Erik LoboThe family that prepares together survives together. That’s the unvarnished truth. But how can you get your family on board–especially if they think that being a survivalist is just a hobby?
Start Now
While we warned you about telling everyone in your neighborhood, it is essential that you get your family involved early. Don’t wait until the kids are older or things calm down at work. There will always be an excuse if you allow that kind of thinking.
Talk Through Resistance
It’s a good bet that at least one person in your household will think that becoming a survivalist family is a waste of time. Maybe they’ll think you’re paranoid. Maybe they’d rather be watching TV or playing video games.
You need to have a serious conversation with the people under your roof about what to do when SHTF. Don’t try to scare them into line–being a doomsday hero should be a positive thing. Explain that you want them to be safe, no matter what, and that everyone needs to pitch in to make sure that happens.
Run Drills
Schools have kids run drills for just about any emergency. Why? Because in the event something happened, their response needs to be on auto-pilot. There should be no question about exit routes or rendezvous points.
Why should your home be any different? As you practice your drills, you might find that there are parts of your plan that need to be tweaked. That’s a good thing–you don’t want to discover a problem when it’s too late.
Assign Everyone a Job
How many people (and pets) are in your household? What are their relative ages? If it’s just you and your partner, you can easily split the workload in half. But if you have children, you’ll need to make sure that each of them understands their job in the event of an emergency.
Older kids can take on more responsibilities–even coaching younger siblings through their own tasks. Let kids pack their own bug-out bags… with supervision, of course. Assign them to wrangle pets or check flashlight batteries on a regular basis. Just as long as they feel invested in the work.
If you have elderly or disabled people in your household, don’t neglect to give them a job. Everyone can contribute in some way, even if it’s just reviewing the family disaster checklist or inventorying supplies.
Practice Skills Together
There’s no reason that learning survivalist skills needs to be a grim or scary experience. While you should never lose sight of how serious this work is, you can also have fun with it!
Organize family camping trips–or just camp in the back yard. Practice building shelters and making fire. Make a game of foraging for wild plants. Challenge each other to a friendly competition to see who can get fully prepared and out the door first during a drill.
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