I’m really annoyed - still - that years ago, some other woman on the internet went viral - for an idea that I also had.
It was for nappy grab-bags. When Kitty was about two, I hit on the idea of making up packages of Ziplocs containing one nappy, one nappy bag, one pair of latex gloves and five wipes, (contained within a further Ziploc so as not to dry out). Once you are a bit more mobile with a child and don't need to haul around an entire steamer trunk full of kit, it’s great to have a slithery package of essentials that you can almost pop in your back pocket (if your trousers are big enough).
Anyway I had this idea and was bloody pleased with it and wrote about it online - then discovered six months later that some woman in America had, (independently), had the same idea but was famous for it! And all these commentators were going on and on and on about how brilliant she was and I thought: but what about me?!?
Though… would I want to be famous for nappy grab bags now? I’ll get back to you.
In the same vein, I am a psycho for packages of stuff stationed in and around my children’s rooms for unpredictable medical disasters. For a long time, each child had in its room a stainless steel bowl that contained a pair of Marigolds, a stiff piece of plastic and a tub of bicarbonate of soda. The plastic was for scraping vomit off sheets and carpets - the bicarbonate of soda you sprinkle on the stain to soak up bad smells (it works, literally just a tub from the supermarket). My children are now old enough to make it to the loo when they are sick, but if yours aren’t, consider this. When my children were small and puking up, it was like a Magimix set to top speed with the lid off.
Recently, we have entered a new phase of midnight horror, which is the nosebleed. Both my children get them, but Sam’s are extreme. One of his nostrils has already been cauterised and he found the procedure so unpleasant that he has begged that I don’t march him down there to get the other one done. I have granted him a reprieve, for now, but in hot weather there are phases where we get them multiple times a week. And always at 2am!
So I have a new emergency kit, in a separate bucket. And I’m super pleased with it. It contains: 1 pair Marigolds, 2 food caddy liners (for speedy bio-waste disposal), 1 pack of Clinell wipes, which are infinitely superior to basic wet wipes at getting blood off both skin and surfaces, and one box of tampons, size small. There is also a camping lamp, like this one. In the middle of the light I don’t want to whack on all the lights because it’s too brutal, but I need to see what I am doing and I don’t always have the wits about me to have my phone.
A note on the tampons: these have been removed from their wrappers, had the string cut off, then been placed back into a small plastic bag. Then - ta da! - they are not in fact tampons, they are special nose-bleed bungs that I got from the pharmacy. Children are entitled to dignity, too. The smallest size of tampon is exactly the right size for nostrils in children aged 9+ and they do, as you might expect, a brilliant job. Sam’s nosebleeds are absolutely epic but they are no match for a Lil-Let. He immediately declared them a game changer and last night was able to go back to bed to sit out the event, rather than perch on the loo with his chin on the side of the sink, miserably changing a sodden plug of loo paper every now and again. Poor kid.
How about you? Do you have neurotic stashes of kit here and about the place? I find people with dogs are often remarkably very well-prepared. Please leave a comment in the handy box below.
Credit for this one goes to my excellent friend Sara, but the empty tubs from Christmas Quality Street etc are PERFECT for car sick persons - don’t look like sick receptacles to trigger anything or make passengers uneasy, easy to hold on lap and have a nice lid to keep everything contained until you can stop and empty it.
I love a handy hints and tips list and these are all gold! Thank you. I still do the nappy ziploc bag Esther after your guidance on this years ago (and I’m a grandma). The medical kit is a great idea too.