Entry FeedI am pretty lax when it comes to first aid. As a scout, baby sitter, and now mom, I have taken courses including St. John's Ambulance and CPR often enough that I feel up to speed on minor mishaps. I have dealt at home with bleeding, choking and sprains. However, I don't think that I have given the idea of first aid kits much thought until now.
As a mother, I naively believe that saliva and a Dora or Spiderman bandaid can cure all. However I have a friend who is a little more thoughtful and concerned about first aid than I have ever been. And two incidents recently show me that it isn't a bad idea to have a well stocked first aid kit handy.
The first time that we used the first aid kit was at our women's hockey. This friend brought a first aid kit and we actually needed those ice packs that get cold when you break them when one of our teammate fell and broker her wrist. In our hockey first aid kit we keep a few of those, along with a cell phone, my inhaler, and an emergency contact list for everyone on the ice.
Last night was the second time we used the kit. My son was doing wind sprints across a gravel baseball diamond in the rain. He fell, and got a pretty nice scrape to his knee. Again this mother had her kit handy, with antiseptic wipes, gauze and tape. He was patched up and back on the pitch in minutes!
I recommend that every mom out there put together two first aid kits for herself - one for her home, and one for the car. Some cars and mini-vans come with there own, but check the contents to see what you need to add. Two small Rubbermaid containers are all that you need - you can get the rest of the supplies at any drug store.
Here are some recommendations:
Bandages of assorted sizes
Gauze, tape and scissors
Antiseptic wipes
Tensor bandages
Breakable Ice Packs
Check out the Canadian Red Cross for more recommendations.