A Mini BOB for Your Kid's Locker

If you've been following the weather in the Plains states, you know that those areas are suffering everything from tornadoes to severe flooding.  The students at one school even had to stay over night at their elementary school because it was too dangerous to send them home through the floods.  Fortunately the school was prepared to keep the kids and the staff went above and beyond to take care of them.  Which brings us to today's topic.  Does you kid have a mini BOB at school?  Do they have a locker or space to keep a mini BOB with necessary emergency supplies?

If possible, kids should have (age appropriate) emergency supplies to help them take care of themselves in an emergency, kept either in their school backpack or locker.  Items to put in this pack might include:

• Wet Wipes
• Packet of tissues
• Bandaids and appropriate first aid supplies (some schools consider any sort of medication, even aspirin, contraband)
• Granola bars/jerky/other easy to eat food
• Bottles of water or juice boxes
• Mylar blanket
• Whistle
• Tiny flashlight
• Spare charging cord for their cell phone and/or power bank
• Emergency medicine like an Epi Pen, prescription meds, etc (consult with the school about this particular topic)
• Spare feminine hygiene supplies for females
• Condoms for males and females (yes, kids really do have sex at school)
• A typed/handwritten list of emergency contact info (names, phone numbers, email addresses for several friends and/or family members) as well as other pertinent info (list of allergies, doctor's name and number, address, parent's names and numbers, etc)
• Spare coins and cash
• Pre-paid gift cards (for the local gas station if your student drives to school, to the local fast food place, a pre-paid visa card, etc)
• A small magnifying glass (matches may be considered contraband but they can easily start a fire with a magnifying glass in an emergency)
• A complete change of clothes (easier to keep in a locker for emergencies than to carry the around in a backpack)
• Glow sticks
• Face mask
• A fluorescent strip of fabric to use for an emergency signal
• Sunscreen (if you live in a sunny area)
• Pocket knife (I've carried mine since I was a child, this may be considered contraband at some schools)

Remember to keep these items age-appropriate and follow the rules about what is and is not allowed at school (you don't want to have your kid take a pocket knife to school then be expelled for the rest of the year because they were caught with it).  Also remember to provide training for how and in what circumstances to use each of these items.