Survival Family: Let’s Not Forget the Kids
Survival Cache
If a disaster
should happen, and you have children in your home, who’s survival
are you going to think about first? Your kids, of course. But does
your current survival plan really include your children? Have you
rehearsed your plan and tested your gear? If not you should.
Survival Family
goes beyond teaching your children how to evacuate your house in
case of an emergency…..because in some disasters, your house
may only be a distant memory and you and your family are forced
to bug out
with hopefully more than just an emergency
blanket.
Here are some
ideas on how to think about your kids, through their different life
stages, while planning for emergency preparedness.
INFANTS:
- In this
category, we may need to take some advice from the hippies. Breast
feeding and Survival-family-Infant-Carecloth diapering are the
way to go should a disaster arise. Let’s face it, you’re
not going to be running to China-Mart to buy formula and pampers,
so why not be prepared by utilizing these two methods of baby
care in the first place? A nursing mom can keep her baby going
indefinitely in even the most dire situation, as long as she has
some access to water and nutrients for herself. What could be
better preparedness than that?
- Another
essential infant survival tool to invest in, is a good baby carrier
or sling. In the event that you have to move somewhere on foot,
this is an absolutely must. Additionally, they also work well
for sleeping, as most infants will sleep wonderfully in a sling,
and when disaster arises the last thing we are going to be carrying
around is a pack n’ play. Some of the best slings that I’ve
seen are the ERGOBaby
carrier, and the
Moby Wrap. Both of these allow you to carry an infant for
hours without strain on your back. While the Moby Wrap is ideal
in that it is ultra lightweight, compact, and portable; the ERGObaby
carrier seems more sturdy and can hold children up to 40 pounds
by manufacturer recommendation. In fact, on the FAQ section on
their website, it says it has been tested up to 90 pounds (apparently
you can carry your teenagers around in this one as well)
TODDLERS/YOUNG
CHILDREN:
- Clothes
and Shelter:
Do you have items for your young children packed in your bug out
bag and your car emergency kit? You should, because most likely
your child or children will not be able to carry their own emergency
kits. If they don’t make sleeping bags small enough for your
little one, try sleep
sacks, they go up to toddler sizes. What about all weather
gear? Think extremities – hands, feet and head. Your child’s
light-up Elmo tennis shoes simply aren’t going to do the
trick in the event of TEOTWAWKI.
Look for some sturdy all weather boots or shoes (Keen, Merrell,
or Vasque). Also think about a few good pairs of warm socks (Smart
Wool) as well as good gloves and a hat. Also make sure you have
a tent or shelter that fits your whole family, not just your one
man Rambo tent. Always plan like TEOTWAWKI or SHTF will happen
in the worst possible weather.
- Food:
Even in a disaster situation, your kids might be picky. Yes, when
they get hungry enough, Survival Family – Don't Forget the
kids they will eat whatever you have, but you might be worried
about their nutritional needs. That’s why your survival gear
should include supplements & vitamins that are also safe for
your children. Raw
Source Organics supplements are made solely from organic fruits
and veggies, so they are perfectly safe for even the youngest
child. If your child is too little to swallow a capsule, simply
open the capsule and sprinkle the powder in food or liquid. Like
I said, when they are hungry enough, they will surely eat it.
Also remember Murphy’s
Laws of TEOTWAWKI – “Food, you still don’t
have enough.”
- Medicine:
Young children are a lot more susceptible to getting sick than
adults, so we need to be prepared for this. On this topic, I am
going to borrow two ideas from THE SURVIVAL MOM blog. The first
is in regards to giving adult medication to children in the event
that children’s meds are nowhere to be found. The
Survival Mom writes about this topic HERE
and she cites the following chart
with regards to dosages: Print off this chart now so that you
have it when you need it. The second great tip from this same
blog is regarding an easy remedy for diarrhea, which is common
in young children, and simply involves a solution of sugar and
salt that, when added to water, effectively re-hydrates the body
after a loss of fluids from diarrhea. Read
her tips and get the formula here.
- Rehearse
– It is hard to rehearse for TEOTWAWKI or a natural disaster
with young kids but you can come close with a camping trip. You
first choice will always be “bugging
in” or staying home with small children, but like we
said earlier, that may not be possible and you might be forced
to bug out. Go on an overnight camping trip with your emergency
survival kit / bug out bag and what you can pack in the car in
five minutes or less. While this might not be the perfect rehearsal
for emergency survival, it will give you an idea of things you
are missing for you and your family. Plus it will be a nice enjoyable
time in the woods with your family.
OLDER CHILDREN
- While you
might think you don’t need to do as much to prepare your
older children for Survival Family Bug Out surviving a disaster,
this is simply not true. Survival might not be something they’ve
ever thought about, so your first job is to get them thinking
about it. Instead of packing a bug out bag for them, help them
pack one for themselves. Explain to them what they need in it
and why. Make sure not to instill fear in them while doing so,
because this won’t help. Instead, by talking with them sensitively
and realistically about possible disasters and helping them prepare
themselves, you can give your children a sense of power and also
instill valuable lifelong lesson that they might someday pass
on to their own families.
- GET THEM
OUTDOORS. Exposing children to nature is one of the best ways
to teach them about survival, in a natural and fun way. Get them
off the couch and away from the video games. Here are some ideas
for what to do instead: Take them hiking or camping,
Teach them how to garden, fish or hunt, Show them how to start
a fire (once they are mature enough to handle it), Get them
involved in Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts, Sign up for a local survival
or emergency preparedness course, Build a “Lean To”
shelter or a snow shelter.
Most importantly,
make it fun, and this way they will learn skills that they can use
not only in a Boy Scouts Survival Training Putting Up a Tent disaster,
but for their whole lives. A great book to read about the importance
of exposing children to nature is the following: Last
Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder
by Richard Louv. You
can find the book here.
While we all
hate to think about anything bad ever happening to our children,
we need to prepare ourselves so that if something bad does happen,
we can rest easy knowing that we have done everything we can to
keep them safe. We hope these tips will help you to find a starting
point for thinking about survival preparedness for your own Survival
Family.
“The Future
Belongs to Those Who Prepare”
Reprinted
with permission from Survival
Cache.
December
9, 2010
Copyright
© 2010 Survival
Cache
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