Every outdoor child should be equipped with a few basic outdoor skills along with a little "survival kit" to keep in their backpacks.

A survival kit is something that can be built upon over time. As you get older you can add more and more items (like fire starting supplies) if you how to use them safely and correctly.

Here is a sample of a minimal survival kit:
Extra food
Water
Knife
Flashlight and batteries
Water purification tablets
Small signaling mirror
Whistle
Toilet Paper
Bandaids

Assuming you have these few basic tools, below are some good beginner skills to go over. The S.T.O.P. acronym (Stop, Think, Observe, Plan) is a great place to start, and is a helpful tool for kids when it comes time to remembering what they should do.

to do. You will probably have a meltdown when you realize you are lost. But then, understand how important it is to stay calm or become calm. It’s hard to think and plan unless you’re able to be rational. Recall everything you have been taught  and go from there.

Look through your backpack. What do you have with you that can be of use? Whistle? Use it often. Food? Save it until you’re really hungry. Water? Save it until you’re really thirsty. Rope? That could be used for making a shelter. Knife? That might come in handy.

Also observe your surroundings. Does the place look at all familiar? Is there a good place for a shelter? Water nearby? A place where you can safely get up for a better view?

Now what? Take time to think about what you need to do first. Ok, You’ve blown your whistle for the last 20 minutes. Now what. It’s getting late, maybe you should think about a shelter.

Water is the most important survival item you can have; it’s also a hard one for little kids, which is why kids' packs should have plenty of water and you should understand  the need to ration it if you become lost. Your body can still function with little or no food for weeks, but it can only last a few days without water.

The problem is, unless you find yourself lost next to a water source you shouldn’t exactly wander off looking for water and get even more lost. However, if it has been a day or two and you’re still lost and out of water, it’s going to be worth it to wander off and try to find some.

The easiest thing for little kids to use and carry is water purification tablets. If you're going to be hiking, make sure you have some in your pack and know how to use them. Also make sure you know when to start venturing out to find water.

If you’re lost in the wild, surviving is, of course, your first priority. Your second should be getting yourself out of there! There are several safe and easy ways you  can make a signal.

1. Use a mirror (If you have one) or some other shiny or metallic object to signal either a helicopter, plane or other hikers.
   
2. Create a signal with rocks (that contrast with the ground color). Spell out “HELP” or “SOS,” or even a big smiley face our of rocks or brush will get noticed! Make sure to make the letters big.
   
3. If you hear a plane or helicopter get into an opening and run around and yell like a crazy person.

If you've ever been sick to your stomach while riding in a car, train, airplane, or boat, you know exactly what motion sickness feels like. It's no fun.

To understand motion sickness, it helps to understand a few parts of your body and how they affect the way you feel movement:

• Inner ears: Liquid in the semicircular canals of the inner ear allows you to sense if you're moving, and, if you are, which way you're moving — up, down, side to side, round and round, forward, or backward.
  
• Eyes: What you see also lets your body know whether you're moving and in which direction.
  
• Skin receptors: These receptors tell your brain which parts of your body are touching the ground.
• Muscles and joint sensory receptors: These sensing receptors tell your brain if you're moving your muscles and which position your body is in.

The brain gets an instant report from these different parts of your body and tries to put together a total picture about what you are doing just at that moment. But if any of the pieces of this picture don't match, you can get motion sickness.
For example, if you're riding in a car and reading a book, your inner ears and skin receptors will detect that you are moving forward. However, your eyes are looking at a book that isn't moving, and your muscle receptors are telling your brain that you're sitting still. So the brain gets a little confused. Things may begin to feel a little scrambled inside your head at that point.

When this happens, you might feel really tired, dizzy, or sick to your stomach. Sometimes you might even throw up. And if you're feeling scared or anxious, your motion sickness might get even worse.

Avoiding Motion Sickness
To avoid motion sickness:

• Put your best face forward. Always sit facing forward. Don't face backward in your seat or sit in a seat that faces backward. Sitting forward helps keep the motion sensed by your eyes and ears the same.
• Examine the great outdoors. Look outside. From inside a car, look at stuff far away, like the barn up ahead or a mountain. If you're seasick on a boat, go to the top deck (in the middle of the boat) and look far out into the horizon — where the sea and sky meet. On an airplane, try looking out the window. This way, your eyes won't be fooled into thinking you're not moving when you actually are.
• Get to the middle of things. Whatever you're riding in, find the place with the least amount of movement. This means sitting closer to the center of a plane (in the aisle seats over the wings) or in the middle of a boat — rather than at the sides or the front, where you're more likely to feel seasick.

If you feel this way easily during any kind of movement, it's a good idea to go to the doctor. They will want to make sure there's nothing wrong with your inner ears or any of the other body parts that sense movement.

But for typical motion sickness, your parent may be able to give you medicine before you travel. For some kids, it may help to wear pressure bracelets that can be bought at the drugstore.

If you feel yourself getting sick while you're traveling in a car, it might help if the driver finds a safe spot where you can get out and walk around a little bit. If you can't pull over, make sure you have a plastic bag in the car — just in case!

Reviewed by: Steven Dowshen, MD
Date reviewed: January 2014

Did you know that:

• In 7 years, 1 unspayed female dog and her offspring can produce over 4,000 dogs?
• In 9 years, 1 unspayed female cat, her unneutered mate, and all their offspring can produce over 11,606,077 cats?

To put it simply, spaying and neutering reduces the population of unwanted and homeless animals in the world.
It has other benefits for your pet, too. Spayed animals have a lower risk of some cancers and other illnesses, and neutered animals don't have as many problems with aggression, fighting, roaming, and certain diseases.
The idea that spaying and neutering is "mean" or doesn't let your pet experience a full life is just a myth! In reality, neutered and spayed pets tend to live happier, healthier, longer lives.

person has about 160-180 ounces). He died a few days later. It is widely believed the bloodletting, at the very least, hastened his death, doing more harm than good. As scientists learned more and more about the human body, they learned that bloodletting wasn't helpful except in a very few cases. They also learned that bloodletting was often exactly the wrong thing to do, but it took them much longer to learn the right thing to do.

Modify the sentences by taking the "you" out of it and try it again:

 
If you're a native English speaker or proficient in Modern Standard English, it is probably clear to you that, "I should have breakfast," is the preferred form of the sentence. It just sounds right whether or not we know the reason why.

Here is another example:

Take "Ashoorina" out of the sentence and try it again.

Again, if you're a native English speaker or proficient in Modern Standard English, you probably think "Joaquin went to the store with I,"  sounds strange.

If it isn't obvious to you which word is correct (according to Modern Standard English) by this method, then understanding whether "I" or "me" is being used as an objective pronoun or a subjective pronoun is necessary.

What are objective and subjective pronouns?

First of all, a pronoun is a word used to replace a noun. My name is Cookie Davis. "Cookie Davis" is a noun. It would be strange and tiring to always use "Cookie Davis" when speaking and writing.

For example, consider the same sentences from the examples above:

It sounds much better and is much easier for me to say these sentences using a pronoun for Cookie Davis.

In the sentences above, "I" and "me" are pronouns for the proper noun "Cookie Davis."

When you are using a pronoun for yourself—when you are using "I" or "me"—and you are the subject of the sentence, you use "I." Some examples:

These are all examples of "I" as the subject of the sentence. "I' am deciding to have breakfast. "I" want to go to the movies. "I" am the subject in each of these, therefore, "I" is a subjective pronoun in these sentences.

When you are using a pronoun for yourself and you are the object of the sentence, use "me" for the pronoun. Some  examples:

In each of these examples "me" is the object of the sentence. "Joaquin," "Evelyn," and "They" are the subjects of the sentences and "me" is the object "Joaquin" is going to the store with, "Evelyn" is giving it to, or "They" are hugging. That means "me" is an objective pronoun.

In the novel The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay, one of the characters talks about the "stupendously stupid sacrifice of men" during some military battles. Those famous battles are briefly discussed here to help the reader understand the accuracy of his argument.

The Charge of the Light Brigade took place on October 25, 1854, during the Crimean War, which pitted the Russian Empire against an alliance between Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire, and Sardinia. In the Battle of Balaclava, the British forced the Turks to abandon their artillery positions. Britain's Lord Raglan didn't want the Russians to take their cannons when they retreated, so he ordered the British cavalry to following them and capture the cannons.  There were gun batteries on three sides of the valley into which the cavalry rode, so it was ridiculous to think they'd be successful. This valley became known at the Valley of Death and become symbolic of the needless sacrifice of human life in war.

The Charge of the Light Brigade—1 day
Alliance casualties: 363 (40% of the cavalry who charged)
Russian/Turk casualties: very few

The Battle of Gallipoli also took place during World War I. The Gallipoli peninsula is located in Turkey and runs along the Dardanelles Strait (in yellow on the map below). The Central Powers (Germany, Turkey, Austria-Hungary, and Bulgaria) controlled the Dardanelles Strait, which was an important transportation route to the Mediterranean Sea as transportation, at the time, was limited to mainly trains and ships.

The Allied Powers wanted access to the Mediterranean Sea to provide naval and supply support from Russia. This meant Russians ships needed to be able to travel from their ports on the Black Sea, through the Dardanelles Strait to the Aegean Sea and then to the Mediterranean.

Troops from Britain, Australia, and New Zealand (all Allies) landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula and faced well entrenched Turkish forces who held them off in the months long battle.

Gallipoli Campaign—8 1/2 months
Allied casualties: 192,000 (plus another 100,000 evacuated due to sickness)
Central Powers casualties: 186,000 (plus another 64,000 evacuated due to sickness)

These battles are all examples of great loss of life with little or no gain for the countries battling. The British didn't gain control of the guns in the Valley of Death, neither the Germans nor the Allies gained more than a few miles on the Western Front during World War I, and the Allies were forced to retreat, having gained nothing in their attack of the Gallipoli Peninsula. All those injuries and deaths were for nothing. They were a "stupendously stupid sacrifice of men."

Though Hollywood movies and television shows would have us believe cowboys and Indians frequently fought each other in the "wild west," it just wasn't true. Nor is it true that Indians frequently attacked wagon trains heading west. In fact, a man on a wagon train was more likely to die drowning at a river crossing or having a mishap with his own gun than in a fight with an Indian (Duncan and Ward). 

"Soldiers and Indians" would have been more accurate than "cowboys and Indians," but even that wasn't as common as Hollywood would have us believe. The majority of soldiers serving in forts and outposts of the old west never fought Indians and some never even saw an Indian (Duncan and Ward).