New to prepping and wondering how many parents!

[warringtonmum88]

Hi everyone.

Upon the insistence of my brother I am a newbie to prepping and eager to learn more. However, I am a mother of 2. My children are 8 & 3yrs old. I also live with their father and was wondering how many of you have contingency plans for everyone in the household.

Obviously you would all save your children if you could so I was just wondering how you adapt your prepping to reflect this, whether it's seasonal, for severe weather disruption, spread of disease etc.

How many of you are preppers with youngsters? Have you discussed escape plans and survival plans with children that are old enough to understand "in case of emergency" matters?

[pseudonym]

Hello and welcome to the Forum.

[Arzosah]

Welcome warringtonmum! Lots of people on here are parents, absolutely. I'm not one of them but they'll be along, I'm sure. As you're looking at forum threads, you'll find people discussing this issue and lots of others around their children - some are old enough to understand, and to understand to keep quiet, others aren't.

Is your partner on board with prepping, as well as your brother?

[Wulfshead]

Hi and welcome.
Your brother needs a pat on the back for pointing you in the direction of prepping.

Your kids are around the same ages as my grand kids. We, as stated elsewhere, prep as a family.
An important thing I have found is the imparting of skills and knowledge to the younger generation by the method of playful interaction.
Do indeed prep for your immediate family, it's the right thing to do, but also aim to arm your kids with a knowledge for later in their life.
Making a game out of prepping with your children in these relatively safe times makes group action easier when the times come to act as a family unit for survival in any perceivable emergency.

Wulfshead

[Bosworth]

I have 3 kids under 7. I think they are too young to understand, so I do what I do in the hope it might make a difference.

[tigs]

welcome to the forum

[preppingsu]

I've been prepping for a few years now, started when my daughter was about 9/10yrs. I talked about how the extra food was for the 'just in case' moments eg if I wasn't working, bad weather etc.

My OH wasn't on board to start with but now is encouraging me to go and get extra stocks in.

Now my kids are older they really take the mickey but I'm sure they value everything I do as we never run out of anything anymore!

Keep it low key to start with and as they get older you'll be able to have some deeper discussions about prepping.

[warringtonmum88]

Hey everyone thanks for all the replies so far!

My partner thinks I am crazy but he is also one of these that is paranoid about everything so I think he will be on board soon enough!!

My little boy is 8 and is very outdoorsy (I know that's not a word lol) and often talks about what would happen if we had aliens or whatever (too many films lol) so I think he would understand aspects of it.

I passed my driving test earlier in the year and although my partner is thinking I am crazy for getting pen to paper so to speak he was the one who highlighted having an emegency kit in the car at all times. So he also understands and is on board with some ideas.

My brother is our prep advocate, he tries to get everyone on board. He has contingency plans for all kinds of scenarios and is currently preparing for Ebola reaching here and terrorist threats that are hand to hand based...he regularly asks if I have torches, tinned food, candles, first aid kits. I always used to ask him how he expects me to be any sort of quick with two children in tow in such an emergency but he said no matter what it's instinct you just have to know where to go and what to do.

It's very lazy of me but I was wondering what sort of events you are prepping for? I would go through the entire forum but there is such a vast amount of posts it's too late to start now.

[Wulfshead]

Warringtonmum88,
My preps are on a twofold front.
My first line is ensuring our 72 hour bags are up to scratch should an emergency call for us to leave our home. Those bags give us a head start on the emergency services action plan if we are needed to relocate for a time because of a local crisis.

My second line is keeping the home supplied with a food storage, lighting, heating and other things for prolonged period of time. This would mean that a major crisis has ensued and may lead to another consideration I am only just beginning to work on.
Please remind me when you can use the PM facility and I'll post you an youtube video of how the chain of events can 'possibly' escalate. It comes from America but it covers many of the failings in society which need to be thought about.

Best wishes,
Wulfshead

[handyandy]

hi warringtonmum from fellow newbie.
I have 2 kids and tbh it would be irresponsible to NOT be prepared for emergency situations
the thing is to be prepared in a sensible,low key way so you don't freak the kids out and you look like a 'paranoid parent'!lol