Preparing in secret?

[PreppingPingu]

Leading by example rubs off onto people in your family, so before you know it, they are being prepared with out knowing it. The example I give is while my 14 yr old teases me for my emergency 5l water bottles I keep next to our water tank in the roof space and having everything including the kitchen sink in my bag - just in case, it has rubbed of onto her and she sees the virtues of being prepared. When on a school trip to Paris - she was the one with a mini first aid kit that got used on her mates, she was the one with the anti bac hand sanitizer which even the teachers were borrowing, and the one with a small pocket torch and on her DofE hike this weekend she has even borrowed my pop up kitchen sink! (its a tiny fabric pop up bowl before you ask!) I have a friend and neighbour who borrows stuff or comes to me when she has a problem/run out of sugar etc and my daughter raises her eyes and comments that if she was a bit more prepared like we are, she wouldn't have these problems. So slowly does it - drip feeding those near and dear and as preppingsu said - if you have house insurance and car insurance then why not food insurance in the form of a week or 5's supplies? Good luck

[Deeps]

Crows, good luck with your old man, you don't say how old you are and what kind of preps you're talking about. If you are prepping for the zombie apocalypse then I can understand why your dad might be concerned but if its a more generic stocking up with food and camping stuff then he might be more understanding ??? If he's talking about getting air rifles and going squizzle bashing I'm guessing he's not idealogically against the general idea of looking after yourselves. As others have said, maybe 'rebrand' prepping as something else, if he's an ex matelot maybe equate it to only having what you take to sea, if you forget something you either do without or borrow off an oppo.

You'll have an idea how to deal with your dad better than us randoms maybe do it bits at a time, most boys like 'toys' so if you've got a gucchi torch or stove impress him with it, if its all throwing stars and crossbows maybe leave it for another time.

[Brambles]

As your Dad is ex services, I would ditch the prepping title and have a chat with him about how you're worried about not having a back up plan for while he's away. Ask him if he would help you put together a 'lights out' box that maybe has a torch, camping stove, LED Lantern, playing cards, a board game or two maybe an old moblie phone spare batteries, stuff like that. Also have a look at your County Councils emergency advice here.

http://www3.hants.gov.uk/inside_pages.pdf

Now this won't change his mind, but it may alleviate his fears you are turning into Burt Gummer/John Rambo.

A 'lights out box',what a lovely way of putting it!

I hate American preppy acronyms and 'tacticool' expressions with a passion.

[featherstick]

There's no point going into a head-to-head argument to try and convince anyone (parent, spouse or sibling) about prepping. You have to start where they are and with what you have in common, and work from there. Local incidents can be a guide - a lot of people had to bug-out of Buncefield when the oil refinery went up - I wonder how many had a bug-out bag of any sort? You can start an interesting conversation along those lines. Similarly, acquiring skills can be an interest or hobby as well as a prep. Allotment growing is an obvious one (close to my heart), but bushcraft and survival skills skills can be re-branding for internal consumption as "wild camping" and so on. Good luck and take it slowly.

[Crows]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys

Deeps - I am prepping for extended blackouts and General survival situations

What I think I'm going to do is get the air rifles 2 or 3 weeks before he goes back to work in the Indian ocean. Whilst we are hunting I'm going to subliminally implant the idea of prepping/getting camping stuff and then let the idea stew with him for the 2 to 3 months that he'll be away. When he comes back he'll see my and my mother's preps and hopefully agree with them. If he doesn't I'll use the more classic methods of convincing him.

[Crows]

Oh Balls. My Mum has just taken my dad to a&he because he has a lot of the symptoms of gallstones or something to do with the gallbladder.
This sounds really bad (and I'm pretty worried about him) but this might budge him over to the prepping mindset.

Also he saw this site on my iPad becuase I put it down on the table lol

[undomesticdiva]

Oh Balls. My Mum has just taken my dad to a&he because he has a lot of the symptoms of gallstones or something to do with the gallbladder.
This sounds really bad (and I'm pretty worried about him) but this might budge him over to the prepping mindset.

Also he saw this site on my iPad becuase I put it down on the table lol

Fate? Not that i'd wish gallstones on anyone, and i hope he gets better soon, but this is also why we prep, for the everyday things and minor emergencies
You never know if he saw this site, and how rational we sound, his interest might be piqued enough to return

[i11matic1795]

It's a shame that you have to hide your preps, but I am in a similar boat.

I was actually speaking to somebody the other day who works in the same field as your dad, he has just came home and isn't going back because the courts are starting to prosecute them, I think for war crimes.

I generally don't agree with them being prosecuted, and I really hope that doesn't happen to your dad, but it is possibly something worth mentioning, who's going to look after the family if something happens when he's at sea, or when he gets off the boat to find the police waiting on him and the family have to survive on only your mothers wage.

I don't mean any offence by this, but I understand it is probably a touchy subject.

[Crows]

11matic - My dad has only fired his gun once (one bullet) in 5 years so he should be fine.

I had a little talk with him and we got talking about Peak Oil (something i'm interested in) and when I mentioned gathering a stockpile, he said. "Hmm, okay". This means he is fine with it and will probably help out

[undomesticdiva]

11matic - My dad has only fired his gun once (one bullet) in 5 years so he should be fine.

I had a little talk with him and we got talking about Peak Oil (something i'm interested in) and when I mentioned gathering a stockpile, he said. "Hmm, okay". This means he is fine with it and will probably help out

Woohoo! progress