Be Prepared: The Ultimate Car Bag for Every Parenting Emergency

How many times have you been caught somewhere and didn’t have what you needed for your child? Or you thought you were only going somewhere for a few minutes and ended up there for 3 hours and now you have soaking wet kids with no clothes to change them into? Or, you had to stop on the side of the road and run little Johnny to the woods because he had to go number 2 and he must go NOW and you’re wondering what you’re going to wipe him with 🫣

All these situations and more would run through my mind when I had small children, and we were leaving the house. I was always afraid that I would forget something or need something (like that toilet paper I mentioned above) for my family that I didn’t have available. I know, it’s a sickness and trust me my family has made fun of me for many years for what I’m about to tell you, but they also were glad I had these things on several occasions 😏

I decided to put a bag together of things that I was afraid I wouldn’t have or needed if forgotten and leave it in my car. If I used something in the bag, I was faithful when I got home to replace or replenish it, so it was ready to go for the next time.

With summer here, this would have its great idea for anyone to do (I STILL have this bag in my car to this day, just the items have changed since I don’t have small children anymore) and have handy for those long beach days or that impromptu visit to your friend’s house.

So, what was in my bag:

-a complete change of clothes for each of my kids (underwear and socks included)

-sweatshirts

-bags for poopy diapers and/or dirty clothes (dog poop bags work great for this)

-toilet paper

-paper towels

-paper plates

-plastic utensils

-2 towels (summertime)

-their swimsuits (summertime)

-bug spray

-sunscreen

-I also had a separate first aid kit that lived under the driver side seat

I cannot tell you how many times I have been so happy to have those things in the back of my car through the years. And it wasn’t just me and my family that benefitted, other families were happy I had some of those things too 😄

The impromptu pizza that needed to be eaten in the back of the car because that tournament is bringing us home later than we expected. It was so nice to have the plates and paper towels to make it easier! Or like I said above, when your child needs to go NOW, you have something to wipe them with. The toilet paper has come in handy more times than I can tell you through the years!

I put this together and kept these things in the car out of an anxious need, but you can do this from a place of being prepared. You may never use anything you pack in there, but there is a comfort in knowing that if a need arises, you’re prepared. And summertime is full of impromptu things! Don’t get caught without toilet paper 😉