Prepping can be a great way to bond with your child, especially if it’s something you are passionate about. It’s also an excellent way to teach them real-life skills that can help them become more dependent and self-sufficient as they get older. And, of course, prepping with your children is also important should a genuine emergency or disaster ever arise.
However, prepping can also bring up scary thoughts for children if you don’t go about it the right way. So, while it’s important to teach kids these skills, it’s also crucial that you understand what is and is not appropriate to talk to your kid about or to make them do when prepping.
In my opinion, prepping is something every kid should learn at an early age. And so as long as you are mindful of how you get them involved and make a plan with their age in mind, it shouldn’t be an issue and can even be fun for the both of you.
Below, we’ll talk about the importance of discussing survival preps with your spouse or partner first, how to talk about prepping with your kids, and essential skills to teach them.
Discuss Your Approach With Your Partner First
If you have a partner, or even if you are divorced and co-parent, it’s essential that you speak with them first before getting your child involved in prepping because it’s not uncommon for one parent to be passionate about the topic while the other is less than thrilled by it. As such, it’s important to keep both opinions in mind to ensure your child is not confused or being pulled in two different directions.
If your spouse doesn’t approve of prepping or if you are co-parenting with an ex that doesn’t approve, honest and open communication is key. Try not to fight about it, but instead, come ready to share your thoughts and opinions in a calm and healthy manner.
This means being honest, keeping the discussion relatable, providing quality evidence and context to support your belief in teaching your kid these skills, and being respectful of your partner’s opinion. It can also be helpful to enter into the discussion with a budget in mind so they won’t worry about who will be paying for the cost of teaching them new skills, as well as points on how preparedness can benefit your child and teach them real-life skills and independence.
Even if you and your partner or ex are on the same page, it’s still important to have a discussion with them first about how you will get your child involved. Even if you are both in agreement that prepping is an important thing for your kid to learn does not mean you both agree on how to go about it. Thus, it’s always a good idea to make a plan first to ensure you are on the same page. The more “in agreement” you are with your partner, and the more understanding, respect, and open communication between the two of you, the better the experience will be for your child.
Talk to Your Kids Before Forcing Anything on Them
After you’ve discussed prepping with your spouse, you should also sit down to talk to your child about it as well. If you simply throw them right into prepping without any discussion first, it can be overwhelming and even traumatizing for them if they don’t fully understand.
You also don’t want to force your kid into it if they are showing disinterest or hesitancy. Getting them to a point where they are actually interested in learning about prepping with you can take some time. Be patient!
Understandably, you’ll be excited about prepping and want to share that passion with your child, but you have to remember that they are their own person as well and might not share your interests. That said, most young kids do tend to want to do the things they see their parents doing, but again, it might just take some time before they see and understand the fun and even importance of it.
The tips below can help as you navigate speaking to your child about emergency preparedness:
1. First, make sure your child is emotionally stable
Children, in general, are more sensitive than adults, but some are more sensitive than others. And talking about emergencies and disasters can be scary for a young child. Therefore, before even mentioning such things, you should work on strengthening your child’s grit, which is the ability to persevere through tough times or handle challenging topics and obstacles.
Teaching your child to have grit can give them the mental toughness they need to handle survival and emergency prepping. To do this, begin by being encouraging when they are dealing with something tough.
For example, if they fall, rather than showing worry and fear, use calm words and let them know that it’s okay to be upset yet encourage them to get back up and try again. Or if they are having trouble with a game or a toy and start crying, tell them that sometimes things are hard, and that’s okay — just put it down and come back to it later to try again.
It’s important not to deny that things are hard and even scary, but that it’s okay, and this is just how things are sometimes. Helping children understand this and encouraging them to persevere helps them develop resiliency, which will be essential when you start teaching them about real preparedness.
2. Talk to your child about disasters, but keep it brief
Once you think your kid has the emotional stability to handle tougher topics, you can start explaining to them what disasters and emergencies are. While you might want to jump right into such things, it’s essential to first help them understand the basics.
Doing so will help pique their curiosity and give them the foundation for why prepping is important. If you jump right into activities without any background explanation, your child might struggle to understand the importance of it or why you are doing what you’re doing.
Better yet, use this as a sort of science and geology or geography lesson to help them better understand how the earth works. It’s probably best to start small and only talk about your local area and what could happen there, and more importantly, how prepping helps them stay safe.
3. Ease into what we do when these disasters and emergencies happen
Naturally, after explaining to your child about disasters and how they work, the next step would be to teach them how we stay safe in these situations and what to do, which leads directly to why prepping is important. Your child might even wonder about this or ask questions before you even broach the subject because simply talking about disasters can get their mind going and thinking about what it would be like to experience such a thing.
Just remember, even if they are showing an interest and a curiosity, this is still a potentially triggering and scary subject. So don’t just go talking about everything and anything — keep it age-appropriate.
You are still their parent, and it is still your job to take care of them. Making them wonder if they’ll have to do everything themself and know exactly what to do if disaster strikes can frighten them. Instead, ease into emergency prepping based on their age and what they are capable of. And remind them that you will be there with them to help or teach them how to seek help from an adult if you are not around.
After all, it is possible that you might not be present when a disaster or an emergency situation hits. So helping them understand that they do need to be strong but that there are likely others around they can seek help from is important. But again, this also depends on their age.
Young children under 5 might only be ready for the basics and will still need lots of help, whereas older kids between 6 and 12 can handle a little more independence. Still, even children up to 12 should be taught how to seek help from another adult if necessary.
Teenagers can, of course, handle much more responsibility and can better understand what to do in an emergency situation. But keep in mind that just because your kid is a teenager does not mean they can’t still be scared or capable of handling everything that comes their way. Every kid is unique, as is their maturity level and emotional state. As their parent, you’ll know best what they can and cannot handle.
Help Your Kids Build Essential Survival Skills
Once you’ve talked to your child about prepping basics, it’s time to get to the fun part — drills and activities, like “what if” scenarios. However, it’s still a good idea not to overwhelm them with activities and drills constantly. While drills are crucial as they teach your kid exactly what to do when a disaster strikes, performing drills too often can become overwhelming.
With that in mind, one of the best ways to initially get your child into prepping is to start teaching them everyday, real-world skills that can benefit them when and if a disaster occurs.
Essential survival preparedness skills for kids and teens can include:
- Mental skills, such as grit, adaptability, how to stay calm (crucial for kids), and how to work hard and have courage.
- Risk assessment skills. Being able to identify what is and is not a danger or a risk is essential in case disaster hits.
- Emergency cooking, such as using alternative stove, like a BBQ when they’re ready, a solar oven, or building a campfire.
- Emergency heating skills, such as how to stay warm without electricity, and even how to find wood to create heat or fire if necessary. This should also include skills concerning how to use heat sources safely and certainly the dangers to be aware of, such as carbon monoxide poisoning.
- Food procurement. Knowing how to grow, harvest, and prepare garden produce is a skill everyone should know over time, especially for long-term emergency situations, but probably not to start with. Most children, however, should simply understand the food you have stored, including where it is, how to use it, where it merely needs heated up (such as with a can of chili or stew) or if there’s more involved.
- Communication skills. Being a good communicator can help in so many ways in life, especially during a disaster. Your child should know how to call for help (e.g., 9-1-1 or a relative) and how to find help from a nearby neighbor or other adult if needed.
- First aid skills, such as knowing where supplies are, how to use and identify them, how to care for basic wounds, and know when to call for help.
- Emergency lighting skills, such as where you keep flashlights and lanterns, how to operate them, and where to find batteries and fuel if needed. [Editor’s note: Avoid using candles as a light source! They are a potential fire hazard and are unnecessary since other, better light options exist.]
- Self-defense. People can get desperate and aggressive in emergencies and disaster situations, so it’s important for your child to know when to hide, when to walk away from someone, and how and when to fight and defend themself if necessary.
- Emergency water skills, such as where to find water, how to identify safe water sources, and how to make water safe to drink would all be good to teach as they age, but if they’re young, then show them where the extra bottled water is and maybe how to use water totes and call it good.
- Tool and weapon skills. If you are a parent who supports using tools and weapons for emergencies and survival, it is crucial that you take precautions and teach your kid how to use them safely. Responsible gun control and safety tips are especially important to teach your kids if firearms are a part of your preparedness plan. Other tools, such as hatchets and knives or utility tools, can also be dangerous if your kids don’t know how to use them safely and properly!
Final Thoughts
When it comes to emergency preparedness prepping in general, there are obviously countless things you can teach your kids to ensure they are safe and know what to do. It’s never too early to start getting your kids involved; just remember to keep discussions, drills, activities, and skill-building age-appropriate. As they get older, you can add on to what they’ve learned until they are just as knowledgeable and prepared as you are! And if they show interest in something specific, build on that as much as possible.
Remember that knowledge is power…even in a child’s hands.
[Note: This was a guest post.]
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