Big hello

[Scythe13]

Hi rburnsrich

Welcome to the forum mate.

One of the best and easiest things to do, especially if you've got kids, is to get to learning outdoor skills. With my dad, we used to get out in the garden and he would have planted certain things that he would tell me about. "Digitalis (Foxgloves) are poisonous and you don't want to ever touch them. Feverfew (like daiseys) used to be made into a tea to make you feel better." And we used to share loads of time hanging out in the garden, then out on walks and stuff like that. I never thought about those things we used to do until your post.

Getting a tent and going "camping" in the garden. Learning to stack a fire and then cooking marshmallows on it. Things like that. Those kinds of outdoor skills bring you closer to your kids, as well as give them (and maybe even yourself) certain skills that could be very useful.

Even joining the Scouts can be good for the kids (I'm assuming they're boys for some reason). Put it this way, I'm going to be helping the local scout group soon, so those kids will be learning loads of CRAZY cool skills.....hot wire a car.....make poison....cure the same poison....make napalm......use a flick-knife.......general life skills haha.

Other things you can do and make into family experiences are things like building a fish pond. Building a small water catcher.

Think about the things you'll need. Food, water, shelter, fire, safety, and those kinds of things. I know it sounds really extreme, but it's stuff that a lot of parents do with their kids. Loads of people go camping. Go hiking. Have a pond. Do martial arts. Do archery.

Store up a bit of food, but teach the kids, and yourself, the skills you'll need. If nothing happens (which many of us hope) then you would still have spent quality time with your kids teaching them skills that may eventually save their lives.

I'm in the middle of writing a deep article about starting prepping, the scientific-business way. Once that's done, it'll be helpful.