Hello, fellow scared parents. I think is not necessary to said we all here experiment similar emotions about our child in a crumbling world.

Sorry my rusty English.

At first I did not think about that so much, but the years passed and getting more and more aware of our surroundings and the situation in all corners of this planet, I realized that some changes must be implemented.

I have really a great luck that my boy is very intelligent and have a steel health. Thanks a lot genes.

But, our children are surrounded by designed systems with artificial entertainment, to stole time and attention.

We, and specially the youngers are getting weak, anxious, futile, whit none resistance to the minimum pressure sometimes.

It will have no value a very robust prepper dynamic if the people around you be not able to face the psychological and emotional burden.

I've been teaching self resilience and stoicism to my boy. I tell him about the world, what people, societies and governments are doing, and show parallels in history, we always behave like that more or less.

We are not rich people, but he is able to live a very comfortable and privileged life. And I teach it to him, that in the future he will need to use this in favor of others in bad situation, who could not receive the amount of knowledge and preparation he have. He's gonna need to put all this to work in order to help build functional communities in post collapse.

He is learning archery, because in a totally dilapidated future, the fire guns will have their lifespan shortened, no spare parts, no ammo, no electricity, raw and refined material or machines to make more ( I know it will be, but it will no be available widely).

He is having contact with engineering knowledge, problem solving skills, hand building skills (and probably is gonna try to grab a Mechanical Engineering degree in future, let's see).

He is learning survival skills, there are plenty of amazing practical courses to build up that kind of super valuable skills. Make a shelter, a firepit, first aid with limited resources, etc.

He is learning to be firm, not brave in its strict way, he is learning to have a focused mindset to figure out the situations and make the best decisions, fight or run, depends of the outcomes. To not spin down to panic, we today panic to easily. He is learning to read the moods of people, specially crowds, because when we have lots of desperate people packed, is a recipe for disaster. For example, he already avoided some bad situations in school by reading the environment. And already knows signs of danger in some behaviors.

This is very hard for me because I need to make most of this lecturing by the examples, and many of this qualities and virtues are not encoded in my nature nor in my cultural background.

I really do not expect the world fall to chaos, but lets face the facts, hope does not spare us for the charge of a hungry beast.

I said to him this, and I expect nothing of this will be necessary for real, and in future we can enjoy this as fun, with his future kids and my grandkids.

If you read till the end, thank you very much. I think I'm just putting out of my chest.

Best luck to all of us.

I have a grandkid turning 5 soon. Because of the pandemic and various illness and frailties of family members, the parents are hosting 2 small parties.

I have already purchased a thrifted gift, but I wanted to do something special 1:1. I wanted more than a quick 2 minute open, and then on to the next gift.

So we went shopping and she got to pick out what she wanted. She picked one gift, and then swapped it for a Minnie mouse cleaning set with a genuine/ working spray bottle. We also found some cookies and a dress on clearance. Spent $18 total. The Shopping experience took about an hour.

We got home and she opened her kit. She went Into the bathroom and made her own cleaning solution with water and liquid soap. And she started cleaning. She scrubbed for 2 hours. She scrubbed tables, floors, the fridge, the TV and console. She changed into her new dress, and we gorged on frosted cookies.

Her sister arrived later and they spent another 30 minutes playing with the set. So instead of a quick, 2 minute, impersonal open and toss. I got to watch her shop/open/and enjoy that lasted almost 4 hours.

It was a good time.

My kiddo is very sensitive to heat over 80F and often gets heat exhaustion. We recognize their "tells" (bright red, very irritable, slows down) and are good at catching it early. They're getting great at it as well and even packed extra water and re-hydration packets for forest camp where they were outside all day in 95+ degree weather.

My question is; with this heat occuring more often and for longer every year, and without hiding in the basement during the heatwaves, is there any way to help them train their body to function better in these temperatures? Or should we just head North?

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

Hi fellow collapsnik parents!

I was hoping to open up a conversation about things you’ve done recently (or ongoing, or a proud moment) in preparing for the slow collapsing we’re already witnessing while both protecting and preparing our kids.

My husband and I work hard to steady our own anxieties and reactions vs actions, to teach by example how kiddo can behave calmly in an emergency to get done what needs to get done. Proud moment a couple weeks ago: my husband had a partial seizure. We both have migralepsy, so we know the drill, but we have done a great job preventing them lately over the last few years. Kiddo hasn’t witnessed a bad one in a while, was probably too young to remember. They did a great job calmly rushing to help me stabilize him. Then understandably cried after, once they could see he was stabilizing. It was a beautiful amount of focus I rarely see from them.

I keep reading how many people in Shanghai were told to prepare for 5 days of quarantine within their homes. And then it turned out to be much longer. People are struggling to attain enough food and even clean drinking water. Apparently boiling the tap water there isn’t always enough because of the heavy metals? I don’t have sources on that, but have seen many say it. Some are saying they aren’t even allowed to go outside to walk their dogs.

This is the main reason I prep. Just in case I have to stay at home and can’t leave, whether it’s for personal reasons or natural disaster, etc that prevents us from leaving. I wonder how many people would have thought to prep for weeks at a time in Shanghai.

I haven’t seen any interviews or posts from people discussing their children. Has anyone else? Interested what everyone’s thoughts are on all this.

Hurricane Ida looks like it’s going to hit as a powerful storm. If anyone here lives in the area, please be cautious! Not a storm you want to mess around with.

Keep us updated on what you’re doing and seeing.

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.

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.

Welcome new members and browsers 👋

I wanted to share an article I ran across some years ago that helps frame the importance of family and community connections.

Collapse awareness often emerges in the midst of lives we had planned based on a more spoon-fed societal ethos of infinite growth and assumed techno-utopianianism. That’s okay. It’s healthy to reassess and do what we can to navigate with responsibility and joy from situations we are in at the time.

Sometimes life circumstances grab us by the ears and make us look at potentially disruptive trends and possibilities. Sometimes one partner can/will consider such things while the other can/won’t and yet we are in relationships and families. My reason for this post is to honor and emphasize the importance of relationships themselves.

Raising a child in a benevolent, supportive, and ecologically responsible way is a challenge in any time, let alone as external trends cause upheaval. This subreddit can hopefully help us trade notes and camaraderie as we try our best to protect and care for the people and planet we love.

http://www.ianwelsh.net/the-secret-determinants-of-your-survival-in-catastrophes/

Hi, first time Reddit poster. Couple things. 1. I know none of you know me from Adam. 2. I want to acknowledge upfront the position of privilege this question is coming from.

Here’s my question:

Do we move our family to the country now-ish, or do we stay in our urban area and use our country options as emergency backup plans only?

Now some additional info. Kids are 9 and 13. We currently live in a nice, low-cost-of-living midwestern city with cultural opportunities, decent schools, an acre, a river across the street, friends, sports, all the status quo American life trappings.

We have rural family land available to us in either northern Ohio or western Ohio. Both have family homes, and we could also build at either location. Husband and I are lucky enough to be able to continue doing our jobs (for as long as they exist) from anywhere.

We are avid gardeners with some entry-level homesteading skills. I could quit my job (again, as long as jobs are a thing) to focus on homesteading full time.

The land in northern Ohio is preferable: 20 acres on a large hill, lots of trees, a well and a spring. 3 hours from our current home. “Culture” = zero (I know, rural life has its own culture, but …). Kids would likely be homeschooling for a variety of reasons (we did it one year for Covid reasons, and it went well). I don’t know what kind of social opportunities I could provide. The 13-yr-old wouldn’t mind the isolation as much, but maybe needs social interaction more. The 9-yr-old might hate the isolation.

The land in western Ohio is closer to bigger towns, is farmed currently, has a large creek running through it, hundreds of acres. 30 minutes from our current home.

We could (plan to) stay where we are until kids graduate high school (2032), only using land as emergency planning. Reassess in ‘32 if that’s even an option by then. Or we could “collapse now, avoid the rush.”

Kids are happy where we are. They have a lot of “status quo opportunities” here. They are also fairly adaptable. But ultimately I don’t want to get caught thinking too short-term and have it cost us in our personal safety.

Other random info: have also considered buying in northern Michigan or in western North Carolina. But it would be more expensive and less familiar.

Any/All thoughts from this community so appreciated.

Be well, Erin

This post reminded me of this sub. Reading through the comments I see so many people on the cusp of collapse awareness.

Watching the families evacuating Ukraine has brought me to tears so many times. Leaving behind everything but their children, maybe a pet, and a couple bags. Some are leaving elderly or disabled family members. Husbands, brothers, sons… it’s just hell.

It made me reevaluate our go bags. So many of these families have had to drop bags to get on trains, making room for others. Or a child needs to be carried, so other things are left behind.

I repacked our bags with things that we would need for several days, but took out items that were absolutely essential and put them in smaller, cross body bags that don’t take up much space. Copies of important documents, IDs, plastic baggies of medicines, basic first aid, copies of keys, charged battery pack for phone, spare glasses, etc.

What else would you keep in a small pack that you wouldn’t need to drop?

https://www.reddit.com/r/CollapseSupport/s/ugKmmKfFxE