I have three niblings (2 nephews, 1 niece). Each one is getting a flashlight and a tiny Nitecore whistles when they get to a certain birthday, not sure which age yet. I know their parents would never forgive me if I gave them the whistles now.

The power was off for a little over two days, so we used our flashlights and other lights a lot. It really doesn't take much money to prepare. A lot of the gooseneck lamps these days use USB, so you can combine a lamp and a power bank to create a task light away from the backup battery.

[–] GiveMemes@jlai.lu 8 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I can tell you from experience of being a boy scout camp counselor: Do NOT give whistles to minors!

Tho tbh, would've probably helped with what was happening in scouts in the 80s.

[–] pingveno@lemmy.ml 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Yeah, I was probably going to wait until 18 for the whistle. It's not as loud as a pea whistle, but it's still annoying. The only reason I would ever give it to them earlier would be because we're in an area that is under threat of a Cascadia Subduction Zone Earthquake. But if they're just going to get it taken away because they can't control themselves, it's not going to be much use. For this particular whistle it is hard to produce a nice satisfying screech, though I suppose they might just take that as a challenge.

For the flashlight, I was thinking more like 15 or 16. The only risk there is losing it, but it's cheap so that's kind of their call on whether they value it enough to replace it.

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

15+ depends on the kid, but seriously, 15+ u/GiveMemes knows what they are taking about

[–] pingveno@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months ago

The boys are little rascals, but they're 8 and 10 so they might mature by 15. I'm certainly not giving them the whistles before then.