I am not sure I would put meds of any type in a kit for him. Schools seem to lose their minds when it comes to this area. The rest is probably OK. I agree with others about a breakaway style necklace.

what about a cell phone? he can make 911 call.

My son is 6 and has had an EDC since he was 4. It goes on/in the pack he takes to school. Most likely your son also has a couple of packs so it has to be quickly portable, (i.e. the wheeled case, the Ironman backpack, the old pack of mom/dads)

As mentioned, 90% of time he is chaperoned. So the most important to us is the whistle and photon light which are somehow on the outside of all his bags and brightly colored. On his backpacks they're tied to the shoulder strap and fastek on/off so he can get to them without taking the pack off--KEY FOR THE WHISTLE. A tiny anti-bac is strapped to the outside too.

He has zippered pouch with some items for his glasses, a couple of bandaids, couple pieces of hard candy, a non-melting nutrition bar that he likes, capri sun, sunscreen he can put on his face himself, a small toy (which he takes daily), camo bandanna (and trained to soak with water for hot days, put over mouth for dust storms or windy days), pair of socks (cause look he has a lot of sand on his playground)

Make shere the neck lanyard is breakable. We had a kid get hung on a ski lift when his ID card got caught on the lift.

Cheers

I really like the idea of a child carrying a whistle and tiny flashlight, a brightly-colored cotton bandanna for his backpack (which has many uses, as we all know) and the compass (kids can learn languages at that age so why not the concept of N-S-E-W). You might put a map in there with your home marked, too. (how big is his backpack?)

When I was little growing up in Los Angeles, we had ID bracelets that had our name, address, phone number and also had our blood type. I believe mother ordered them through our school. First, second and third grade. I wore mine everyday -- had the flag and pledge on the outside and info on the inside. I still have it along with my charm bracelet.

Do kids wear stuff like that anymore?

Here's an excellent company that specializes in ID's for athletes -- for wrist, ankle, shoe, lanyard. I carry one when hiking that has a few ICE phone numbers on it.

The shoe ID might be good for a child, though I'm not sure you want their name and address visible. It could at least go in his backpack.

http://www.roadid.com/common/id.aspx?hash=shoe


This is a terrific discussion.

Does this ever change?

;-)

Dagney, excellent point. I do use a map and compass with my son but at six he is still way off, so they stay in the car. And we tell him to stay where he is if lost, not to move unless where he is at is dangerous to him but he needs to stay in the same area. (Think move under a tree to get out of the sun, rather than stand in the middle of the zoo walkway.

However, I have a plastic folder map of our area and using my map markers have highlighted our house, his school, his friends house, grandparents, main grocer. Favorite park. As we drive around he uses his finger to trace where we are at by intersections.

LOL

From many years observation it seems the boys never catch up. The toys get louder and more expensive but actual maturation isn't a typical male strength. Good thing the ladies are kind to dumb animals and tend to take on men as restoration projects.

Bandana is a definite...rethinking it and NOT doing neck-carry, don't care how easy it is to breakaway. Thinking of attaching it to his backpack, like comms does it. But when he's at school, his backpack is across the room, and at after-care it's in the building but not WITH him, so maybe have him carry the whistle and flashlight in his pocket. Just want him using the whistle to get someone's attention in the case of a stranger approaching him, along with screaming "fire". And his scream can make my teeth vibrate, quite literally. I'm also packing a pair of shorts, generic black, just in case...you never know. Including small pkg of wipes too.

You're right Haertig, he's probably going to be chaperoned 90%, but not always, and I have no guarantee that the grown-ups that are with him at school are EDCing anything. I know that the school has a plan and that 90% of the time things are going to go smoothly. It's that other 10% that I'd like to give him the edge on. I don't want him to be scared, or over-confident. I would like him to start thinking about what if and just in case.

There's another angle to consider: the fall into a puddle on the walk to school. My EDC gets used almost daily on the walk to and from school! No problem. He's got a change of clothes and a bandaid for his scraped knee.

If he carries this basic stuff when we go out hiking or camping why not carry it to school?

[I just double-checked and my son also has a bandana and an emergency blanket with his first aid kit. He's got his photon and whistle on a break-away lanyard but they are in his pack, not on him. It's a distraction in class because, as you predicted, he plays with it.]