One of our biggest concerns with having our kids at school, as folks focused on preparedness living, is that we won’t be there in a time of crisis to help them out. So it’s especially important to prepare our children the best that we can, above and beyond what the school is able to do for them, and what their Everyday Carry (EDC) can do.
But why would you even need a mini Emergency Kit? Don’t the schools provide enough?
- School lock-down
- Local Weather Emergency
- Regional Emergency
- You don’t show up (or whomever their ride is) or their bus is wrecked on the way home.
From our experience, schools aren’t really prepared for long-term lock downs or disasters. Rarely does a classroom kit contain enough water and food for an extended time for an entire classroom of children. So it’s prudent to help your child.
One of the ways we can do that is to create a mini-Bug Out Bag for our kids. This can be something they keep tucked away in their lockers, at the bottom of their book bag or in their desk or cubby at school. It needs to be somewhere easily accessible to them without breaking the rules of the school.
Items to Include in Your Child’s Emergency Survival Pack
- Water
- Protein Snack or Granola bar (or both)
- Small flashlight
- Whistle
- Cell phone (this may be an issue for some schools, but we would have our kids take a throw-a-way cell in their packs, just in case).
- Small first aid kit
- Emergency Blanket
- Extra health-related items your child uses (of course we have to say for the attorneys….please be sure to follow your school’s rules for medication storage and uses……. )
- hard candies for comfort
- Comfort item (small stuffed animal or toy to bring comfort in crisis
You can store supplies in a zip top bag, a small baby wipe box, a pencil box, or if you’re really good at packing small supplies, a large Altoid box!
Just make sure your younger children understand that this isn’t for play and that they aren’t to pull it out at snack time or recess, nor discuss with other kids that they have ‘toys’ in their packs. Please also follow the rules of your school about what can legally be brought onto campus.
Shared on Mountain Woman Rendezvous #11
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If you live in cold weather areas, a small hand/foot warmer may be included for the winter.
Great idea!
Thanks for addressing this vital subject! For security and legal reasons, kids cannot have pocket knives or lighters, like I did when I was in high school. I bought the SOL Emergency Kits for my whole family, but since there is a blade contained, my kids cannot take it to school.
That’s very smart. Will have to remember to do this when we have kids.
My kids would get in trouble with almost everything on the list except hard candy! And they would eat that on the bus!!!
Sad but true most public schools don’t want your kids to be prepared on their own for anything but schoolwork
My son(teen) refuses to bring the cell phone and other things(against the rules mom) ,,,frustrating because I see so many lockdowns and other emergencies I want him prepared
It is not against the rules at my daughter’s school for most of these items, thankfully. I am meeting with the school’s Safety and Security Director this Monday about some of the other concerns I have, though. I don’t think our district is prepared enough and most of the schools don’t do things the same way. No consistency. Most teachers wouldn’t know how to use an AED, for example, even though the schools have one. Substitute teachers have little training in emergency preparedness. Find out what your schools really have planned for your kids. Kinda scary.