Children Survival Kit

[WiseOwl]

Was researching a possible camping trip with my 4 year old. Came across this. I think this is great instructions and lists for a child.

http://www.pinemountaintrail.org/?page=44

[xdpatriot]

Pretty cool. My daughter loves being prepared fir camping. She alreadly gets emergency things together when we go on a trip

[WiseOwl]

My son loves flashlights, binoculars and sleeping bags. If I have my sleeping bag out getting it ready for a trip, he goes and gets all of his gear....lol

If I am working on something with tools, he goes and gets his tools.

Cant wait til this guy is old enough to be in scouts......we are going to have a ball. I have already decided it will be scouts and nature and knowledge over sports. And if you knew me, you would know how hard it is for me to say that but take the "if" factor out of why we prep, I just think life lessons are learned this way. Not on a field getting yelled at by a coach and me kicking some other parents arse for running that mouth. And I wont force anything but I see where he is leaning with his ways....

I am going to piggyback off of this list and create my own for him. He is old enough now to have his own gear.

What do you folks pack up for your kids? Or do you? Do you include them in your preps? Your training?

[EX121]

One of the things I teach to kids is to take a 3 ft piece reflective mylar tape or regular surveyors tape and tie it to a short stick. I tell them its their survival magic wand. That if they hear something they can wave it around. It makes a good swishing noise and is very flashy. Hopefully scaring off any critters and/or attracting help. It also helps keep them occupied.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

They have always has small kits pretty similar to what was here[/B]Do you include them in your preps? No Doubt and as they have grown to teens and adult they are my biggest asset
Your training?when it was possible, I always included them, as they grow more and more can be done. Truth is with this being a lifestyle you just include them. It's not that odd like most people make it. I dont have the running around in the neighborhood with gas masks on scaring the snot out of the neighbors like nat geo idiots. when we fish they fish, we did first aid startin with a bandaid then over the years progressed. They shot bb guns and now shoot competition, recreation and hunt even on their own, started campin in the backyard and progressed etc

I was the scoutmaster for the Tigers when my son grew up and my Daughter did girlscouts for a bit too. Our moving with the green machine made it difficult to do the rest of the time. It's very rewarding for them to be in there but more so when you are involved. Dont be a sideline parent

[huckridge]

WiseOwl, Matt is 100 % on target when he said get involved don't be a sideline parent. I was involved in Scouting for 30 years as a Scoutmaster and trainer and fully understand the BSA can stand for baby sitters of Americas. It's all about the boys but sometimes the parents just want someone to look after their child so they can have a free weekend. I never treated those boys any different because they probably needed scouting more than the average boy. I'm saying all this to let you know where I'm coming from. Make sure you visit several different units of Boy Scouts to make sure that you choose one that you think you can feel comfortable with. Visit them at the troop meetings and see how the structured meeting is or isn't and see if it looks like a good fit for you and your son. Scouting is a great program but can be even greater with your help.

[WiseOwl]

WiseOwl, Matt is 100 % on target when he said get involved don't be a sideline parent. I was involved in Scouting for 30 years as a Scoutmaster and trainer and fully understand the BSA can stand for baby sitters of Americas. It's all about the boys but sometimes the parents just want someone to look after their child so they can have a free weekend. I never treated those boys any different because they probably needed scouting more than the average boy. I'm saying all this to let you know where I'm coming from. Make sure you visit several different units of Boy Scouts to make sure that you choose one that you think you can feel comfortable with. Visit them at the troop meetings and see how the structured meeting is or isn't and see if it looks like a good fit for you and your son. Scouting is a great program but can be even greater with your help.

I plan on being a super asset to whatever troop we join when we join

[All Talk]

My boy is now in the cub scouts (wolf scout) and he has played pee-wee tackle football during the fall and is on our club's swim-team during the summer. At this age, I think you can get some balance and I think there are limitations to the scouts that can be augmented by a good sports program (I am an Eagle Scout myself, so don't get me wrong, I'm all behind the Scouts).

I think conflict betwen the activiites arises in those families that have to have their kids play in every sport, all around the year -- soccer, baseball, football, basketball, and hockey.

The other thing I found is that the cub scouts are not that active in the summer (and come to think of it, we weren't in the boy scouts, either) other than a week of summer camp. So a summer swim team or baseball might not be conflicting, and competition is a good muscle to exercise.

The most valuable sport to train up a young man to be confident and capable in a threatening enviroment or an actual scrap would be wrestling. I think it takes one farther, faster than more specialized martial arts. But the pee-wee wrestling program around here is four months during the school year, four nights a week, 2 hrs a night, and meets/tournements every other weekend. Too much at that age, and overkill I think. And i was a captain on my Iowa HS wrestling team, so I know soemthing about that, too. I wish they ran some once-a-week familiartization programs for youngsters.

[BillM]

I learned survival skills in the Boy Scouts. Our Scout Master would take our troop out into the woods and after we set up camp he would tell us that he would be back to get us in a couple of days. He would always insist that we , (on our Scouts Honor) never tell anyone that he didn't stay with us during the whole camp out. Once he was a couple of days late getting back and we ran out of food and had to live off the land. We ate a box turtle, a copperhead snake , two starlings and a duck we killed with a boat paddle.

I was a grown man before I figgured out that he was a flanderer with several women he liked to keep company with. Being a Scout Master was a perfict excuse to be gone for several days and nights at a time on a regular basis without arrousing suspicion.

Remember in the sixtys there were no cell phones !