergies and serious medical conditions
- Key medicines, or "see medicine list in wallet"
- Preferred language
What to put on a child's ICE card
- Child's name
- Parent or guardian names and phone numbers, plus one backup contact
- Allergies and medical conditions
- A note for anything a responder must know, such as "carries an epinephrine auto-injector" or "nonverbal, uses picture cards"
For privacy, leave off your home address and the child's full date of birth on cards that travel outside the home. A first name and a parent's phone number are often enough.
ICE on your phone, too
Paper cards and phones work best together. Most smartphones let you add emergency contacts and medical information that can be viewed from the lock screen without unlocking the phone. Look in your phone's health or emergency settings, add your contacts and allergies, and do the same on older kids' phones. You can also save a contact named "ICE" followed by a name, which some people still look for.
Teach kids the basics, too
Children old enough to talk can learn a few things that help any adult caring for them: their full name, a parent's first and last name, and, once they are ready, a parent's phone number and their home address. Practice calmly, the way you would practice tying shoes, and show older kids where the fridge sheet is and how to call 911.
Quick setup: one evening, five steps
- Gather information for everyone in the home: allergies, conditions, medicines, doctors.
- Fill in the fridge sheet and post it on the refrigerator or inside a kitchen cabinet door.
- Write the sitter guide with routines and house rules.
- Make ICE cards for each adult wallet and each child's bag. Laminate them or use clear tape so they last.
- Walk the sitter through it the first time: point out the sheet, the first-aid kit and the exits.
Keep it current
| When | What to update |
|---|---|
| Any medicine or allergy change | Fridge sheet and ICE cards, the same day |
| Start of each school year | Kids' cards, backup contacts, pediatrician |
| New phone number or move | Everything |
| New sitter | Walk-through and house rules |
A note for bilingual households
If a grandparent or caregiver reads Spanish more comfortably than English, give them a version in Spanish. Information only helps if the person holding it can read it quickly under stress.
A free printable emergency health summary
You can make all of this by hand with an index card and a sheet of paper. If you would like a ready-made page for the health part, get the free ER-Ready Kit: the one-page Emergency Health Summary, the "Where should I go?" guide and interpreter wallet cards, in English and Spanish. For each child's vaccine and fever records, the Kids Health Kit ($6) is a bilingual vaccine record, growth and fever log.
Related: Leaving a pet too? Our pet sitter checklist covers feeding, medicines, vet authorization and a lost pet plan.
The Ambos Health team
General information, not legal, financial or medical advice. In an emergency, call 911.