Thursday, September 25, 2008

Day 267

Every year the school sends home a plastic bag with a list of stuff to fill it with. It is an emergency bag. The items include things like a notebook, pen, fruit snacks, card game, hard candy, a drink, emergency blanket, etc. But I have always had a hard time filling the bag....not because the things are hard to find, but because it always becomes emotional for me. This is the 3rd year filling them and it is still hard....especially when it comes to the letter. We are also supposed to include a letter to our child. Talk about hard. I always think that if they are reading the letter then something bad has happened. So I try to make the letter up lifting and tell how great they are and how much we love them, but I also feel like I need to tell them to be brave and to not be scared. I don't know why I have always had such a hard time writing it, but I hope my kids are never in a situation where they actually have to use the things in the bag. I am very grateful that our school has us put these bags together. It gives the kids some little bit of comfort and a little bit of home during a crisis.

11 comments:

Kimberly said...

What a great idea. Our schools don't do anything like this.


I am also interested in your Memory Boxes mentioned on the side column. I never thought to do anything like that, and would love to see the finished results.

AZ Hey-mon said...

I have never heard of such a thing as an emergency bag to fill for school. That seems like a panic bag for Utah , a little extreme for there I would think. But I think that would be great for the states that see lots of natural disasters,ie Florida,Cali,Texas an all the tornado and flood states. What is Utah afraid of?

Arlene said...

That is a smart idea and I can see why it's hard, too. I like the memory boxes, too. :)

Arlene said...

EARTHquakes! We're all on fault lines, I think. At our school, a tanker rolled on I-15 (very close) and had toxic junk filling the air, so the school was on lockdown for half a day. :(

Clammy said...

The memory boxes are just a shadow box. The kids get to fill it with things that they remember or like about dad. His favorite color, pictures of him with them, maybe seashells for all the times they went to the beach with him, a toy wagon for all the wagon rides, etc.
The girls are excited to get started, but I am having a hard time forcing myself to do it...that is why I made it my goal for the week.

Carolyn (Dragon) said...

What a great idea! I think both the ideas are very good ones. In this day and age, you never know what might happen while your child is at school...tornadoes, flooding, earthquakes, terrorists, another Columbine incident (even in elementary school), a deranged parent... After all, these are the last days.

Do you ever check out the earthquate maps?


http://www.seis.utah.edu/recenteqs/

http://quake.usgs.gov/recenteqs/FaultMaps/118-36.htm

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/Maps/US10/32.42.-120.-110.php

Charlene said...

I can see why you would be sad, but I really wish our schools would implement this idea. I always pack extra food and drinks in my girls' lunches every day and I tell them it is in case of an emergency. (The bus might break down, etc.) If there is no emergency, which is luckily always the case, I tell them to share the extra food with someone who forgot their lunch that day. I remind them that because they are willing to share, if the day ever comes when they themselves need something, they will have the good they did returned to them. (Every once in awhile I get this motherhood thing right!)

Carolyn (Dragon) said...

After listening to your daughter this morning, I'd say you have definitely got it right, Charlene!

By the way, Clammy, I like your new blog header. :)

Arlene said...

My whole outlook changed when Columbine happened. We didn't know why we were under lockdown for a few hours. But, even though it was 20 miles away there was a fear of copycats at the HS a mile away. I'm going to suggest this to my principal. I love that Charlene does that every day! What a great lesson.

I'm afraid to look at the earthquake maps. I have a fear that the mountain will fall right on my root cellar where most of our food storage is.

Dahle Family said...

that would be hard, but really good ideas.

Merry said...

Our school does the same thing.