Lost Children-Wilderness Survival Plan

By Bryon Zirker

A few nights ago my wife and I were discussing the
art of mess that our children are so good at. I mean it
is amazing how quickly they can mess up three or more
rooms in our home.

We have three beautiful and wonderful children ages
5, 8 and 11.

As we were talking I was thinking of some of those
stories of children getting lost for days at a time out in
the wilderness. How they sometimes wander off and
vanish, sometimes never to be seen again.

As I was thinking of these stories I thought about
this, what if when a family goes camping they give
each of the children a backpack with the following
items in it, to be worn at all time's.

Example guide list of Survival Items to be lost.

1. A small bag of fishy crackers.
2. Extra socks, pants and shirt.
3. About fifteen or twenty small toys.
4. A couple of small stiffed animals.
5. Pencils, crayons and small book
6. A handful of candy like Starburst etc.
7. A water bottle.
8. PB and J sandwich

So logically now if one of the children wanders off into
the forest he or she will make a big mess with all of this
stuff as they normally do and thus they can likely be
found.

I think this is a sure fire survival plan for lost children as
they will leave a trail of toys, food (how about the crusts
from the PB and J sandwich), candy wrappers, clothes,
pencils, crayons and even the backpack itself. The more
small items (stuff they do not care for will get lost faster)
the better.

A few key things to remember. Make sure to put a few
items in the outer pouches of the backpack if it has them.
Also, do not zip the backpack. The children for sure will
not close it and it will ensure that items will fall out as
they frolic around in the forest.

I have learned from experience that a child with an open
backpack spells lost items.

This wilderness survival plan would likely work for many
adults as well :-)