Planning for emergencies, like natural disasters, can be difficult, especially when you have children. You want to prepare them and make sure they can help themselves and stay calm under pressure, yet you don’t want to cause them any anxiety about the future. Having an emergency plan is always a good idea for everyone. Here are five easy ways to help get your child involved with emergency prepping.
1. Talk to your children about the plan and include them in the decision making.
“Nothing causes more panic, then not having a plan for emergencies” says David Reece, a psychology writer at Boom Essays and Lia Help. Put the emphasis on the idea that it is better to be prepared for an emergency rather than making sound imminent. Answer their questions honestly and consider their good ideas, so they feel like they have meaningfully contributed. Make sure you also keep it age appropriate. Teach your children how to call the appropriate authorities for help and make sure you have a plan of action, and they know it by heart. This way should the need arise, they will be able to keep calm and follow the plan.
2. Make the emergency plan prepping interesting.
One of the easiest way to pique your child’s interest in prepping for an emergency situation is to make it interesting. Provide books, movies, and video games surrounding survivalist topics for your children to ingest and soon they will be asking questions about what they are reading and playing. Books like Hatchet by Gary Paulsen or My Side of the Mountain by Jean George will entice them to want to try out their own survivalist skills. If you children are into video games, Disaster Hero might get them thinking about how to prep for a disaster and wanting to know more. It’s a great way to get them on board with disaster prepping without having to convince them it’s a good idea. Children who are interested in this knowledge will actively be more helpful and willing to prep than a child who has zero interest.
3. Give them some age appropriate responsibilities based on their current interests.
If your child is ready and willing to help your prep should an emergency or disaster befall you both, start by letting them choose something they need to be responsible for. Maybe they want to plant and maintain a little vegetable patch, because they really like doing things outdoors. If your child is really into technology, then maybe they let them learn how to use a CB radio and be in charge of the walkie talkies. Again, letting them choose the responsibility based around their current interests will make it more likely that they will be willing to help.
4. Encourage hobbies that are prep friendly
Again, based on their current interests, your child can develop a hobby that is emergency prep-friendly. One of your kids might be more kitchen orientated and want to help can and preserve food. Another might prefer to tend the garden. Maybe one is really into foraging in the forests for food. Whatever they are into, that’s where their energy and work should go towards.
“If your children don’t seem to develop hobbies based around survival/outdoor skills, getting them involved in your local Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts troop is a great way to develop hobbies that are prep friendly” advises Vickie Mosher, a parent blogger at State of writing and Essay Roo.
5. Go camping
This may seem less like prepping for a disaster and more like fun in the outdoors, but camping is a great way to do both. When you camp, you learn a lot of survivalist skills, like foraging, making a fire, cooking over an open flame, putting up a tent, and much more. It’s a great way to hone a lot of disaster prep skills while having a lot of fun with the whole family. You can combine it with activities like hunting and fishing, which are useful prep skills to have as well.
These are five easy ways to include your children in prepping for emergencies, based on their current interests, without too much stress.
