My kids mini-BOB's - Jan 2012.

[eugene]

My kids are still young enough that they can't really carry a full BOB so I've started small. For Christmas I bought them both CamelBak Mini-mule's and started outfitting with gear.

So far have the Camelbak bladder for water.
Two pair of hiking socks.
Rite in the rain notepad and pencil (I got a freebie from optics planet and they wanted it so I bought one for each).
Chap Stick
Small bottle of sunscreen
Clif Crunch
Old Hickory "slim jim" with cheese stick. These have a ~1 year shelf life where slim jims are only a couple weeks and they love the beef and cheese combo.
I want to get these next I think http://store.silvacompass.com/products/ ... _Tool_625L

[AnonEmous]

Two quick questions:

1) do the packs contain anything for entertainment? A small book, travel game, or something else can help them pass the time and possibly help distract them from whatever stressful situation is going on that has your family using the packs-- that is if they are being used as BOBs in an emergency.

2) how did they react when they got the packs for Christmas?

[aus.templar]

great start, how old are they and do you believe they would be responsible with a fire kit or a swiss army knife?

I know in isolated situations, kids these days get bored in a few minutes... if you need to make a fire, teaching or getting the children to make the fire will keep them busy for a little while, and gives that instant and visible form of satisfaction of "hey, I made this. I helped keep us warm, or cook the food." etc.

[eugene]

We keep entertainment stuff in the vehicles and the notepads can double for that a little, draw what you saw, tic tac toe, etc. Not sure what else would be small enough to fit in these. I use these similar to my BOB, where using to bug out is one use and using them to bike ride or hike or camp is a secondary use. So what I do in these times when we are using them is take my old BOB in the truck with me which has duplicates of all consumable items, so if were out using our BOBs and a situation develops then we refill and are ready to use them again if necessary. The everytrail link in my sig shows some of our outings. My goal is to be able to go on longer rides/hikes.

Kids are 4 and 6, but the 6yo has ADHD and psychologists say that ADHD you divide the true age by 2/3 so they are near equal in responsibility, so I'm not quite ready to give them knives or fire starting.

And these are still a work in progress. I try to add to my own bag one thing at a time so the weight increase in negligible.

Thinking that mini compass whistle thing and a rain poncho next. I'll print out the map/brochure of the park we are planning to visit ahead of time and give them each a copy so I can now put those in their bags and start pulling out the compass and learn some of those skills.

I was thinking maybe one of the Leatherman Squirt's for the boy, real small knife bland and make the rule that it has to stay in the pack to only be used when we are out.

[aus.templar]

yeh... ADHD and fire/knives do not mix well.

[Honeypot]

Shiny!

Perhaps add a small flashlight.

Perhaps add a second, uber-cheap notepad, and more writing/scribbling implements.

Ditto on holding off on the fire / knife stuff.

Big plus one to getting them some kind of whistle. That's likely to be the biggest life saver of all that gear. Maybe get a simpler more brightly colored whistle, and solidly attach it to a strap, so if they get separated, they're more likely to think of using it. That, and drills. With, of course, appropriate guidance about avoiding noise making in all but emergency or carefully selected practice situations.

Big pat on the back for teaching them map reading so early! That can train their brains in ways that will benefit them throughout their lives.

[jamoni]

Awesome! I got my kid a very similar setup about that age.
I put in a couple chemlights, a small led light, a tough metal whistle, an emergency poncho, a space blanket sleeping bag, some small toys, extra socks, jerky and powerbars, binoculars (tiny folding ones, for birdwatching mostly) and some of those laminated cards with animal tracks, snake identification, tree identification, etc.
Nothing fancy, and only stuff they can use. Once he got a little older, we added fire stuff and a knife.
Very good setup.

[strawberries&spiders]

My husband found a great pack for our son. It has a whistle and compass already attached to the bag and a separate slot for a water bladder. Works great!

[eugene]

I suppose I should clarify too that these are meant to be outdoor bags/bobs. They each have a simple backpack we got from target that has various "toys" for long trips. Those they have had for a couple years and when we are loading to go we tell them to get their go bags and pack them. They have a few items in them at all times and then they can pack other things they want for the trip. At one time or another both Chik Fil A and Arbys were doing outdoor themed kids meals so I went and got those and we got toy binoculars and a compass in each of those bags. So these new Camelbak's I'm slowly switching over to real gear.
I want to put something to hand these on in the back of the truck so their toy ones sit on the seats and the real gear is hung up where it doesn't get spilled. I told my wife a gun rack in the back window would be perfect to hang them on

[Big B]

I told my wife a gun rack in the back window would be perfect to hang them on

What was her reply?

Like I said in collisionsurfer's thread, I love the fact that you are getting your kids started in being prepared and enjoying the outdoors.