| Kids Infants are easy, just pack like you were going on a very long drive to grandma�s plus any jars of baby food, juice and diapers for a week. Dad can keep a jar of baby food in his pocket to warm it up and mom will have to remember those garbage bags to wrap up the diapers. A little Lysol goes a long way too! For teething infants, keep your supply of teething biscuits available to get some sleep. Adolescents are a bit more challenging. Besides having the food and water, be prepared to entertain them. Cards, games and pads of paper and crayons are a Godsend. As long as you have electricity, keep a TV nearby with traditional rabbit-ears for local reception. Don�t plan on cable TV. Battery powered Gameboys are good if you don�t use up your battery reserves on them. Snacks that are properly sealed are good. Gummy bears, energy bars and individually wrapped snack crackers keep them occupied during your time in the safe room. Pets I, for one, don�t want to have to choose between the survival of my family and the life of a pet. So if you have a pet, prepare for them too. Pets provide a special set of challenges. Water and food for the pet are important. You don�t want to have to share your canned Chef Boyardee spaghetti with Rover. You will be hungry very shortly. Have an extra bag of dog food that you can rotate through your emergency stores. Keep a few chew toys around if you want to keep your pet from chewing up everything around it. They get nervous too. If you haven�t figured out what to do with that roll of visqueen and duct tape yet, save it for the floor. Rover will have to relieve himself somewhere. Newspapers will only absorb just so much. Tape the plastic to the carpet and put newspaper over it. Communications You need to stay in touch with the outside world. A battery powered radio will keep you abreast of the local situation. Stay aware of your surroundings. If there is looting in the city, plan on getting your sleep in shifts. A cell phone is very helpful in notifying authorities and contacting relatives. Remember, if you lose electric power, you won�t be talking to your sister in Denver very long. Save you battery for emergency outbound calls. Turn it off when not in use, keep it charging as long as you can. If you have a spare battery, even better. Got a CB radio? You may be able to find others that do too. |