Natural Disasters

I've been packing earthquake kits for the kids to have at school. I hate doing them; I find them so hard. It's hard enough making them lunches daily, but to add to the pressure is enough to crack any tough parent! the idea of the Earthquake Kit is that it is to contain enough food to theoretically, last 72 hours. Good grief! So this has got to be items that'll last a year in storage as well, if it isn't needed. To make it more difficult, these items are to be full of protein and fruits/veggies. So in other words, they can't survive on juice boxes and junk food alone! But, oh, did I mention that our school is Nut Free due to allergies?(which I have no issues with since I don't want a child to die just b/c of my children's inconvenience) And lets not forget to factor in that my children are picky eaters!

What in the world am I supposed to pack for them? I've decided to include some pudding, when both of them piped up, "But I don't like those!" (that must've been someone else' kid that begged me for pudding, that they LUUUUUVED it, on our shopping trip this past weekend) I informed them that after 3 days, they'll be so starved that they'll like them then!

I was thinking later of adding a "comfort item" in, you know, a toy or photo. I was thinking gum would be a nice surprise too. But then I rememberd that they'd never eat their pudding then! They'd survive off of chewing gum and saliva for 72 hours! I know my kids!

After the first day of school, Kai came home and asked when we'd have an earthquake. (I guess they discussed needing kits soon) I said we never know when it'll come. (We live along a fault line or something in BC and for many years the Big One has been predicted to come. Sounds omnious and scary to me.) I told Kai that I hope we never have one! He seemed highly disappointed in my response; I think he really wanted to experience one! So I decided to show him some images from the recent Indonesian quake. I don't want to scare him, but I want him to realize it's actually a Bad Thing!

Oddly enough, the very next day, Abi came home from school and asked about housefires and if we'd ever see one. She seemed genuinely upset to think that she's never able to see one either! And again, I had to explain how destructive a fire is, how damagin and scary it would be to witness one. I don't like having to explain these things--I don't want them becoming concerned and anxious. But I find it more disturbing to hear that they want to see these events! What are they teaching these kids in school??? LOL