A few years back, so the story goes, a paramedic was tending to a woman in an accident. He noticed she had a cell phone and wondered if he could call someone, perhaps a loved one, to let them know what had just transpired.

Thumbing through the numbers, there was no way of deciphering who the appropriate person was to contact. Because his patient was unconscious, it would have to wait. Soon afterward he came up with a clever way to help in just such a situation.

In Case of Emergency (ICE) is the solution he came up with. By putting “ICE” in your cell phone’s address book, you make it easy for people — emergency or otherwise — to know who to contact when you can’t speak for yourself.

In my phone I have ICE 1, 2, and 3, each pointing to a different number. The order I’ve selected is based on the likelihood of the person being called to answer. I highly recommend you do the same for your phone and your child’s phone.