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
- Bus accident
- 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 (these emergency pouches may be hard for your little ones to open so if you can, stick a small water bottle in)
- Protein Snack or Granola bar (or both)
- Small flashlight or headlamp
- Emergency Whistle (and don’t skimp on this — cheap whistles often don’t work or are not strong enough to be heard in a lot of noise. We made that mistake when we first created our kits and found out they just don’t work when needed).
- 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 – and the knowledge on how to use what you’ve enclosed.
- Emergency Blanket – while the cheaper mylar blankets seem a better buy, they are pretty flimsy and tear easily.
- 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 & energy
- Comfort item (small stuffed animal or toy to bring comfort in crisis)
- Photo album – you can create a small photo album for your child to have photos of the family to help bring them comfort. It is also a great ID item in the chaos of pick up after to have a photo of you with them for rescue workers to help release to the appropriate guardian)
- Wipes – we put a small package of wipes to help keep them clean
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.
Your Thoughts: What other items would you include in your child’s bag?
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.
I used mine. I work in a school and the school was locked down–outside. Kids were terrified! I simply went to my truck and pulled out emergency blankets, granola bars, extra clothing , etc. As it was a cold February day. Many children were calmed by at least one adult being prepared! Peace of mind is priceless in a crisis situation!
Laminated copy of phone numbers and your family out of state number.
I have a list of emergency contacts in my daughter’s backpack, that she is not allowed to take out (folded up tightly in a ziptop bag) with relatives who live close and far. I figure the more people on the list the better. She also knows that if we can’t be found after the first day of any disaster she is to seek out the nearest military personnel (both of her parents are veterans) and request that she be shipped either to the air base nearest her paternal grandfather or the air base nearest her maternal grandmother.
Thank you for addressing this. I am an elementary teacher. This is my biggest fear, that I will be at school, something will go sideways and I will have all of these sweet kiddos with no food and no water because their parents think” it’ll never happen”- whatever” it” is. I have made it my “ministry” to make emergency kits for my students who don’t have one by the end of September, which is upwards of 12-15 kids each year.Every school in our district has a very well practiced emergency plan, and we are as prepared as we can be, but if something does happen, I want all of my little ones to be taken care of. But I am grateful that you are bringing attention to the fact that we need to be prepared, especially for our kids.
Good on you for taking the initiative!
I see a couple of comments where the kids say bringing something is against the rule, I too have heard this however I am their parent and I make the rules. The schools work for US on our tax money, if I want my kid to take something they will and IF alone will deal with the school as my children are to listen to me first and foremost over anyone. These are your/our kids, not the governmwnts or the schools. They abide by our wishes, and if more people take a stand we will get our chools under control. Thanks.
I am so thankful that more and more parents are starting to see that ignorance is not bliss when it comes to the safety and preparedness of our children. I would like to start a list here soon and school starts next week for my little angels so let’s keep our fingers crossed that I don’t have to deal with “that isn’t allowed”. My kids safety is first!!
I do like the idea of the school emergency kit, but I know from experience as a retired teacher in a southern state, that when the tornado siren sounded, we hit the hall as fast as we could. I counted kids as they flew out the door and my assistant was in charge of grabbing the ledger that listed students with parents names and phone numbers. There was no time for anyone to get anything from a backpack or go back to a desk if they had been at a center or reading group. If it ended up that we were in the hall for long periods of time (I remember one day we spent 4 hours there) we adults would sneak back in the room for snacks, and books to keep them entertained while letting them go to the bathroom one at a time. And yes, each district does have policies for disasters and all sorts or contingencies (we were 1/2 mile from the county jail and frequently had lockdowns), but few teachers actually read those thick notebooks (I did). If a tornado had hit soon after we got into the hallway, the emergency bag would have been sitting in the classroom.
Not every emergency equals being sent out into the hall away from your equipment. Not every school has lockers in the hallway. There are always going to be variables about how things work for each individual. It doesn’t hurt to try to cover the bases, regardless if they are something that works for you.
If you child can’t have a cell phone at school try packing a 2 way radio.
Or possibly for a teacher gift around the holidays you could put together an emergency kit. Then you won’t have other kids fighting your child for what they have if the worst case happens.