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My Kid’s “SCHOOL” Bug In Bags
With school about to go back into session for this upcoming school year, I’d like to share what I put in my kid’s BIBs for their lockers and see if others are doing the same.
I made Bug In Bags for my kids so they felt in prepared if something should happen during the school day. They are there for 8-9 hours every day during the school year and if an incident happened after the lunch break for them- they are on their own as the schools here do not house more than that day’s meal (enough to feed the whole student more than one meal is out of the question). Well my kids carry their lunch everyday due to allergies so the school food supply would be off limits anyway, but you get the picture- 400 hungry kids waiting for hours for the powers that be to decide how to get everyone home after a disaster (Our school’s buses are kept at a central location miles away instead of at the school they deliver to and from and it isn’t close to the school my kids attend!)
We all hope for the best case scenario but need to equip our kids for other possibilities. I didn’t scare my kids with these ideas, I merely opened the conversation by saying “Remember how you do Fire Drills and Tornado Drills at school? Well I want you to have something in your locker if there were to be an EMP, Nuclear or Earthquake Disaster as well.” - They understand not to touch the bag unless something MAJOR happens and they’ll know because the signal for that is having to hunker down at school instead of getting right home as usual. They were told NOT to tell the teacher what the contents were when asking to retrieve the bag out of their locker and to just be discrete in how they used the contents (not enough to go around if you catch my drift but to share in compassionate circumstances when possible).
Here’s what I did and you have to remember some common rules for many schools are NO WEAPONS of any type, No Cell Phones, No medications that are not held in the school nurse’s office and so on. KNOW YOUR RULES before you send a bag for your kid’s locker! This bag could and might be searched one day by school officials according to our School policy handbook.
Buy a generic soft-sided lunchbox with the zipper compartment on the bottom for a sandwich box. Once filled it can hang off a hook in the top of most standard school lockers. When the locker is open by the kiddos – it just looks like lunchbox hanging there. No other kid in the all the years has ever asked mine – “Hey what’s that?” – My kids understood that their bag and contents were “Vault Information” which is code around here in this house for – Keep in these four walls! Don’t broadcast you’re a prepper .
The bag has two sections: Top and Bottom – I put “gear” in the bottom half and Food items in the top
Bottom Portion: (remove the original sandwich box – You need the space not the box)
Picture of their sibling – Asking have you seen this person to someone that doesn’t know is easier if you have a picture –
Note from Mom – “I know you’re probably scared right now but I love you and you can do this….” Picture of Family (mom, dad, siblings, pet) is printed on that Mom note above.
Credit card size laminated list of contact info: Out of state contact (Aunt, Uncle, Grandparents etc) CELL PHONES WILL NOT WORK after an EMP – Cell phone towers fall during a quake- sometimes kids forget to charge their phone and without batteries the Address Book within is useless!
Travel size handy wipes pkg 10 count (Walmart travel-size section)
1 pkg of 2 wisp brushes (no, I don’t expect my kids to brush after every meal – these are for mouth freshening if/after someone gets sick to their stomach)
Carmex
Mini First Aid kit (First Aid Booklet – Bigger Bandaids, Neosporin - Our nurse splits her time between two schools- blisters walking home?) ( I confess I did slip an extra asthma inhaler in one bag as JustInCase)
Surgical style Asthma Face Mask (the flat kind that loops over the ears when worn)
Bandana (with slip of paper containing 30 uses for a Bandana)
Emergency blanket (camping supplies at Wally world)
AM/FM transistor radio with earbuds (about the size of a deck of cards) (Won’t work if EMP but still…)
Extra Batteries (works with either radio or flashlight below)
Pen style flashlight (3 bucks at walmart)
Glowstick – (Camping section of Walmart – 2 stix to a pkg)
Boredom Busters – Notepad, pen, sharpie, Florescent index cards, Deck of cards, Kiddie notebook game of hangman, dots etc. – kids are told to write down name of other kids with them so there’s a record later on of what went on like a diary game of sorts) Leave index card with plans if they leave that location – etc.
Sounds like a lot but it all fits in that bottom portion where a sandwich box usually goes (I just tossed the box itself) Now for the TOP section:
Top Section of the LunchBox
Four ½ pint water bottles (smaller than the regular standard 16 ounce water bottles but the smaller ones fit and the kids know to ration) Earthquake breaks water mains and those nifty water fountains don’t put out anything anymore – too close to Nuclear means huddle down for 3 days right?
Kool Aid singles (to add to water – warm water is yucky anyway!)
Granola Bar (2) Power bar (2)
Peanut Butter Crackers (2 pkg)
Single Serving bag of Almonds
Skittles, Starburst, Fruit Certs, Tic Tacs,
Light Up Sucker (USA Drug sells these in 3 flavors)
4 Jolly Rancher suckers (kids favorites)
Germ X travel size
The top bulges a little when zipped but it all fits if I tuck and lay things sideways and what not.
I loop a baseball cap through the outside handle too since hats are not allowed by dress code on a daily basis but would come in handy on a long walk home.
And you know it’s not really the gear so much as it is the survival/preparedness attitude that might make the difference in how they handle any given situation. They feel empowered to face disaster no matter what it is. – That’s a life lesson worth it’s weight in gold.
Shoot me some ideas and I’ll tweak this year’s bag before school starts in a few weeks.
Thanks,
1:7
With school about to go back into session for this upcoming school year, I’d like to share what I put in my kid’s BIBs for their lockers and see if others are doing the same.
I made Bug In Bags for my kids so they felt in prepared if something should happen during the school day. They are there for 8-9 hours every day during the school year and if an incident happened after the lunch break for them- they are on their own as the schools here do not house more than that day’s meal (enough to feed the whole student more than one meal is out of the question). Well my kids carry their lunch everyday due to allergies so the school food supply would be off limits anyway, but you get the picture- 400 hungry kids waiting for hours for the powers that be to decide how to get everyone home after a disaster (Our school’s buses are kept at a central location miles away instead of at the school they deliver to and from and it isn’t close to the school my kids attend!)
We all hope for the best case scenario but need to equip our kids for other possibilities. I didn’t scare my kids with these ideas, I merely opened the conversation by saying “Remember how you do Fire Drills and Tornado Drills at school? Well I want you to have something in your locker if there were to be an EMP, Nuclear or Earthquake Disaster as well.” - They understand not to touch the bag unless something MAJOR happens and they’ll know because the signal for that is having to hunker down at school instead of getting right home as usual. They were told NOT to tell the teacher what the contents were when asking to retrieve the bag out of their locker and to just be discrete in how they used the contents (not enough to go around if you catch my drift but to share in compassionate circumstances when possible).
Here’s what I did and you have to remember some common rules for many schools are NO WEAPONS of any type, No Cell Phones, No medications that are not held in the school nurse’s office and so on. KNOW YOUR RULES before you send a bag for your kid’s locker! This bag could and might be searched one day by school officials according to our School policy handbook.
Buy a generic soft-sided lunchbox with the zipper compartment on the bottom for a sandwich box. Once filled it can hang off a hook in the top of most standard school lockers. When the locker is open by the kiddos – it just looks like lunchbox hanging there. No other kid in the all the years has ever asked mine – “Hey what’s that?” – My kids understood that their bag and contents were “Vault Information” which is code around here in this house for – Keep in these four walls! Don’t broadcast you’re a prepper .
The bag has two sections: Top and Bottom – I put “gear” in the bottom half and Food items in the top
Bottom Portion: (remove the original sandwich box – You need the space not the box)
Picture of their sibling – Asking have you seen this person to someone that doesn’t know is easier if you have a picture –
Note from Mom – “I know you’re probably scared right now but I love you and you can do this….” Picture of Family (mom, dad, siblings, pet) is printed on that Mom note above.
Credit card size laminated list of contact info: Out of state contact (Aunt, Uncle, Grandparents etc) CELL PHONES WILL NOT WORK after an EMP – Cell phone towers fall during a quake- sometimes kids forget to charge their phone and without batteries the Address Book within is useless!
Travel size handy wipes pkg 10 count (Walmart travel-size section)
1 pkg of 2 wisp brushes (no, I don’t expect my kids to brush after every meal – these are for mouth freshening if/after someone gets sick to their stomach)
Carmex
Mini First Aid kit (First Aid Booklet – Bigger Bandaids, Neosporin - Our nurse splits her time between two schools- blisters walking home?) ( I confess I did slip an extra asthma inhaler in one bag as JustInCase)
Surgical style Asthma Face Mask (the flat kind that loops over the ears when worn)
Bandana (with slip of paper containing 30 uses for a Bandana)
Emergency blanket (camping supplies at Wally world)
AM/FM transistor radio with earbuds (about the size of a deck of cards) (Won’t work if EMP but still…)
Extra Batteries (works with either radio or flashlight below)
Pen style flashlight (3 bucks at walmart)
Glowstick – (Camping section of Walmart – 2 stix to a pkg)
Boredom Busters – Notepad, pen, sharpie, Florescent index cards, Deck of cards, Kiddie notebook game of hangman, dots etc. – kids are told to write down name of other kids with them so there’s a record later on of what went on like a diary game of sorts) Leave index card with plans if they leave that location – etc.
Sounds like a lot but it all fits in that bottom portion where a sandwich box usually goes (I just tossed the box itself) Now for the TOP section:
Top Section of the LunchBox
Four ½ pint water bottles (smaller than the regular standard 16 ounce water bottles but the smaller ones fit and the kids know to ration) Earthquake breaks water mains and those nifty water fountains don’t put out anything anymore – too close to Nuclear means huddle down for 3 days right?
Kool Aid singles (to add to water – warm water is yucky anyway!)
Granola Bar (2) Power bar (2)
Peanut Butter Crackers (2 pkg)
Single Serving bag of Almonds
Skittles, Starburst, Fruit Certs, Tic Tacs,
Light Up Sucker (USA Drug sells these in 3 flavors)
4 Jolly Rancher suckers (kids favorites)
Germ X travel size
The top bulges a little when zipped but it all fits if I tuck and lay things sideways and what not.
I loop a baseball cap through the outside handle too since hats are not allowed by dress code on a daily basis but would come in handy on a long walk home.
And you know it’s not really the gear so much as it is the survival/preparedness attitude that might make the difference in how they handle any given situation. They feel empowered to face disaster no matter what it is. – That’s a life lesson worth it’s weight in gold.
Shoot me some ideas and I’ll tweak this year’s bag before school starts in a few weeks.
Thanks,
1:7
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