Although a short post on the topic, it’s a good question to ask yourself if you have children at home. It’s easy to assume that you or your spouse will always be around to take care of things but this simply may not be the case. And, while the post referenced assumes it’s a post-SHTF scenario, it’s every bit as important–if not more so–to ensure your children are at least minimally capable of caring for themselves during any emergency, even short ones, as these are the most likely to befall you and your family.
I should point out that while the post discusses long-term skills like fishing and hunting, I’d suggest it’s even more important to teach them the basic survival skills like:
- Do they understand how to keep themselves warm (up to and including how to start a fire, keep it going, and stay safe) but more like how to layer clothing and warm a small room?
- Can they feed themselves with the foods you have around the house?
- Can they cook food WITHOUT a microwave or stove?
- Do they know how to use your camping gear?
- Do they understand basic first aid like what to do if they got a serious cut or burn?
- Do they know how to go to the bathroom without a working toilet?
Obviously, this line of questioning can go on and on but the idea is to start asking these questions and to help your children understand the basics of surviving on their own not only if they HAD to but even to be a help to you when you need it the most! Last, like the article says, don’t just teach girls “girl stuff” and boys “boy stuff” as these are critical skills that both boys and girls should know. 🙂
Here’s the first part of the article…
“We have all read about the street children in Argentina after the economic collapse there, who wander the streets begging, stealing and scrounging through trash to survive.
Many were forced into child labor and prostitution. Some by their own parents that could not support them or worse exploiting them for their own gain. In many ways children suffer most after a disaster…”
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