Although novice preppers might be overwhelmed by the massive amounts of information available to provide guidance as you begin the prepping journey, parents especially must learn how to properly prepare their children for a prepping lifestyle. By following an organized plan designed to be age-appropriate, parents can ensure that their kids will be ready for any disaster.
Elementary school
Elementary school usually constitutes the largest single portion of your child's underage education. As such, it is important to make prepping instruction a central part of the knowledge you impart to children during this stage of development. By engaging them in prepping activities and making it fun, they will begin to become invested in the process and get on board with higher levels of prepping moving forward.
Educational activities
A few ways to make prepping education fun for children include taking them camping so that they can learn to set up a tent alone, teaching them wilderness survival skills, making new recipes from scratch to teach sustainable life skills, and assembling a mini version of a first aid kit.
Learning about fire
Cultivating a healthy respect of fire is crucial at this age. Although most elementary schools generally do an adequate job teaching students about fire safety, prepping parents understand the value of actually teaching the kids how to build a fire and keep it ablaze. After going over basic fire safety protocols, you can graduate to teaching your child how to light a match. Cap the lesson off with a bonfire to make the learning both fun and educational.
High school age
As elementary aged children progress to secondary school, parents can begin to broaden the prepping lesson to levels of understanding that are age appropriate. As children become more independent and left alone without parental supervision, it is especially important that they learn how to survive during a sudden disaster. The first rule of thumb is to teach your teenager that bugging out might not always be the best solution in an acute crisis. Kids this age can be taught how to properly assess a disaster situation and learn whether or not to bug out or shelter in place.
Most importantly, it is crucial to teach your kids that knowledge is power. As long as they keep this thirst for knowledge and preparedness alive, you can be assured that they will continue to follow a prepping lifestyle. This knowledge and understanding will continue to propel them forward and prepare them for whatever life has in store for them.
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