Training Preenagers to be Prepared

I didn't want to hijack wildman's EQ preparedness thread, but this got me thinking:



Earthquake, hurricane, tornado, house fire... it doesn't matter what the emergency, this one is the one we're harping on in our house right now, specifically to our son. He's immersed in the wonderful world of twelve and thirteen year old boys, whose impulsive adventures are fun but challenging when it comes to finding them at a moment's notice. (Hell hath no fury like a mama who can't find her kid in an emergency. Sometimes, GPS chip embedding seems like a brilliant idea. LOL!) His freedom to roam the world is limited but expanding, and with that, comes an increased responsibility on his part, including keeping us notified of his whereabouts.


How do you stay in the know as to everyone's whereabouts? Cell phone? GPS tracking? House arrest ankle bracelets? We're trying the old-fashioned strategy my parents used: come home and tell us where you're going, or leave a note, but it's far from foolproof.


Which leads me to: How does/did your family manage it's young people when it comes to being prepared for emergencies? The teenage years are beginning here, and I'd love any survival tips you may have before we get to the driving stage (i.e. driver's licences) of teenagerhood. Start 'em young, right?

The fun my son used to have when it comes to stuff like this is slowly being overshadowed by teenage hormones and peer pressure. (i.e. Getting my kid to take a jacket now that Spring has sprung is impossible, and he left his LED and mini FAK at home this morning "because they're dorky." On the other hand, he's now taking his house key every day because a bunch of the other kids do too now, so I guess it's socially acceptable again. UGH!)

How do you teach your kids to balance the peer pressure with the need to be prepared?

The big one is that all of my kids now have cellphones; the oldest an iPhone. As with all teenaged girls she'd rather have her leg cut off than be without her phone, so I can use Find My Friends to see where she is at any time. My younger ones don't have as much autonomy and are easier to track without technology. All three are to answer our calls and texts and are to keep us informed as to their whereabouts.

We regularly brief the children on emergency procedures. "Tabletop" exercises where I run them through the decisions they should make in different situations are also held regularly. Actual drills are very limited.

I raised my brother in a time before ubiquitous mobile phones. I did not brook any failures of the safety rules I set. If he went somewhere without my knowledge, appropriate consequences were sure and certain.

old comment... I did a survey of my juniors (16-17ish) about which EDC items they would actually carry... no reason pre teens can not use something similar...school rules no knife, but cell phone, water bottle, whistle, pill fob with contact number to back up cell phone and a $20 for a taxi ride, small flashlight

from the response, I gave some Christmas presents

My 2 cents' worth:

Peer pressure is what it is. Accept it as a fact on the ground. It's a force of nature. You can manage it, work around it, shape and temper its influence, but you cannot remove it from the equation.

You've done a lot of work to build up building bush and tool skills. These will not go away.

Now it's time to take it to the next level. Teens are building the capacity to explore the world conceptually as well as physically. The largest part of being equipped to survive (TM) is strategy, not stuff. That means building the habits of situational awareness, resilience, positive attitude, and perseverence. It's about learning to analyze situations, recognizing what could go wrong, and having mitigation plans in place beforehand. Churchill was right: "When you're going through hell, keep going!" Adolescence can be hellish. The traits above can help them keep going.

EDC may not be stylish. But maybe you could encourage a stash of useful clothing and items in a hidden compartment in a backpack, school locker, or anywhere they could get to it if they really needed to. The previously learned skills will kick in.

Also, learning to improvise with the materials at hand may be more important than EDC right now. The world is full of stuff; it's the skill to use it that's in short supply. Cody Lundin's "When All Hell Breaks Loose" may be more interesting to a teenager.

If all else fails, bribe a teenage girl to say "that's really cool!" DS will wear his EDC around his neck like a magic talisman!

I think Dougwalkabout nailed it!!

The big thing I did with my daughters was to keep the lines of communication open. There was nothing they could tell me that I would overeact to. I never allowed them to see a shocked or angry face on me. Of course it helped that I had been a young hellion during my teenage years!

set clear rules and expectations; home by 11, if you cannot be home by 11 call.

We also gave our daughters a blank check on the account called: if you've been drinking, smoking, or ended up in a bad place/situation, call us and we'll come get you with NO QUESTIONS ASKED!

Start them young, build habits. Peer pressure will have less influence if it is a well established habit.

There is so much individual variation in people. One of my sons needs "encouragement" in this regard, the other one is like me and will EDC the kitchen sink if he has the room in his bag.

Mine will EDC at a minimum their phone (and no questions asked if they call for help for anything), money, flashlight, a patrol officer's first aid kit (pocket size trauma kit for the individual), and a waterproof/windproof jacket. This is for normal school days.

When traveling they will have the normal 10 essentials, minus the knife for certain circumstances. In those situations, they will have a pocket saw and EMT shears. I also add a military strobe light, poncho and a survival kit that I built. All in all, it is still less than 10 pounds.

That reminds me of what my co-worker with 6 daughters did. THe oldest one did not call. He showed up at the club in a bathrobe and slippers to pick her up...

We had the same understanding. It works.

My daughter had a car accident: a Suburban backed into her right front fender. She kept her cool, ca!lled the Police, called my wife, and tended to details/business. She was shocked when she told me as all I had to say was praising her for how she handled the incident, including her emotions!

You are no alone.

When my kids were in that age, I bought them fluorescent/reflective vests and helmets to wear when they play with bicycles. Since NO ONE around wore any safety stuff, they were too embarrased to wear them in front of their peers . I ended up sticking reflective tape all around their bicycles.

I think that more and more doses of love and FRIENDSHIP are essential. We dads and moms sometimes take parenting too far with instructions and advices that we don't notice we are not that much FUN compared to their peers.

All I can suggest is to go back in time, YOU become a teenager yourself, and have more fun with them. When we becomes part of their FRIEND group (rather than parents) , they would call us more often.

Q to chaosmagnet

Can you please educate me about this (find my firends) function ?? Sometimes, I need to find my son who won't answer the phone. (He's not a preenager , but still behaves like one).

The version I'm most familiar with comes with the iPhone. There's a Find My Friends app. My oldest's iPhone is connected to my account with Apple, so if she (very foolishly!) decided to let me stop "following" her with Find My Friends, there's a different app called Find My iPhone that lets me find her phone, remotely lock it, cause it to emit a "I'm lost" sound even if it's muted, or remotely wipe it.

Android phones have similar functions. Some carriers have non-smartphone services to find phones (and their attached offspring) for a price.