Tag Archive for: safety

My new family travel obsession: SafetyTat

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SafetyTat. In action.

SafetyTat. In action.

I might as well just come out and say it: I’m a sucker for a good temporary tattoo.

This means I’ve become a huge fan of Tattly for everyday designs. It also means that one of my new family travel must-haves is the flagship (and eponymous) product from a company called SafetyTat.

The product is exactly what it sounds like it would be—a temporary tattoo that helps keep kids safe. The concept is perfect in its simplicity, blending the fun of a temporary tattoo with important identifying information that can help authorities reunite you with your child in the event that he or she gets lost.

SafetyTat tattoos either come customized with your mobile phone number or blank so you can write in your cell phone number on them. When applied to the arm of your child or loved one, the SafetyTat provides an immediate, highly visible form of child identification that stays in place—even after it gets wet.

The product was invented by Michele Welsh, a Baltimore mom of three kids who felt overwhelmed when she took her youngsters to a crowded amusement park.

As the story goes, Welsh wrote her mobile phone number on each of the kids’ arms with a ballpoint pen. Throughout the day, she had to rewrite the numbers several times. That’s when it occurred to her there had to be an easier way.

I’m not going to lie—the SafetyTat tattoos are spendy. Original SafetyTats (the ones that you can customize to come printed with your number) are $20.99 for a pack of 24. This price doesn’t include shipping, which starts at about $3.30 per order (and goes up to $22.50 for overnight delivery, if you’re really in a hurry.)

Still, especially for summer trips to theme parks, this tool can prove to be invaluable. Check it out.

First-aid kits for the traveling family

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The kits.

The kits.

I never was a Boy Scout, but—especially as a father—I always have embraced the notion of being prepared.

For this reason, the girls and I never leave the house without multiple snacks, plenty of water, and at least one change of clothes for each of them. Also in my fatherhood rucksack: a Ziploc full of crayons and a pad of blank paper. I also keep a backup cell phone battery, in case we are desperate to listen to some Taylor Swift (or, say, make an emergency call).

Faced with next month’s trip to Yosemite National Park, I’ve been applying my preparedness mantra in new and exciting ways. Backup raingear! Backup nightlights for our hotel room! Extra batteries for the headlamps!

The real focus of my neuroses in preparation for this trip: Our first aid kit.

Stocking the primary kit was easy; I’ve been hiking into the backcountry for nearly 20 years, and have become a skilled veteran at making sure the mothership has all of the bandages, Bacitracin, moleskin and other goodies it can fit.

Procuring secondary (backup, if you will) kits for the girls proved to be a bit more difficult. At first I tried piecing together my own, jamming Doc McStuffins-themed Band-Aids and Neo-to-Go vials into tiny little dry bags for the girls’ packs. Then, on an impromptu visit to Bed, Bath & Beyond, I discovered tiny kid-friendly kits from an Arizona company named me4kidz.

The kits, which retailed for $3.99 apiece, are about the size of a standard glasses case. Inside they have standard-issue gauze, sting relief pads, towelettes, antibiotic ointment (a.k.a., Bacitracin), and sponges. They also have 12 bandages decorated with silly animal characters. And stickers. Lots of stickers.

No, the characters on these bandages aren’t as cool as the characters from Doc. But they are pretty cute. And they’re SOMETHING (as opposed to the boring rectangles that are grown-up bandages and Band-Aids).

That’s what I think I like best about these little first-aid kits; clearly they were designed by parents with kids like mine. The fact that the kits contain stickers is amazing in and of itself. What’s more, the cases come in different colors—something that young kids (including my own, BTW) get really interested in/possessive about.

(ICYW, L claimed the turquoise one, while R opted for orange.)

Will the me4kidz kits help us treat a serious injury in the backcountry? Probably not. But considering that we’ve got the fallback of my primary kit and the fact that we rarely will be more than two or three miles out into the actual “backcountry,” I think the kits will serve us just fine.