Today I’ll begin a series of posts that stemmed from an interview on USA Prepares with Vincent Finelli. I’m grateful to Vincent for allowing me the opportunity to teach the class some ideas, and it ended up being quite successful!
The bottom line is that I think people should be better prepared, and I’m not simply talking about Doomsday.
People often joke when they find out I’m a Prepper and say something like, “Oh, you’re one of those?” or “So you’re preparing for the end of the world, eh?”
Now, we’ve all heard the phrase TEOTW (The End of the World), and there is one that is very similar, TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It). I think that it’s important to differentiate between the two. As a prepper, I’m not preparing for TEOTW; however, I am preparing for TEOTWAWKI.
“Why?” you may ask. Simple. “The only thing constant in life… is change.”
I firmly believe people should be prepared simply for the unexpected. And, might I add (with a twinkle in my eye), even the government makes the same recommendation! If you don’t think being ready is a good idea, ask anyone who has recently experienced the upheaval of a natural disaster. Tsunami’s in various parts of the world, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc. Even the recent glitch to the EBT system proved dangerous.
When people ask, “Why do you prep?” I simply respond, “Why do you not? I mean, you have car insurance, health insurance, dental insurance, home insurance, personal property insurance, and fire insurance… but how many of those will actually put food in your mouth if the fragile and complex ‘system’ has a glitch like weather, fuel shortages, stock market problems, etc.?”
Prepping is “unexpected insurance” of the most important kind.
Yet it’s important to realize that prepping doesn’t happen in a vacuum… it affects people around you. Your friends, your spouse, your kids.
Especially your kids.
Kids are different. You can’t just throw something at them like “preparing for disaster” and expect them to simply “get it.”
Kids (children, if you prefer) can’t always differentiate possibilities and actualities, and you might end up giving them nightmares. I firmly believe parents should let them have a childhood as much as possible. Protect them from as much as you can – not to say you should shelter them a la Blast from the Past – but help keep their innocence.
So I wanted do something that helps kids understand what prepping is about. I wanted to help answer the questions. “Why do we do this?” “Why do we have extra food in the closet/basement?” “Why do we keep it somewhat secretive?” “Why do we learn all these awesome skills like gardening, canning, firemaking, hunting, etc.?”
One guy that stumbled across a description of the book made a post “Prepping kids for… Prepping?” – Bingo! That’s exactly what I wanted to do when I set out to write Prepper Pete Prepares. I simply wanted to provide a launching point for parents to use to introduce their children to the idea of prepping.
So… what are you waiting for?
Keep preppin’!
If you’ve picked up a Survival magazine, heard a podcast, or been to a Prepper/Self-Reliance Expo of late, you’ve no doubt run across articles and information on Survival Medicine from “Doc Bones & Nurse Amy” of DoomAndBloom.net. I had the privilege of being interviewed by them during their Survival Medicine Hour this past week.
“The books are well written and beautifully illustrated… presents a concise argument for the reasons to prep and follows that up with simple, concrete steps to become better prepared… Bottom line, I liked the book but think it’s content… would serve as a nice introduction to preparedness… I can think of a few adults I should share this with as well.”
