How do you teach a child survival?

I am just getting into survival-ism. I am wondering if any old pros have any tips for teaching my 6 year old basic survival skills. We have already started gun and knife safety. He is hunting and fishing. Are there any often overlooked skills we should be working on?

reply to post by blivey


My father just took me out and let me hang out with him in the desert. I just picked stuff up by watching him and having fun.

Everything I learned was just by doing it with him, he never really sat me down and gave me a lesson.

The best thing you can do is take you 6 year old and throw them in a pool, lake, river, ect.. Let them sink or swim. Best way to teach survival, and you can always *rescue them* until they learn to swim, or not...

reply to post by blivey


Survival is location specific. So teach him the basics for your area. Water, food, shelter, animals, and depending on maturity level, fire. How he can get the required elements (making the tools needed) to stay alive.

Go camping with your kid. Get a tent and go to a more rustic park. There can be others around, these people can help you and your kid to learn. Get a mess kit and cook on that, teaching the kid how to wash dishes and take care of his mess kit. Teach the kid to catch a fish, clean it, and cook it. A fish doesn't have to be big to be good eating, teach your kid what ones are acceptable. Learn which lakes are polluted and not to eat fish out of locally. Also teach your kid to grow food and to know where to find worms for bait.

Remember that there is a lot for you and your husband to learn yet too. Nobody knows everything. Learn to make a fishing pole complete with string and weight from the environment. Be aware of what is around you.

Originally posted by starfoxxx
The best thing you can do is take you 6 year old and throw them in a pool, lake, river, ect.. Let them sink or swim. Best way to teach survival, and you can always *rescue them* until they learn to swim, or not...

That was tried with me.
I now have a real fear of even trying to learn how to swim, as I had to be rescued every time.
I was under water a couple of times to the point of swallowing lots of water, and vomiting like crazy once finally rescued.
I almost drowned twice.
Then they tried swimming lessons and I failed floating
They said I needed body fat, yet I've seen skinny people swim.

A boyfriend once decided he could teach me, I punched him in the face in a panic (so he said). I didn't remember doing that.

That said, I can float with the lid of a cooler, a branch, anything that floats. I just put a death grip on it and don't let go

Be careful how you teach a kid to swim.
For some it comes naturally, but some are unteachable......

Thanks for the tips. We have been trying to get out and do more in the wilderness with him. Mostly teaching him common sense safety first. It has become harder since the birth of our second child. He seems to really enjoy us letting him be more self reliant. We let him have his own gear and try to let him learn the environment his own way. Just trying to make sure what we are doing is appropriate for his age. Anyone else have small kids? It isn't always easy to know how much is too much

reply to post by blivey

It I may toss in my two cents? At that age? I'd say one key thing....just my opinion here of course.

Don't focus the lessons on it being survival. Not in the sense we discuss it here. No child at that age should have the burdens we willingly SEEK to deal with in our thoughts and posting as well as research efforts. It's a twilight place to live for adults. It'd be a dark, stormy and scary place for kids.

It hasn't been till later in life that I realized and understood...My father spent years teaching me how to survive and how to live when that may not BE a likely outcome to look at things from a distance ...without once, ever saying what those skills were all being imparted to me for. He never explained the practical uses in the way we now see them in the modern world.

I learned more than any survival school could teach by fun camping trips where half the fun wa learning really cool things like starting fires without lighters or matches ...or fishing with no store bought fishing gear (That kept me fed for a couple weeks in a wilderness area that I might not have fared well in otherwise during a homeless period early in life). I learned shooting and I learned killing ...but not in a "you may have to kill someone just to live" context. It was in a "this creature is taken so you may live...and give respect to it's sacrifice".

I just wanted to throw this in as we're reading stories and seeing TV shows discussed here in the forums where people take the doomer side of this to such extremes of focus, I think they LOSE the skill side of it to the doomey wargaming and almost daydreaming side. Kids? Well.. geeze.. How much can the poor guys take? It's all in presentation, IMO.

Originally posted by blivey
I am just getting into survival-ism. I am wondering if any old pros have any tips for teaching my 6 year old basic survival skills. We have already started gun and knife safety. He is hunting and fishing. Are there any often overlooked skills we should be working on?

edit on 4/6/2013 by blivey because: wording

Hi The best way to “survive” a disaster, (natural or man-made) for people of ANY AGE is to be mentally prepared. Just as you have the instinct to protect your children, survival is also a natural instinct. Teach your children that changes can happen in the blink of an eye. Teach them the ability to assess the new situation and have the ability to adapt quickly, will be the way to endure a difficult change in living conditions of any type. People of all ages who have the ability to easily acclimate to sudden changes are the survivors.
Those with a versatile plan and who can continue to think logically and clearly will best survive any new change in their life, environment or habitat. Make sure your children have other trusted adults, besides yourself, to guide them if something should happen to you.

Scouts are a good place to teach basic survival skills. We always stayed with them at all times so no chance of them being abused or anything you hear in the news.

I would say teaching them to be self sufficient starts at home with the basics like making their own food, cleaning their own space, gardening, hunting, fishing.

Also the ability to make close friends that will be trustworthy and have their back.

My kids love to play night time ninja games, they all dress up in black and go out into the dark together and form teams then try and hide and stuff.

I think teaching your child never to fear the night would be a strong skill.

I wanted to say that while in scouts they did not always go to all the events, and I never let them go pick up trash along the side of the road because of some of the deadly things they could pick up or get poked with. That did not go over well but I personally love my sons and would not put them purposefully in danger.

You might want to see if there are any co-op style farms nearby that you can participate at. Crops and livestock will put a eye-opening spin on a youngsters world view. That's something the badguys can't take away.

Oh yeah ... almost forgot .... turn the TV off. Permanently. Or at least limit the brain-damaging poison to a few hours weekly. Books are where our young people need to be.

The best thing to teach a child that age is to listen to every word you say and always obey, they them to never be out of sight and to never do anything without consulting you first.

Teach them all the other stuff in a few years.

reply to post by blivey


Make sure to teach your kid to assess risk. When out in the woods, you should be aware of risk and only do risky things when necessary. This is not taught anymore, in fact risk is taught as a desirable trait. There are enough things in the woods to hurt you without taking unnecessary risk.

Your child has to learn not to follow too close when going through the woods with you. As you walk, little branches can snap back and hit him in the face. I told my granddaughter that she has to follow a little farther behind....after a branch whipped her near the eye and scratched her. I guess I forgot to tell her the simplest of things, thinking a seven year old would automatically be able to understand it without experiencing it. She now knows, she is fourteen now, and will never forget.

When she was ten I had her push over a twelve foot tall spruce tree by the pet cemetery by hand. I told her the only reason she did it is because it was in the way of the trail and not to kill a tree without a reason. It gave her a lot of confidence to learn that she could do it. I told her to get mad at it. Most people are not aware of their strength when they are mad or in an emergency.

I definitely agree that the "roughing it" camping trips are the way to go, the kids just need to know they're camping.

I used to take my kids on "wood walks". I know tons about herbology and we used to get to know our friends in the forest. How to tell a white pine from a red for example, how to use cedar pith for fire starter, roots, berries... the plants and their uses.

I used to only show them 3 to 5 new things each weekend, but the knowledge stuck. They are all young adults now, and sometimes when we're together one or the other will get all excited and tell Mamma something new he or she learned on their own. they're teaching me now.

When we went out roughing it, we built shelters of the land, we didn't hike with tents. They're like little sponges, but slow and steady is the key.

And hopefully if you did your job well, one day they'll be smarter than you and teach you a thing or two as well

Yes,camping trips.Make it a fun adventure .No electronics.Just you in the wilderness and the stars.
A nature trial also locally to learn about the plants in your area and what is edible.

Teaching them how to make a fire is at your discretion on how responsible your child can be,they my burn down your house,like I tried to do when I was 6 years old.

The thought of what would happen to them if you were no longer around to care for them.

There were hundreds of kids left without parents in Haiti when the big quake hit.

My son was about seven when I introduced him to how to make a fire.
All he needs now that he is 11 is some hand sanitizer,a cotton ball and his magnesium stick or anything that can make a spark .

Teach them how to grow food also,like have a garden ,how to get seeds.


When I was a kid,I had a forest behind my house and would spend everyday I could out there,alone exploring.Just me,my little backpack a hatchet and a few supplies of food and water.I would chop down a small tree,dig a pit and make a fort.
But my mom really hated it when I brought home snakes that I would catch.I knew the difference between poisonous and non-poisonous snakes at a young age.I knew what berries and fruit I could snack on.I don't remember how I knew,I just did from being taught it I guess.

This was back in the 70's when mom sent us outside everyday and we didn't come home til it was dinner time.

I would also suggest the boy scouts. If you aren't comfortable sending them you can buy the manuals. Start with cub and work your way up to eagle. You may be suprised how much you will learn also.

First aid.

Certified.

When one begins to learn value in treatment well done
then one begins to train themselves to be ready for the opportunity
instead of training themselves to be the creator of wounds.

reply to post by blivey


I have small kids. I try to do what my father and grandfather did for me - I include them in everything and I tell them they can do it. They're still quite young, so it's a lot of talking right now, but the most important thing I learned from my elders was to play What If The Parents Weren't Here. We play it at home, we play it waiting in the car, we play it camping. Sometimes the answers are fun - they'd eat all the trail mix, they'd stop saying "yes" and say "yeah", they'd breed unicorns, but the older they get the more practical answers there are. It's just fun, but it helps me highlight things for them later on.

Originally posted by blivey
I am just getting into survival-ism. I am wondering if any old pros have any tips for teaching my 6 year old basic survival skills. We have already started gun and knife safety. He is hunting and fishing. Are there any often overlooked skills we should be working on?

edit on 4/6/2013 by blivey because: wording

You could do it like my Father did me...I grew up on a thousand acres of woods and farmland.
When I turned 10, my Dad took me out about 80 miles from home, to a place I was not familiar with. I thought we were going camping. I did go camping, but there wasnt any WE involved. He dropped me off with a canteen of water, sack of beef jerky, .knife, compass, topo map, 22 rifle, and 25 rounds of ammo...Thats it
Said he would be expecting me back at the ranch in a few days.
First night I was cold and terrified, second day I ran out of water and food. Panicked, wandered around for a while, then I got mad. Figured out how to use the topo map, figured out how to use the compass, killed and ate a rabbit, found a stream of clean water...And about 10 days later I found home.
I was mad, happy, tired, and proud.
My Dad was just proud.
I hated him for while, then I understood him, now I am thankful for what he did.
I was never in any real danger by the way.
Turns out he was trailing me all the time, I never knew it until years later, my Mother told me on the day we buried him.
No, I wouldnt do this to my child, but yes, I am glad he did it to me.

Adversity builds character.