It’s that time of the year when fathers take center stage and family members shower them with the love they deserve. As a prepper dad, you’re likely looking at spending Fathers’ Day teaching your family about prepping with kids. While many dads anticipate taking the day off this coming Sunday, they know their job of taking care of their children doesn’t take a vacation. This is why Fathers’ Day is as good as any day to finally show the kids what it’s like to survive in the world.
Prepping with kids while they’re young
It’s a good idea to introduce the kids to prepping while they’re still young. Children are naturally curious and like to emulate what they see in their parents. As you go about your prepping duties, you can make things clearer for your kids if you take some time to explain the importance of being prepared. Of course, you’re better off skipping gruesome stories of disasters, asteroids, alien invasion, and zombie hordes.
This is where prepper books for kids come in. There are children’s books that talk about prepping instead of your usual playful rabbits, hungry caterpillars and curious monkeys.
These children’s books will teach them the importance of being prepared for any situation. They will also make them understand what all those camping and survival gear you’ve been lugging around are for. As their interest on prepping develops, you can then encourage them to go on an outdoor adventure with you. It would be a great Fathers’ Day activity to go camping with your children even if it’s only in your backyard.
Survival skills
As your kids grow older, they develop skills and learn to take on responsibilities. Include survival skills among the things they have to learn. The key here is to make things fun and interesting. While out camping or hiking, show them how to build shelters using branches and whatever you find in the woods. They also need to learn how to find water and to make it safe for drinking.
There are skills that can be a little risky but are necessary to learn even at a young age. A prepper dad is all about safety. You have to guide your kids as they discover how to build fire, use a knife, learn to sew, train in self-defense, and even learn to use weapons.
Other survival skills your kids must learn include basic first aid, reading a map, using a compass, gardening, swimming, fishing, and foraging. Prepping with kids can be fun if you teach them survival hacks such as opening a can using a spoon or a flat piece of rock, and starting a fire using a battery and steel wool. To the young ones, it will all seem like magic.
With these in mind, why not celebrate Fathers’ Day by taking the kids outdoors. Not only do they get to experience the beauty of nature, they also get to practice what you taught them. A huge step in prepping with kids is to get them to experience what it would be like to be a prepper or survivalist. Not to mention, you get to do something you love. That is, if you’re a prepper dad and an outdoor enthusiast. If you’re a newbie to prepping, a Fathers’ Day outing is a great way for you to try the basics out yourself.
Prepper dads with grown-up children
Your duty as a father does not end when your children go off to college or when they have families of their own. It’s not enough that you teach them everything they need to know in case SHTF. It’s also your job as a prepper dad to make sure you are ready to take your children in if they somehow fail to prepare or have to bug out from their own shelters.
Include your children and their families in your plans. Stock up on food, water and supplies with them in mind. Make sure you have a first aid kit along with specific medicines in case any of you have existing medical conditions.
In dire times, it pays to have a sense of normalcy especially if there are small children. Consider what your children and their children love to eat. Eating comfort food is a good way to get their minds off the troubling times.
It’s not enough that they have food to eat, water to drink and a safe place to stay in. You also need to tend to everyone’s emotional and mental health. Include books, playing cards, board games, stuffed toys, crayons and paper for everyone to enjoy and while away the time with.
You also need to discuss a bug out plan with your kids in case you have to leave your home. Each of you should have his or her own bug out bag. Bug out vehicles that will fit everyone should be filled with ample supplies and gear and raring to go.
For some dads, it may not be ideal to celebrate Fathers’ Day camping outdoors or making a bug out plan with the family. For a prepper dad, however, this is one of the best ways to spend his special day.
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