Kody Hanner
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Instead of giving our kids everything we never had, we should teach our kids everything we were never taught.
I don’t think there was ever a time in history that a phrase held more power than this one does right now in our world. There was also never a time in history when, as a society, families didn’t pass down the most basic skills of survival. This is what we face today. I have heard it said that children are being taught about the world that they live in, but that is only one piece of the puzzle. Especially when this world, this modern society, is insanely new and fragile beyond belief! Our financial foundation is teetering on a mountain of international debt. Our technology is strung together on a web that could go down in a blink of an eye. And scariest of all, what we saw with our own eyes is that our food system could fall apart, leaving stores permanently empty within hours.
This is not a scare tactic but the honest truth. I wholeheartedly agree that our children need to have the skills to navigate our modern world. They will need to use computers, world smartphones, market on social media, and probably a hundred other things that have not even been invented yet. But if one piece of the Jenga Game were to fall tomorrow, would they be able to feed themselves or their family? Would they be able to start warm? Use herbal remedies for first-aid? These aren’t far-fetched country or backwoods ideas. These are literally the bare minimum skills to survive.
Am I taking teaching our kids too far?
Maybe, just maybe, I am taking it one step too far. What if your kid loses their job one day and can’t afford Grub Hub for dinner every night? Can they cook basic meals? These are the things that millions of people have been slapped in the face with over the last several years. We weren’t taught to take care of ourselves. We were taught to rely on systems!
So, we began teaching ourselves. We watched hours of YouTube, and devoured piles of books on homesteading, home cooking, preparedness, and off-grid life. We ran to homestead conferences, pulled our kids out of school, and taught ourselves how to make homemade bone broth. But did you remember the key piece of teaching your kids all the things that you were never taught? There are lists of “generational curses” that everyone is trying to leave behind, but making sure that your kids have the skills to be self-sufficient should be at the top of that list.
If you taught yourself these skills, you have everything you need to teach your kids. But if you’re looking for that extra resource to save you time and to learn together, consider Homestead Science. There are options for preschool through adulthood to embrace a self-sufficient lifestyle!
Ideas to teach your kids self-sufficiency
- Teach them to cook and then encourage meal planning
- Start a garden, even if it’s only a small one
- If you have the land, raise chickens or other animals. If you don’t, volunteer time on a working farm.
- Ask your kids to help you problem-solve age-appropriate issues at home (even if you know the answer)
- Push them out of their comfort zone (have them make their own dr appts)
- If you homeschool, have them help choose the curriculum and then encourage/require follow-through
- Model hard work (monkey see-monkey do)
- If you were frustrated that you weren’t taught how to do something, they may be frustrated one day, too.
Remember, though, learning doesn’t always have to be work. It can be fun. It can involve making memories. And it can involve building a generational life together.
Another fun way to create memories and build skills as a family is with the Survival Basics Mini Course.
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