Prepare, practice These Tips to Keep Kids Safe in the Outdoors

In an instant, the backpacking trip in Idaho's Sawtooth Mountains turned from an idyllic house outing to every parent's nightmare. One moment, my son Daniel, 16 months old at the time, was playing colse to the campsite. In the next, despite the close management of four adults, he had vanished.

The adults immediately split up to crusade for Dan. I sprinted back down to the lake, while my wife, Debbie, ran the other way, up the hill. Out of the angle of her eye, Debbie caught a flash of Dan's animated red jacket as he disappeared over the rise. She collared the would-be wanderer, who concept the chase was part of a game.

Backpack For Toddler

You want to take your kids outdoors on hikes and adventures, but you also want them to be safe. The mystery starts when children reach the toddler stage and before they're old adequate to go to kindergarten. Kids in this age group have boundless power and curiosity, but little base sense or concept of danger. By the time youngsters reach kindergarten age, they are generally determined old adequate to be taught. But if you're taking a little kid into the back country, plan on spending all your time on full alert.

There are some steps to make your child as safe as possible, and outing preparation should start long before you arrive at the trailhead. These tips have worked well with all three of my children:

* all the time dress kids in animated clothing. Soft, muted earth tones or black or white jackets are like camouflage, and the youngsters should be extremely graphic at all times. You may want to take along some fluorescent duct tape and/or flagging and attach it to the youngsters so they will be even more visible.

* permanently attach a whistle on their coats or somewhere it won't be lost. Expound that the whistle is all the time to be carried with them and only used if they get separated.

* Teach them (and practice) the drumming game: Teach the child that if separated from the group, find a tree and a stick and start hitting it to make noise. Blow the whistle as part of the game.

* The usual rules about not talking to strangers are suspended if the child gets lost in the wilderness. Expound that there will be many nice citizen trying to help find him or her, and these searchers will know the child's name. You don't want the child hiding from rescuers.

The Deschutes County (Oregon) crusade and rescue is the busiest such organization in the state, and they have found and rescued many children. Here are some Sar child safety recommendations when you and your house ventures off the pavement and into the wilderness:

* everybody stays together.

* Teach the children that if they get lost or separated, to stay put.

* Look bigger for searchers: Your waiting space, if possible, should be near an open space.

* Don't lie down on bare ground.

* Stay away from large rivers and lakes.

Prepare, practice These Tips to Keep Kids Safe in the Outdoors