This is a collaborative post: When kids are around, things inevitably get broken. Their curiosity and general lack of experience means they don’t always know what they are doing, and breaking things can become quite the habit! You should also be prepared for things to go wrong when your kids are with you – the power going out for instance. Here are some things you should have in your parenting emergency kit.
Tools
You should always have some basic tools at the ready. A screwdriver, hammer and a spanner are always useful, especially when things get broken. Spanners are especially useful if something goes wrong in the bathroom and you need to fix pipes. If a pipe springs a leak, you will regret not adding one to your kit as your bathroom very quickly becomes a swimming pool! It’s also important to keep screws and nails to give you a quick easy fix to broken furniture or fixings before being able to get professional help.
Glue
Having glue to hand can be a lifesaver. A good adhesive will allow you to quickly repair practically anything, including saucepans and even railings. Picture the scene: your kids are hungry and making a nuisance of themselves. You need to feed them but the handle on your saucepan has snapped. No glue, means no dinner which means hungry, angry children and hungry, angry parents. Make sure you keep the strongest glue for home repairs in your kit! You will regret it if you don’t!
Sewing Kit
Sewing kits are the go to solution when you have clothing related disasters. If your children are just about to leave for school and you notice that one of them has a hole in their skirt or trousers, just whip out the sewing kit and fix it quickly. The same applies if you are out and your kids somehow manage to tear their clothes, you will at least be able to keep them looking decent. Sewing kits are easy to acquire tools like embroidery software can also help you personalize or repair clothing more creatively. Sewing is a useful skill to have, so add it to your kit as soon as you can!
Flashlight
If the power goes and you have no source of light, you’re not going to have a fun time. Your children will either find it hilarious or terrifying, either way you’re going to have to try and look after them in the dark. This is potentially very dangerous, especially if the power goes out when you are all in the kitchen. By having a flashlight available, you will at least have some source of light and be able to quickly and safely find things you might need, such as candles or batteries.
Not all torches are equally useful in a household emergency; look for models with strong lumen output, predictable runtimes, and a robust housing that can handle being dropped or tossed in a drawer. For parents who want straightforward, reliable options to keep on hand, it’s worth comparing features like beam distance, battery type, and ease of use. A handy place to review these attributes is a retailer that lists multiple models so you can match specifications to your family’s needs, for example olight flashlights. Pairing a dependable torch with spare batteries or a rechargeable unit kept in a consistent spot will make outages far less stressful for everyone.
Having a parenting emergency kit is there to make your life easier and in certain circumstances keep you and your children safe from harm. The items listed above are easy to find and cheap to buy so make sure you start building an emergency repair kit as soon as possible.