Do-It-Yourself Prepper and Survival Gifts Kids Can Make

I know it's got a christmas-bent to it, but it's got heart.

As far as I’m concerned, a home-made Christmas gift with some thought behind it trumps the most expensive thing you can buy. And, this is guaranteed: If a child makes a survival and/or prepper gift for a loved one, that item will be cherished, included in a survival kit and used! And if you can save some money while making a valuable piece of survival gear, that’s even better!

by Leon Pantenburg

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Survival for Kids, Bug-Out Bag Article on Packing Up the Wee Ones

Packing Up the Kids

Jan 13th, 2011 | By Samara | Category: Education, Prepping | Print This Article

We have all thought about packing up for a grab and run scenario. We get the duffel bag, the important papers, a case of bottled water and throw it all in the car. Then we load up the kids.

Oh yeah, the kids.

If you have ever taken your children on a car trip for an hour or longer, you know that special considerations need to be made. If they are bored after five minutes, what will happen in an extended bug out situation? Thinking about their needs and wants ahead of time will help an already stressful situation to not escalate into an impossible one.

Kids Packs

The good news is that even though children need more stuff, they also come ready-made with additional hands to help carry it. However, you do need to be aware of realistic expectations. As a general rule of thumb, children should not carry much more than 10% of their own body-weight in a backpack. For a 30-pound toddler then, you want something that is about 3 pounds, whereas a 100-pound 12-year-old could handle about 10 pounds. You will want to put your kids and the finished pack on a scale separately to make sure you do not overload them, which could cause injury and fatigue.

This is another great opportunity to get your children involved in the process of preparedness. Let them pick out their own backpacks and have some input on what goes in it. Depending on their age, they may be able to pack the whole thing themselves and just have you review it together. It may make a great activity for them while you are putting the finishing touches on your own Evac Pack. Here are some ideas to consider...more...

Gone A Spell, Back Again

I beg no forgiveness for my recent absence. A much needed vacation in Walla Walla, with a serious theme of self-improvement and re-creation. Girls get grandparent time, I get time with Hannah, some book work done, and a nice four night stint at my childhood cabin. Head muddled, diet unsatisfactory, head cloudy but clearing. We arrive back past seven tonight, Hannah makes a marvelous feast for us. I put the girls to bed as Tomas from Rad Dad arrives with his daughter, her friend and Artnoose in tow.

Catch their Radical Parenting & Radical Letterpress presentation at Last Word Books Saturday night at 7pm!

Toddler & Parent Creative Dance Class in Olympia!

a day in the life and some sign language links

today we played in the snow for the first time
hands got cold pretty quick

upon returning in we discover that snow is
in fact
edible

and delicious

they are both wandering around trying to say 'hermana'
and signing up a storm

I highly recommend signing with your child as early as they will pay attention. My mother was a sign language interpreter while I was growing up. I was fluent until age six when I stopped using it. Now, at 23, I've picked it up again in order to communicate with my children. Lyli and Scarleht just turned 19 months today and know upwards of 50 signs apiece. Children can sign long before they can speak and many of the early frustrations of parenthood can be easily bypassed by means of this method of communication. Plus it's fun for you and your child, gets those rusty neural networks tickin' again and has been proven to increase the development of your child in some astonishing ways. Language, critical thinking, problem solving, everything is sped up due to the acquisition of a language at such an early age.

I wish there were better resources out there but this will have to do:

Sign With Your Baby - at least they're Seattle-based, I can't vouch for their business practices other than that but they've put together a decent program. I'd just keep the book and maybe find a few other decent sign language dictionaries and go for it. It's not like you're going to be signing with many deaf people and need to be fluent or precise. It's the principle which counts here and the effects will be the same regardless of the quality. You can even invent signs of your own or better yet listen to your child and let them invent their own. It gets tricky sometimes trying to decode their little twitching hands and so many signs look alike (sorry and please; thank you and hot) but you'll get the hang of it.

God, I've been looking at some of the baby sign websites out there and they look strange! DON'T DO SEE-SIGN I BEG OF YOU. Stick with American Sign Language, here's a basic online video dictionary and here's another one: Handspeak(I haven't investigated the quality very thoroughly). There are also a few forms of international sign but I don't know much about them at all. Please feel free to contact me regarding sign language as I still have many resources available through my mother. Good Luck!

alas, it has been another long day. and i am a tired papa.

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