Child dials 911 seeking assistance from police officer after his mom’s clever instruction
He took his mom’s advice very seriously when she said to call 911 if he was in trouble. Now, a young boy is getting a lot of compliments for his brave way of solving problems.
Having learned from his mother to call 911 in a situation he needs assistance, a four-year-old boy petitioned the support of an emergency dispatcher with a puzzling problem… it left him stumped.
Once, a little boy named Johnny, who was just four years old, called 911 because he really needed help.
When the dispatcher picked up the phone, Johnny immediately and confidently replied, “Sure, I could use some help.”
“What’s the matter?” the concerned operator asked.
“With my math,” the boy replied.
Johnny thought he was asking for help with his “mouth,” so the dispatch wanted to know where he lived. But Johnny quickly corrected them, saying, “No, I need help with my math. I really have to do it. Can you help me?”
Patiently, the operator asked where he lived but Johnny insisted they continue talking on the phone.
The kind man on the phone felt a bit worried and wanted to send an officer to help. He said, “I can’t send an officer, but I can send someone else to assist you.”
The child was persuasive.
The operator realized that when Johnny said he had “take aways,” he was actually talking about subtractions.
“16 take away 8 is what?” Johnny said, appealing for some help.
The operator decided to let him take a shot at it instead of just giving him the answer. So, he asked, “What do you think the answer is?”
When Johnny said “1,” the dispatcher realized he was really young and wanted to know how old he was. When the operator found out Johnny was “only four,” they decided to have some fun with him.
“What’s another issue we can tackle? That one was really challenging,” he said, his kind attitude boosting the excitement of the young person on the other end of the line.
As Johnny and his friend were figuring out “five take away five,” you could hear Johnny’s mom in the background shouting, “Johnny, what are you up to?”
Responding that “the policeman is helping me with my math,” the audacious four-year-old then told his mom, “you said if I need help to call somebody!”
The operator told Johnny’s mom that everything was fine, and Johnny realized that 911 is only for real emergencies, not for getting help with math problems.
Cyber fans are still getting a laugh at the audio, saying that his interpretation of his mom’s advice is adorable.
One person commented, “You said if I need help, I should call someone. I didn’t mean the police!” Haha, that’s the funniest part of the video! A 4-year-old totally outsmarted his mom. Another commenter said, “They say the boy is still looking for someone to help him with his math.”
Another user wrote, “Imagine having a call like this at such a stressful job. The man’s mood must have been enlightened!! The kid is such a sweetie.”
911 has no shortage of unexpected or bizarre phone calls, from parents dealing with uncooperative children to bad haircuts to even claims of UFO sightings.
In a collection of super funny 911 calls, Reader’s Digest shares a story from Jacksonville, Florida. A guy called 911 two times! The first call was because he was upset that his sandwich didn’t have its special sauce. Then, he called again to say that the police were taking too long to show up.
A British guy got really freaked out and called 911 because he spotted something strange in the sky. It ended up being the moon shining brightly! At the same time, a man in Romania was super scared because he heard loud sounds coming from his house. When the police showed up, they discovered he was just by himself with his crazy and noisy pet cat.
And, of course, calls from children, who at a young age, identify emergencies as anything that upsets their personal happiness.
A seven-year-old girl from Wisconsin told on her grandpa for cheating while playing cards, and a 10-year-old boy from Massachusetts asked the police to take his mom away because she said it was time for bed.
While we understand 911 operators are very busy, it’s nice to hear some lighthearted stories, which no doubt also makes dispatchers smile.