Get The Family Involved
They say “Lots of hands make for easier work.”
So we might as well get the family involved.
This will also help them understand the importance.
* Make a game out of it
Your children need to learn a number of crucial skills to
to help them survive a disaster, but they may not have the
attention spans for a lecure.
They may also be too young to handle the details.
That’s okay. You don’t have to tell them that they are
learning anything at all. Make drills and exercises into
family fun time.
All children should learn their address and phone number,
but how about teaching them a more general awareness of
where they are?
When you are out and about, quiz them about how to get
home. The winner gets to pick the dessert!
Just about any drill can be made into a game by applying
some creativity.
Surprise camping trips make excellent bug-out bag drills.
Grab your 72-hour kit and go! Just don’t forget to pack
entertainment for the young ones, or they might not be
that excited next time.
If the little tykes aren’t ready for bug-out drills, then
start slowly with camping in the garden or an overnight
family hike.
Scavange for supper! The better your children get at
identifying edibles in the wild, the more of a competition
element you can add to the game.
Who can find the most food in 20 minutes? Who can find an
edible berry first?
Don’t wait for your children to get hurt to teach them how
to properly apply a bandage. Work first-aid instruction
into their regular play.
Children love to play doctor, and they will love it even
more when they get to play with real grown-up supplies.
* Learn something new together
Children love to play, but don’t underestimate the power
of simply doing something together.
Learn a new skill as a family. Pick up shooting or archery
as a hobby, go on an orienteering course, learn about
knots, or take a weekend course on wilderness safety.
Join an outdoors club, pick up hide tanning from a
historical reenactment society, or learn to sew and knit.
Start a garden together, or start one just for the
children. Togetherness is the key, but it’s also important
to pick activities that suit the different temperaments of
your family members.
* Pull up your sleeves together
As I said, don’t underestimate the power of doing
something together.
While your older teens may be less than thrilled about
participating in chores, younger children are often
excited to be a part of their parents’ activities.
Instead of labouring in the kitchen with your food drying
and canning alone and in silence, involve your kids.
From the moment they can sit, a child can be placed in a
high chair and given the task of moving chopped vegetables
into a cooking pot.
Your children can participate in just about any prep that
isn’t highly dangerous.
In fact, you’ll be surprised what valuable survival skills
your children could learn from non-prepping activities,
such as helping you when you work on your car.
* Give your children more responsibilities
While we’re on the topic of underestimations: don’t
underestimate your children!
One very efficient way of getting them more excited about
prepping is to give them more responsibilities.
Obviously, you need to start small and check in on their
work from time to time, but if you give them the chance,
you might find that they will run with it and shine!
With very young children, you might give them the
responsibility of packing their own little bug-out bag.
You will be carrying all of their survival preps so, at
this stage, their responsibility will be to pack some toys
and snacks. You may find that they take this task very
seriously!
As your children age and progress, you can give them more
responsibilities. Maybe it could be their job to ensure
that there is enough of their favorite cereal for a
bug-in scenario?
Remember that your objective right now is to get your
children excited about prepping!
While some children may be over the moon at being promoted
to toiletries supervisor, others may lose interest
altogether even if they have the skills for the job. Match
their duties with what they like, whether that’s getting
ready in the morning or making an afternoon snack.
* Read survival books to your children
Reading to your children is a great way of engaging their
imagination, which can be a vital survival skill.
There is a steadily growing number of fun survival stories
for children on the market these days. Some bookstores have
even taken to storting some of their children’s and young
adult fiction into a “survival” or “wilderness” category.
These include books such as the “Brian’s Saga” series by
Gary Paulsen, about a thireen-year-old boy surviving in
the Canadian wilderness after a plane crash.
Or how about “Julie of the Wolves” by Jean Craighead
George, a book about an Inuit girl who runs away and lives
on the tundra?
As you read together, you can take the time to sit and
talk about the skills that the main characters use and how
they might apply to real-life scenarios.
I hope that this has gotten your creative engines going!
You can surely come up with many more ways of making
prepping fun fo the whole family.
Until next time, have fun and stay prepared!
And don’t forget to watch that important family survival
video for more ideas on how to start prepping today:
==>https://survivalventure.com/go/familysurvival
Warm regards,
Victor