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Discussion: What Do You Teach Your child To Prepare Them For An Apocalypse?

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Cypher9012	What Do You Teach Your child To Prepare Them For An Apocalypse? Apr 8 2010, 12:35 AM EDT \| Post edited: Apr 8 2010, 12:36 AM EDT This Post stems from my comments in the: 'To The Youngest Among Us' thread, regarding how you would raise your children to be ready for a Zombie Apocalypse or other disaster scenario. OK...so to reiterate: Myself & The Missus are planning on starting a family in the near future. We're looking at having a child and then a two year gap before having another child. My question is: What do you teach your child if you're of the 'Survivalist Mindset' that would give them an advantage in later years? Because I don't want to raise a 'Chav' (ask a UK member if you're not sure what this is.), and I don't want to raise a spoilt brat like in The History Channel's Documentery: 'After Armaggedon'. I want to raise a child who is logical, level-headed and is full of knowledge and skills that will help him survive in uncertain times, as well as in the mainstream world. So firstly: Ignore the early EARLY years...I've got to get him/her walking and talking first. Secondly: I've pretty much decided on Martial Arts (and persuaded the Missus) and in my area they do Mixed Martial Arts as young as 4-6yo to give them a good basis before moving them into a specific Martial Arts discipline....but which one? Third: I'm going to be teaching my children as much as I can about their local area. We live close to Sherwood Forest so a lot of Sunday's spent out in the woods learning to track and identify stuff, as well as teaching my children how to 'sit still & STFU' and observe the world rather than be a part of it. Video Games for increased hand-eye coordination, survival horror games to begin desensitizing them perhaps? Puzzle solving games, brain training games, etc....then DVD's...get them watching any disaster movie, zombie flick, survival horror, etc...and point out all the bullsh*t! Post reply Do you find this valuable? Keyword tags: Children Education Learning Preparedness Preperation Teaching Training Young
Cypher9012	1. RE: What Do You Teach Your child To Prepare Them For An Apocalypse? Apr 8 2010, 12:39 AM EDT And Finally: Teach my child about pre-technological means of doing things. How we used to use wood-burning stoves and how they work and operate, about how to filter water or boil it in the wild, problem solving without technological means, life without luxuries, in order that they have a mind which can see a problem and form a solution to simple problems. Because here's the thing..Pioneers could build a house, dig a root cellar, and live off the land without one speck of Technological Gadgetry...but we can't? We have lost too much and if I can give my Kids just a hint of that then maybe they can survive anything that can happen in this world one day? Post reply Do you find this valuable?
JPTank	2. RE: What Do You Teach Your child To Prepare Them For An Apocalypse? Apr 8 2010, 1:24 AM EDT \| Post edited: Apr 8 2010, 1:24 AM EDT It's really endless. Children tend to soak in knowledge. So if you teach your child how to make birch bark water filters, they'll learn it. That kinda stuffs fun, they love that adventure type thing. Fishing, gardening, making fires, what ever you wanna teach em. You're on the right track! Quick statement. Don't just teach them how to observe, show them how to use their environment as well. By all means teach them to be a part of the area around them. In a survival situation, the first thing you wanna do is "make peace" with your location. The moment someone realizes they are lost but accepts the environment they are in (Forrest, dessert, tundra) it does provide. All you gotta do is look. Is there a large grassy patch? Even thin grass? Dig a hole, there should be water. Find a birch trunk, pull the wood fibers out in a nice clump and squeez it over your mouth, clean water. All I'm getting at is you can teach them anything... That's the thing. Post reply 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you find this valuable? Do you?
182crazyking	3. RE: What Do You Teach Your child To Prepare Them For An Apocalypse? Apr 8 2010, 2:04 AM EDT \| Post edited: Apr 8 2010, 2:04 AM EDT First of all: DO NOT OVER TRAIN YOUR KIDS!!!!!! If you "train" them to play and watch certian types of video games and movies, they will end up hating you for it, you will end up hating them for it, everyone will walk away angry, and they will set up a learning block. 1.5 = Your children are not dogs. STOP talking about "training" them. You take dogs to obedience school to TRAIN them. You teach your kids to make them LEARN. Second of all: IF THEY DO NOT LIKE IT, STOP!!!! You said that you were going to get them in MMA at 4-6 (And that's VERY VERY EARLY). Don't EVER decide what your kids are going to be before they are even born. All you will do is frustrate everyone involved. If you want to raise a 'badass' who knows MMA and how to survive, you will be sadly dissapointed if they turn out to be a thinker rather than a laborer, right? First of all, talk to them about MMA. Get them to try it out a bit (my local Dojo offers simple lessons about blocks, etc. with the instructors and the family privately), and if they like it, great! If they don't think that they are the MMA type, don't keep pressuring them to do it! Just make sure they get a fair shake. The same is true with boy-scouty activities. Don't overdo it. If they grow up to like nature Sundays, great! If they grow up to hate them, so what? It's 50/50. Just make sure you accept the wrong end of the 50. 3. Also make sure that they feel like they fit in. If they feel like odballs at school because none of their friends do the stuf that they do, hear them out. Again, your kids aren't dogs. They have feelings (well, I'll be fair and say that dogs have feelings too, but they are less pronounced and impactual. Dogs aren't sentinent). VV NEXT POST VV Post reply 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you find this valuable? Do you?
Jahadaz	4. RE: What Do You Teach Your child To Prepare Them For An Apocalypse? Apr 8 2010, 2:14 AM EDT \| Post edited: Apr 8 2010, 2:15 AM EDT Jeez. I don't even know where to go with this. Children pick and choose what they want to learn. It is never what you want (at the young toddler age) them to learn. Want to know what my kid just mastered? No joke, the ability to say "psssst". It's hard for me to say what he will learn. I tell him important things about every 20 minutes but young children (unfortunately) learn what they feel is important to their environments. Not what you want to teach them. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
182crazyking	5. RE: What Do You Teach Your child To Prepare Them For An Apocalypse? Apr 8 2010, 2:16 AM EDT \| Post edited: Apr 8 2010, 2:16 AM EDT Now that that's out of the way: Teach your kids the boy scout stuff if they like it and want to learn. Basic things, like how to find food, water, make fire, flint, tinder, etc. Also take them shooting. THIS IS IMPORTANT: Don't introduce shooting too early. At the age of around 7, take 'em to a range with an instructor who can show them how to shoot properly and have fun doing it. After that, you can go be a redneck in the desert (redneckin' it is how I learned, lol). And as a suggestion for a game for them to play: it's called Wurm Online. It's a charming little indie MMO for the PC. It's easily playable on even outdated systems, and free. Basically, you play a citizen from a kingdom who has been teleported to a huge stretch of wild terrain. You need to survive (the first 24 hours you get free food and water from taverns so you can make the materials needed to get more food). That's pretty much all there is. It's very realistic. There are basic realistic things, like you go faster without much gear, but there are also interestingly realistic things. It's a pretty darn hardcore simulator. Example: You start off foraging for stuff on the ground. Look! Cotton! You can then chop down a tree and whittle a spindel from the wood. Then you can whittle a fishing pole and a hook from the log. String the cotton onto the spindle, and combine those items. Ta-Da! A fishing pole! You are now equipped to get food and water (you can drink from clean water). Now you can gather clay from the place where it would realistically form - around water. Shape that into a bowl and light a fire with the log. Complete the bowl and get some fish. Add that together again and you get... a stew! Cook that and you now have a food source. That takes around 2 hours to 2:30 (hr:min). Wurm is a good sim to pass time, and it is very realistic. In short, a good survival teacher. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
182crazyking	6. RE: What Do You Teach Your child To Prepare Them For An Apocalypse? Apr 8 2010, 2:17 AM EDT \| Post edited: Apr 8 2010, 2:17 AM EDT "Jeez. I don't even know where to go with this. Children pick and choose what they want to learn. It is never what you want (at the young toddler age) them to learn. Want to know what my kid just mastered? No joke, the ability to say "psssst". It's hard for me to say what he will learn. I tell him important things about every 20 minutes but young children (unfortunately) learn what they feel is important to their environments. Not what you want to teach them. " Exactly. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
Cypher9012	7. RE: What Do You Teach Your child To Prepare Them For An Apocalypse? Apr 8 2010, 2:49 AM EDT \| Post edited: Apr 8 2010, 2:49 AM EDT The mixed Matial-Arts thing is a UK-based foundation called: Little Pumas. It's not a deadly mixed martial-arts training thing as you'd expect to find in cage-fighting or UFC, it's more about socialising your kids so when they go to school (5yo) they are a little more confident around other children and willing to interact with others..I probably should have specified this XD, take a look: http://www.puma-uk.com/students/littlepuma/index.htm It's one of those 'there's no winners and losers, everyone gets a medal' kinda things...best to just read the bold white lettering on the home page because I botched the description originally I think XD And I totally get what you're saying 182crazyking...I'm not looking to force them into doing anything, hell...if my kid turns out to be gay and wants too do Ballet I'll support their choices no matter what, and Training is exactly the wrong word, you're right...Teaching sounds better. And spending a lot of time with your Dad just doing things doesn't sound too bad does it? I mean some of the happiest memories I have of my Dad are of being at country parks with him going off the trail/path and running through Rhodedendron bushes with him... As for Martial Arts...I had to stop doing Ju-Jitsu because we moved 20 years ago and there wasn't anywhere locally that did a Martial Art, and it's one of my biggest regrets really. I just don't want my kids looking back on their life and regretting not doing certain things...I suppose it's about giving them the oppurtunity to try stuff out and do stuff with parents? And as for planning stuff years in advance, you're right...they might stop doing them by the time my kid is old enough..but this is Nottinghamshire..there'll always be 'medieval fayres' and archery to have a go at XD Post reply Do you find this valuable?
Cypher9012	8. RE: What Do You Teach Your child To Prepare Them For An Apocalypse? Apr 8 2010, 2:56 AM EDT \| Post edited: Apr 8 2010, 2:56 AM EDT "Jeez. I don't even know where to go with this. Children pick and choose what they want to learn. It is never what you want (at the young toddler age) them to learn. Want to know what my kid just mastered? No joke, the ability to say "psssst". It's hard for me to say what he will learn. I tell him important things about every 20 minutes but young children (unfortunately) learn what they feel is important to their environments. Not what you want to teach them. " I get what you're saying...but when they get a little older there are things you can do to foster certain curiosities they have...for example: If they watch Robin Hood or do a project in school (We live next to Sherwood Forest so it's a common project locally) and want to be Robin Hood...give them a toy bow and if they continue liking it move onto a proper bow when they're old enough? If they like playing 'Army' with toy guns, teach them about the woodland and how it can help and hinder them, or take them to one of those outdoor Laser Tag things with a few friends for their birthday. If they want to be a knight, get them the plastic sword and shield and stuff and teach them about fortresses and stuff? It's about nurturing that original interest with knowledge that will be useful. Does that make more sense? Post reply Do you find this valuable?
Cypher9012	9. RE: What Do You Teach Your child To Prepare Them For An Apocalypse? Apr 8 2010, 3:04 AM EDT \| Post edited: Apr 8 2010, 3:04 AM EDT Also...ask yourself this...in the following video do you think the kid will remember doing things with his Father, or being forced to train, because I can't tell whether he's enjoying it or not tbh? http://www.break.com/index/tough-little-three-year-old.html (Link courtesy of Jahadaz on the: 'To The Youngest Amongst Us' thread) Post reply Do you find this valuable?
Jahadaz	10. RE: What Do You Teach Your child To Prepare Them For An Apocalypse? Apr 8 2010, 3:15 AM EDT \| Post edited: Apr 8 2010, 3:42 AM EDT "I get what you're saying...but when they get a little older there are things you can do to foster certain curiosities they have...for example: If they watch Robin Hood or do a project in school (We live next to Sherwood Forest so it's a common project locally) and want to be Robin Hood...give them a toy bow and if they continue liking it move onto a proper bow when they're old enough? If they like playing 'Army' with toy guns, teach them about the woodland and how it can help and hinder them, or take them to one of those outdoor Laser Tag things with a few friends for their birthday. If they want to be a knight, get them the plastic sword and shield and stuff and teach them about fortresses and stuff? It's about nurturing that original interest with knowledge that will be useful. Does that make more sense?" I agree wholeheartedly. Don't push but maybe give a gentle nudge towards something a child enjoys. I hope my son will be an active outdoors man. I think I got it from my father and hopefully Wyatt (I know, it's a whole lot a bit redneck) will follow suit. If not, I just hope he can pick something to enjoy and want to be good at. Realistically, anybody who has an abundant knowledge in just about anything could prove useful. If my kid feels the need to become a math scholar (please god I hope not), I will support it. Math may seem boring right now (and it will always be boring) but it could be one of those useful talents that people tend to overlook. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
Knuxz	11. RE: What Do You Teach Your child To Prepare Them For An Apocalypse? Apr 8 2010, 8:09 AM EDT \| Post edited: Apr 8 2010, 8:09 AM EDT As I am thirteen, I can definitely agree, obviously no forcing. I became a rock/metal fan because I grew up with it. My first concert was a month before i was born. I got the good side of the 50/50. I ended up being good with computers. I got the good end of the 50/50. My parents never forced me to do anything. I'm passing my classes, and in the advanced not because they wanted me to be, because I wanted to be. Just kinda sharing my success story. :D And what I'm trying to say, hands on experience. When I was young, and even know, I love to know what my Dad is doing, and help out if I can. And hearing about what he did when he was younger got me into R/C Cars. But the real ones. Not those piece o' crap Wal-Mart ones. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
Maricely	12. RE: What Do You Teach Your child To Prepare Them For An Apocalypse? Apr 8 2010, 12:27 PM EDT "That takes around 2 hours to 2:30 (hr:min). Wurm is a good sim to pass time, and it is very realistic. In short, a good survival teacher." I would never encourage my son to play a video game for 2 and a half hours. Especially not because I think it can teach him better then I can, out in the REAL world. I'm going to teach my son by giving him information and taking him outdoors, not by letting him get fat in front of a computer. Post reply 3 out of 3 found this valuable. Do you find this valuable? Do you?
VagabondVance	13. RE: What Do You Teach Your child To Prepare Them For An Apocalypse? Apr 8 2010, 12:35 PM EDT "I would never encourage my son to play a video game for 2 and a half hours. Especially not because I think it can teach him better then I can, out in the REAL world. I'm going to teach my son by giving him information and taking him outdoors, not by letting him get fat in front of a computer." QFT If I have a boy, it's still before Z-day boy scouts, they taught me the fundamental basics of marksmanship, first aid, survival, athletics, crafting, leadership, and teamwork. I'm going to omit girl scouts if I have a girl, and teacher her myself. From the chick friends I know who've taken it sold cookies, and stayed at hotels. That doesn't sound very helpful when STHF. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
Maricely	14. RE: What Do You Teach Your child To Prepare Them For An Apocalypse? Apr 8 2010, 12:42 PM EDT "QFT If I have a boy, it's still before Z-day boy scouts, they taught me the fundamental basics of marksmanship, first aid, survival, athletics, crafting, leadership, and teamwork. I'm going to omit girl scouts if I have a girl, and teacher her myself. From the chick friends I know who've taken it sold cookies, and stayed at hotels. That doesn't sound very helpful when STHF." I want my son to be in boy scouts too. I'm going to introduce him to a lot of helpful things and hopefully he'll stick with them. If you force them to do it they'll just resent the activity. My mom forced me to learn guitar, learn how to swim, and dance folklorico. Needless to say, I suck at all three. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
theghostnthedarkness	15. RE: What Do You Teach Your child To Prepare Them For An Apocalypse? Apr 8 2010, 1:24 PM EDT \| Post edited: Apr 8 2010, 1:24 PM EDT taking your chiildren hunting and fishing and then teaching them how to gut/skin fish, rabbit, deer, squiril ect and then cook the meat would be a very good survival skill. oh and im a firm believer that children are a product of their surroundings. if you take your child hunting/fishing/hiking/camping/shooting ect that is what you child will more then likely grow interst in. if you let your child vegitate in front of the tv watching spongebob then that may very well be all your child wants to do. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
kinelta	16. RE: What Do You Teach Your child To Prepare Them For An Apocalypse? Apr 8 2010, 5:57 PM EDT \| Post edited: Apr 8 2010, 5:57 PM EDT "if you let your child vegitate in front of the tv watching spongebob then that may very well be all your child wants to do." Kill the TV. No really, I mean it. We don't have one, and the kids are either forced to stay inside or go outside, and they are usually outside. In good or bad weather. I think a prerequsiste for outdoor survival is a love of the outdoors in the first place, and that option should be made the most attractive. And not forcing stuff on them, I so agree. I have always been the type that if someone forced something on me then I wouldn't like it. It's a balancing act. If they are interested in something, give them the opportunity, but don't turn that into pushing either. My grandma did that, and her over-enthusiasm about my private likes and dislikes spoiled me on a lot of stuff. (Admittedly, in retrospct, that's my own fault.) Post reply Do you find this valuable?
Cypher9012	17. RE: What Do You Teach Your child To Prepare Them For An Apocalypse? Apr 9 2010, 1:18 AM EDT \| Post edited: Apr 9 2010, 1:18 AM EDT Now there's some good ideas. I totally agree that whatever is made available will most likely be what your child is interested in. So I suppose making things available is the best way to foster and interest. And as I mentioned before...just doing stuff with your kid and teaching them is likely the best way to do it...as children are happy to spend any time with their parents. In the UK we have Scouts...it's pretty much the same as the US and the rest of the world..but we also have something called 'Cadets'. Allow me to educate you: Cadets is operated by the British Armed Forces, and there are Army Cadets, Sea Cadets (Navy) and Air Cadets (Air Force) at hundreds of thousands of locations across the UK. The People who run the centres a few nights a week are CURRENT British Armed Forces Personnel. The whole thing is essentially like the Scouts..only the kids aged 10-18 are wearing Army Uniforms and learning actual training techniques that the British army learn in Basic, and as an affiliated organisation, Cadet weekend trips and day trips are often to Army Bases and other MoD centres across the UK. I remember my second trip to Cadets. We learned how to infiltrate a compound a cut a throat silently and properly (in the side, out the front) and did excersies as practice (we screwed up....killed the VIP, '**********' and took the bodyguard, 'Mustapahataste', hostage.) But the main principle was on discipline and training...so just as Armed Forces personnel don't instantly grab a gun and go out killing, as Kids we were taught that 'This ** doesn't get used in Civvy-Street'. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
Akerris	18. RE: What Do You Teach Your child To Prepare Them For An Apocalypse? Apr 9 2010, 6:56 AM EDT \| Post edited: Apr 9 2010, 6:56 AM EDT Personally I want my daughter to learn marksmanship, swordsmanship/knifefighting, martial arts, and free-running. I think that's a pretty good start. Post reply Do you find this valuable?
timberrattler	19. RE: What Do You Teach Your child To Prepare Them For An Apocalypse? Apr 9 2010, 8:33 AM EDT \| Post edited: Apr 9 2010, 8:33 AM EDT I spent years training bird dogs to be everything that their breeding, intelligence and natural instinct would allow. I train dogs, I would never train a child to be anything other than what they WANT to be. Let them choose their path in life, never choose it for them. A child is not your property, The best "trained" child would be someone who has learned to make decissions for themselves and was happy learning what they wanted to learn. I spent years "teaching" bird dogs to be bird dogs, wolves come out of the womb knowing what to do. Don't domesticate your children. Post reply 4 out of 4 found this valuable. Do you find this valuable? Do you?

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