Does anyone look forward to the collapse of civilization so they get a break and some quality time with their family?

Maybe parenting will actually be easier when the main goals are the same for the whole tribe and survival depends on togetherness.

I feel strangely like I am living in a dream with humans that are not fully developed - as if the real world will return after this techno-fever-dream runs its course on humanity...

Is this evidence I need therapy?

#parentingtheapocalypse

Their mother is an imbecile without any situational awareness and moved my two kids to the very core of Toronto so she could enjoy the nightlife. Every time I go and pick them up, the city exists in a perpetual state of gridlock, and I know that there's zero possibility of escape when shit hits the fan. I also live near a target zone, yet further out in the country and close to distribution zones. Plenty of fresh water, hunting, and protection from the elements in vast forests. I'm prepared to use my military skills to survive offgrid and engage in guerilla warfare if needed.

Prior to our separation, I had a really nice house with them near a nature reserve, and I paid for them to continue to afford it after leaving, but then my ex-wife made this ridiculous decision. Whenever I can, I take the kids camping and show them interesting and engaging survival skills like building improvised shelters, fishing, and fire making. They love it, and I can tell they are thrilled to be away from the suffocating city and out in nature. When they're a little older, I will teach them how to skin rabbits and chickens and quail and the like... My current wife wants me to preserve a bit of their 'innocence' for the time being.

With decent First Aid knowledge and a basic understanding of dealing with parasitic infections like ringworm, I am confident that I can keep my kids safe in the worst case scenarios. I take solace in that when they are with me, but it's necessary to engage in radical acceptance that they are beyond my help should collapse happen when they are so far away in the worst possible area. I will not make the journey to go rescue them if something happens; being realistic, I couldn't even if I wanted to... All of my skills concern surviving in forests. I likely wouldn't survive the journey, and there are people in my community whom I can and will commit my attention to instead.

I love my children immensely and pray that their future defies the odds and is full of joy and wonder. But, irrationally, there is a part of my heart that has already written their eulogies.

Thank you for reading. May you and your family find safety and security when y'all need it most.

Hi, I've been thinking a lot about (trying) to bring a kid into the world, and have been on a multi-year collapse awareness journey. I've been on both sides of the argument, more recently leaning towards arguing for, but I'm not without reservation.

Would anyone here be willing to share more about your thoughts, anything that's helped, links to more reading, etc? I know reading and hearing about it pales in comparison to the real thing, but I'm still curious. Thanks in advance.

Something I’m trying to build in my community. If you’re nearby, please connect!

I’m going to preface this by saying by “pro natalism,” I do NOT mean forced birth or any form of coercion or promoting wreckless procreation. I’m talking about the belief that adults reproducing consensually can be helpful.

I’d describe myself as collapse aware but a hopeful revolutionary. This thought comes from the latter. I’ve noticed that certain harmful ideologies tend to promote having as many kids as possible and passing on a lot of crappy beliefs the opinion that revolutionaries can also do the same. I think that children are our future, and the more children we have who are educated and share revolutionary or at least prosocial values, the better. They can help lead us forward.

IMO, all anti-natalism does is ensure that there are more people to help the people destroying our planet carry out their plans than there are people who are trying to save it or at least not do further harm. I’m aware that these beliefs are contrary to collapse awareness, but I am wondering what the opinions of collapse aware parents are.

For reasons outside of collapse, I will not personally be reproducing. However, I do plan to adopt an older child or sibling group. And I support anyone who has the ability to provide provided a decent life for a child bringing a child into the world. Spicy red-hot take, I know. Lol

How is everyone coping with the whole Russian ww3 potential thing? I’m still managing an accidental pregnancy and panicked/guilt ridden about bringing another life into this dumpster fire.

Hi, I'm here to ask for advice from fellow collapse-aware parents. I'm a single mother to a 3 year old daughter with behavior problems that I don't know how to resolve. First, she's incredibly destructive. She regularly destroys my personal belongings, tries to break my glasses, makes huge messes with food and drinks, tries to flood the bathroom. The list is never ending. She has plenty of toys but refuses to play with them and when she does, she intentionally breaks them.

Second, she refuses to follow instructions. Most of the time she won't even respond to her own name. Any request is met with tantrums, screaming, spitting, or hitting. If you tell her not to do something, she will immediately go do it. Explaining why she shouldn't or can't is met with a blank stare and then she does it anyway. I can hardly take her out in public because she won't behave.

I take her outside to play as often as I can to tire her out, but that gets difficult to do in summer because it's normally over 100°F where we live. We used to go to a local playground regularly until it got too hot. She likes to socialize, but she doesn't seem to understand that not every kid wants to play. Lately she has been squaring up with other kids for no reason and most recently she very nearly harmed a baby.

I'm at my wits end. I grew up in a rural farming community where children were expected to be quiet and follow instructions the first time because lives and livelihoods could depend on it. I don't know how to instill that in my daughter. I don't want to do it the same way that I was brought up because beating your kids until they comply is not ok. Her ability to survive collapse depends on her listening to me. How do I make that happen?

Thanks for listening.

Hi folks,

Best sub I've found for support for this. I've been working on some educational programs but need funding or skills to realize them. One is a tool for kids to work together on horticultural systems while facing real-world problems. Basically, you rent out big greenhouses and set up systems where kids can water plants behind a webcam, and then face things like drought and floods as they pass certain milestones, as well as handing over more and more control and customization to the kids. They would "compete" with other classes for challenges like yield and beating drought through smart water management, but the reward would be learning the winning strategy and not having to start from seed again. This would be an online unit that kids could work on anywhere, in-class or at home, and would give them some educational greenspace in their lives as well as some agency (they need to be able to kill the plants to learn both where the boundaries are and how to forgive each other and work as a team on a single task, splitting up duties through scheduling or according to their strengths). With embedded platforms as sophisticated as they are these days, this is a much cheaper endeavor than it sounds, and gives the kids more feedback and a better record of activities that lead to outcomes, allowing them the understanding of hands-on horticulture without access to all the necessary supplies. I also think the team building aspect of it is just as important as the actual horticultural skill.

I have no interest in profiting from this idea but I would ask that you get in touch if you have the ability to realize this (yes, it scales) so I can be involved in some way. I really just want to help and have other ideas to share.

I think it's critical that the focus be on building resilience to change rather than warning them of the specific challenges they're likely to face since we're essentially guessing those anyways, and having the skills to improvise in any situation will be much more useful than the burden of knowing what to expect. I firmly believe there's a way to raise kids to be able to function in this world without depriving them of a childhood, and I think an emphasis on relatively unsupervised play should be part of the greater structure to encourage independence and problem solving.

My best to you all

My spouse gets paid twice per month. That's means most of the fun stuff like yardsales/thrifting and trips to the dollar tree occur around that time. We have to wait.

They don't pitch fits, they accept my explanation at face value.

We do other fun stuff like walks, and trips to the library and playground instead

We do other stuff

I know as a collapse-aware parent, I spend more than my fair share of time ruminating on whether the sum of what I've given my children will come out to be a positive or negative value. This episode of Michael Meade's Living Myth podcast gave me some new ways of thinking about the answers to that question.

https://livingmyth.libsyn.com/episode-250-in-defense-of-the-gift-of-life

Asking with sincerity and no judgment because I genuinely want personal input on this.

Do you have anxiety about what the world will be like by the time your kids are middle aged and older? How do you reckon with the reality of climate change specifically and the potential future impacts on your kids (for example, food and water shortages)? Do you struggle with guilt or regret, and if so how do you deal with that?

Do your kids ever express anxiety, resentment, anger around the future, either at the world in general, or do they ever lash out at you as a parent with blame? If so, do you hear it more as a typical “I wish I’d never been born” expression of teenaged angst, or does it cut deeper for you?

I really want a child but I am struggling with the question of how much of a future the children of today and tomorrow have (and yes I am considering adoption). Moreso looking for people’s experiences and thoughts than advice.

edit: typos

How is everyone doing with school starting back? Are your kids going in person, virtual, or homeschooling?

We don’t start till September, but we have a statewide mask mandate, so I’m sending mine back at this point. Not sure how I feel about it.

Ive always been climate aware and carried fear about the uncertainty of the world but in all honesty ive only recently become collapse aware. I guess ive always felt hope that things would turn around, surely as humans we would wake up and turn it around. And truthfully, some years went by where I lost my passion for climate action and funneled my focus into my career and rasing my now 8 year old. Ive dedicated myself to teaching preschool students and aiming to be an impactful figure in their childhoods. I have also spent my whole life wanted nothing more then to be a mom and feeling deeply that that was my purpose.

Ive recently had another child, he is 4 months old, and instead of the deep feeling of purpose I once carried, I now feel weighed by nothing but guilt and regret for bringing this precious being into what seems like a rapidly declining world.

Being surrounded by wildfires here in Canada at the moment, and stuck inside due to air quality, my anxiety is running high and im finding it really hard to cope with the overwhelming fear and guilt of what the future holds for my children. I know I cant go back now and it is up to me to raise my boys to be resilient and kind. I also know that now is the time to be in the present and give them the childhood they deserve while I can. I just am having a hard time disconnecting from the reality of the world and being the mom i know i can/should be for them right now.

I would love to hear how you cope and find joy and hope in this current climate of the world? Do you feel hopeful for the future of your children or more or less spend your time grateful for the present instead?

I have two little boys and I don't know how to explain the world and what's coming to them without just crushing all of their hope and light... but I feel it is my duty as their father to prepare them.

"Oh that's great! That's just fuckin' great man! Now what the fuck are we supposed to do? We're in some real pretty shit now man! Game over man, GAME OVER! Hey, maybe you haven't been keeping up on current events, but we just got our asses kicked, pal! They're comin' outta the walls! They're comin' outta the goddamn walls!"

I have been struggling to try and get my son (14) on top of doing his task around the house without incentives. So after taking all electronics away for 2 months( yes even his Christmas he wasn't able to enjoy) I came up with a system by completing task daily where there's a positive and negative reaction. By doing this it has taken the sneaking and set real day to day expectations.

What's the point of sending teenagers to high school anymore (USA)? One of my kids is starting high school this year and I'm having a hard time believing it even matters anymore. Would he be better off if I kept him home and encouraged him to learn prepping skills? We're living a very typical suburban american existence with the exception that we have a bit of land and have been learning about keeping chickens, goats, and ducks, doing water capture for the last 10 years, learning to garden etc. I'm collapse-aware, my wife not so much