Becoming a parent changes you. I wasn’t a particularly hard-working or responsible person in my twenties, but when I became a father, everything changed. No longer could I sleep in on the weekends or waste hours in front of the television. I had to rise to the occasion, and I’m a better person for it.
As a parent, I want to pass on the life lessons I’ve learned to my children in hopes that they’ll take them to heart and be better than I was. Of course, I can’t make them be better; all I can do is give them the best chance possible.
And as a prepper, there’s a whole host of things I want to teach my boys in addition to all the standard stuff that children should learn. If you’re a prepper parent, then ask yourself this: What kinds of skills and values should I teach my children?
In this video, Reality Survival makes 12 suggestions.
1. How To Be Resilient – Life isn’t fair and everybody fails at times. Learn to bounce back and keep trying.
2. Situational Awareness – Pay attention to the world around you, beware of potential danger, know your exits.
3. Self Defense – Many people will disagree, but children should learn how to fight, but not to start fights.
4. Speak Up, But Know When To Listen – This one is tricky and will take many conversations throughout their childhood.
5. Self Reliance – Kids should know that preparedness should not be done from a position of fear but from a position of strength.
6. First Aid – Knowing some basic first aid skills makes your odds of surviving a disaster so much higher.
7. Wilderness Survival – Building shelter, starting a fire, purifying water, navigation, and so forth.
8. Responsibility – Don’t let your kids get away with anything. Hold them accountable.
9. Civics – Make sure children understand our system of government, why it’s important, and why citizens need to be involved if they want to remain free.
10. Shooting & Hunting – Firearm safety is crucial, and learning to hunt could be life-saving.
11. Compassion – Empathy is a skill that can be taught. Set an example and explain why helping others is important.
12. Avoid Debt – Debt is slavery and avoiding it at all costs is the best way to live.
Watch the video below to hear him go into more detail about each of these things. What do you think of this list? What would you add?
Learn to fish and preserve know what’s edible. Learn to hitch and drive horses. Animal husbandry..gathering seeds eyc..making cloth
Driving Skills. I taught mine defensive, offensive and off roading. I took them out during ice storms and any other kind I could find and forced spin outs to make them recover. They learned stick transmissions and pulling/backing trailers.
That’s awesome! My mom had a boyfriend after my parents divorced and he taught me to drive. They worked at a drive-in movie theater. He said I could drive his truck as much as I wanted and he would pay for the gas. The only stipulation was that I had to drive in reverse. He said any fool can drive forward but most people couldn’t drive in reverse. So I drove hundreds of miles in reverse, and then he put a trailer on it and said reverse only. Needless to say I became a great driver in reverse, even with a trailer in tow. And he was right. I can drive like the devil forward and in reverse. I can back a trailer for miles, and make it go exactly where I want it to go. It prepared me to be able to drive anything in all conditions.
Children should also learn to dry seeds to grow food. How to preserve foods like with salt for meats.