Tuesday, November 24, 2015

The Age Of Offense

BIG age of offense

I wonder what anthropologists in the future will think, looking back on 2015 and reading our newspapers. If there is anything that has stood out this year, it’s that the year can be called the Year of Offense. American liberals have fallen all over themselves in an effort to be offended and to scream about their offense, to the point where it seems to overrun the real news all too often.

It was bad enough when the #BlackLivesMatter movement started, raising an outcry only drowned out by their own violence every time a black criminal was killed by a white police officer.

Then it started getting ridiculous when they got offended by the southern Civil War Battle Flag. That led to offenses for every monument and reminder of the Civil War that ever existed. Now, it’s reached a point where students in colleges and universities are being offended by anything said, which doesn’t agree with their narrow world view.

These claims of “microagressions” have reached a point where universities are at the brink of not being able to operate anymore. The University of Missouri has been all but shut down, by students protesting a combination of racial prejudice and offense from contrary viewpoints. The football team refused to play, ultimately leading to the President of the university resigning.

In my opinion, the university president was wrong to resign. All he did was prove in the minds of the students that they were right. But the only cases of racism that were brought up as “evidence” that the university was racist, were things done by individuals, not the university itself. Those aren’t the fault of the university, although resigning over them makes it look like the president took responsibility for them.

What he should have done is to kick all the striking football players off the team; but he apparently didn’t have the guts to do so. Their scholarship contract specifically states that they have to participate in all team activities, or lose their scholarships and their places on the team. Had he stood up to the football team, instead of caving to their demands, the situation may have ended.

But he didn’t. So now we have a hunger strike by a student who claims that he is the victim of racial discrimination. Of course, he and the mainstream news media is hiding the facts that his dad made over six million dollars last year and his net worth is over 20 million.

I guess that just doesn’t fit their picture of a poor, disadvantaged black student, who is being mistreated by the horrible white establishment of the school.

True or Not True?

So much of this anymore is about creating images that support the progressive left’s agenda. Truth is no longer an issue in news reporting or even in life. As long as it supports their agenda, it’s okay, regardless of what that means has to be done.

Apparently there are two issues being complained about in Missou. One is the racial discrimination and the other is microagressions causing offenses. The two seem to be intertwined, but each can stand on its own as well.

It doesn’t really matter, as it’s all about having the right buzzwords and the right image anyway. Apparently they think that if they can make themselves out to be the mistreated underdog, then they will win. Nothing else matters.

This has been coming for quite some while. I mentioned how liberals have been seeking offense everywhere they turn. It’s almost become a game with them, seeing who can come up with the newest thing to call “racist” or to be offended about. Both are the same, considering that the word “racism” now means whatever they want it to mean in order to back up their point.

Racism has become the liberal trump card. In their minds, all they have to do is play that card and they’ve automatically won. So, they play it as frequently and as loudly as they can. Unfortunately, this has scared many conservatives, who are thinking of what “racism” used to mean and don’t want to be branded with that name.

The students at Missou have been effective enough in their demonstrations that they’ve managed to spread their offense off campus. There are now at least three other campuses which have decided that they have the same grievances as the University of Missouri, even though those grievances haven’t really been clearly stated. That doesn’t matter though, as they are in agreement and standing together with their fraternal brothers and sisters at Missou.

So, what are their grievances? I haven’t been able to get much of a handle on them, but there are a couple of things that have stood out.

The first is that the President of University of Missouri was white. Apparently since all whites, especially white males are racist, that makes the university racist. To go with that, there aren’t enough black college professors on campus to make the black students feel comfortable. Obviously this is a crime of the highest order and must be addressed.

If we assume for a minute, that the university was avoiding hiring black professors, could it be that not enough blacks applied for those positions? I have no idea of how many black college professors there are, but maybe there aren’t enough to go around. Could it be that this horrendous crime is more an indictment against the black community than against the university? Oops, we’d better not go there.

The other big issue that has come up is the whole issue of offenses. Apparently modern college students have evolved to the point where they can’t stand a contrary opinion. Anything that opposes their world view, spoon fed to them by their liberal professors, causes them to go running and screaming back to their “safe zone” where they don’t have to hear such disturbing things.

This is an indictment on our entire educational system, especially at the secondary and pre-graduate levels. If there is anything that college students should be exposed to, it’s contrary opinions. How else are they ever going to be able to make a rational decision for themselves, about what they believe?

Or have our institutions of higher learning turned into institutions of higher indoctrination? Has the idea of making sure that the next generation be politically correct overcome the need to educate them? Are college professors so afraid that a contrary idea might actually be more attractive to their students than the liberal milk they’ve been feeding them? If their liberalism is so great, then why can’t it stand up to those contrary ideas?

The real danger here is that by shielding those children from other ideas, the universities are keeping them children. They are unable to think for themselves. Even worse, they are unprepared for facing real life, when they get out of college. How is a young man or young woman going to face a boss, when that boss tells them to do something that they don’t want to do? Are they going to cry and run to their safe zone? Will they quit?

Or are they going to file a law suit against their boss for offending them? I’m pretty sure that I’ve been offended by every boss that I ever had, how are these oversensitive children going to fare in the workplace?

It’s sad that our society has been reduced to this point. One of our founding principles is freedom of speech. That concept is enshrined in the very First Amendment to the Constitution. Not that it was added later, for the Continental Congress refused to vote it into law, without the Bill of Rights, the first ten Amendments to the Constitution. That’s how far back our right of Freedom of Speech goes.

Where the Real Danger Lies

Yet Freedom of Speech is in real danger today. Political correctness is striving to destroy it. Left-wing politicians are talking about limiting Freedom of Speech, so that people not be offended.

Of course, the only ones they are concerned about protecting from offense are their left-wing supporters. As they have so clearly demonstrated, they couldn’t care less if those on the right are offended. That’s immaterial, because those on the right are automatically labeled “racist.”

Freedom of Speech means that people will be offended. It means that contrary opinions will be raised up. That’s good. For it is in the crucible of discussing and debating those different opinions that great ideas are formed.

Ideas that cross political boundaries and bond us together into a society that works for all of us, rather than just for some of us. Without that discussion, only the ideas of the ruling party are allowed and freedom is lost.

Perhaps that’s the idea; perhaps the whole PC argument is nothing more than a way of taking away our freedom and making us bow down to the inevitability of liberal control. We need our Freedom of Speech, just as much as we need to be offended by other people’s ideas.

For through that offense, we can begin to see their viewpoint, their lives and their struggles. Only then, can we become part of the solution in finding a system which works for all.

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This article has been written by Bill White for Survivopedia.

References

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/11/09/missouri-football-players-and-the-untapped-political-power-of-the-college-student-athlete/

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/11/11/report-university-missouri-hunger-strikers-family-american-success-story

Main picture source: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/missouri-football-players-boycott-protest-president-n459381 

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Conflicted Tuesday

Conflicted game

We have worked out an exclusive deal with the publishers of the survival card game “Conflicted” where we will be posting one question per week from the deck for open discussion here on TheSurvivalistBlog.net. You can buy your own Conflicted Deck here and play it with your friends and family… Okay here we go…

Due to out-of-control national debt the government has been forced to cut out social-welfare benefits, monthly SNAP and EBT payments have been cut by half. There has been an increase in mob thrift and looting, and stores are dangerous for shoppers. Customers are being robbed...

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Building a Prepper Tool Kit the Thrifty (Aka Cheap) Way

Written by Guest Contributor on The Prepper Journal.

Editor’s Note: This post is another entry in the Prepper Writing Contest from PAD Commander. You can add the items below in his prepper tool kit to your list of prepping supplies for acquisition someday. I thought I’d follow up on my article for the Prepper Journal about Building a Get Home Bag on a […]

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Monday, November 23, 2015

Gunslinger Quick-Draw Hand Well Pump – Grid down Backup

Written by Pat Henry on The Prepper Journal.

5/5 (1) As part of my preps, water is high on the list of items I strive to ensure I have options and redundancy for so when Tony from Gunslinger Well Pumps contacted me to review his Quick Draw hand well pump I was very interested. We have water stored in our home and rain […]

The post Gunslinger Quick-Draw Hand Well Pump – Grid down Backup appeared first on The Prepper Journal.



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Top 10 Types Of Meds You Need To Stockpile

BIG 10 MEDSStockpiling medicine is not an easy task: it’s about money, it’s about making the best choice, it’s about availability. You should have at least a month’s medical supply, and the medications you stockpile can be easy to come by and are over-the-counter medications available at any large pharmacy.

But others you need are more difficult to get. They include narcotic medication and other prescription medications you have been prescribed by a doctor. Narcotics are good for severe pain but are potentially addicting so most doctors–even yours–won’t write a prescription for it without good reason.

That’s why we made it easy for you, and put up a list of those meds that you should not skip from your medical stockpile.

Tips to Follow on Buying Meds

In some cases, the prescription medications can be gotten from your doctor. For prescriptions, including narcotics that you can’t get at the doctor’s office try looking for an overseas pharmacy online, but it’s hard to predict which ones will be reputable or not. Try purchasing just one or two items from them and if they deliver reliably a medication that has the manufacturing label intact with the right medication name, you can continue to purchase from them.

You have to familiarize yourself with the generic names of medications because when you purchase over-the-counter medications or buy them online, even overseas, the generic forms are often much cheaper by far than the name brands. Knowing the generic names will help you determine what medications you’re getting online as well.

Often the labels are in another language but the generic name of the medicine is very similar or the same as the English version. These should be good substitutes for American-made medications.

But there are also other ways to get these medications. I myself needed an antibiotic, and I went to the drugstore and didn’t tell them I was a doctor. In some situations and in some places, you can get antibiotics and non-narcotic pain medication over the counter. You just have to claim that you are on treatment and you need to continue it, but that you’re not at home and that you need a dosage for one day. Chances are good nowadays that they’ll ask for your ID and your doctor’s phone number.

What if you don’t have access to what you need, though? Can these drugs be replaced with other substances, such as veterinary substances? Yes they sometimes can, if you keep the proportions, and with caution, but you have to check the dose because this is really important. Otherwise, if you take a dosage for a horse you will die. Look on the blister and see what it is, then divide it with the knife, in 2, 3, 4, 5, dosages as necessary.

As for the storage, stockpile medications nearby medications that are related to one another. For example, stock the respiratory medications together, the stomach medications together, etc. In a crisis, it pays to be organized.

Items past their expiration date may still work, however the will have a lesser potency. In rare cases, a medication much past its expiration date will have altered its components to contain something dangerous if you take it but it is rare. When in doubt and if in need, you can take something past its expiration date but it will have a lesser efficacy (effectiveness).

10 Categories of Medication that You Need

There are several categories of medications you’ll want to purchase, and you shouldn’t miss the following types of medication:

  1. Cold and flu medication: For congestion, cough, the pain of sore throat and body aches).
  2. Allergy medications: Include sedating and non-sedating types of medication.
  3. Pain medications: Include over the counter and prescription pain medications.
  4. Breathing medications: This especially includes inhalers.
  5. Gastrointestinal medications: For heartburn, stomach distress, diarrhea and constipation.
  6. Skin medications: These include sunscreen and medications for various rashes and skin problems.
  7. Antibiotics: Include those that cover for the majority of infections you might encounter.
  8. Birth control pills: A disaster is no time for a pregnancy, especially if nuclear radiation is present.
  9. Psychotropic medications. This especially involves medication for sleep and anxiety.
  10. Children’s medications: If you have a baby or young child, you’ll want liquid medications specially designed for their needs.

There needs to be many more medications taken and stockpiled in disabled people and seniors’ medications than in children’s medications, and these medications include:

  • Fiber laxative
  • Aspirin as a blood thinner
  • Atherosclerosis medication. Mevacor (lovastatin); Zocor (simvastatin)
  • Blood thinners for stroke Coumadin (warfarin)
  • Medications for arthritis Aleve (naproxen)
  • Heart burn medications. Zantac (ranitidine).
  • High blood pressure medication. (Lisinopril); Tenormin (atenolol).

A Few More Words on Cold and Flu Medication

flu-1006045_1920

The cold and flu are different viral infections but they share some of the same symptoms, so they are included together.

Cold and flu symptoms include congestion in the nose, sore throat, sinus pain, and cough.

The flu also has a great deal of body aches and malaise, where you just don’t feel good at all and need to lie down and rest.

Medications you’ll want to have on hand include the following (the brand name is capitalized, the generic name is in parentheses):

  • Sudafed (pseudoephedrine): This is for nasal and sinus congestion. You have to ask for it behind the pharmacy counter even though it is not a prescription medication because it is one of the main ingredients in methamphetamine, and they don’t want people to purchase large quantities of it at a time. Follow package instructions for sinus and nasal congestion. Usually you take 1-2 pills every four hours.
  • Tylenol (acetaminophen), Advil (ibuprofen) or Aleve (naproxen): These are all good medications for fever, sore throat, and body aches. Take two every four to six hours.
  • Robitussin DM (dextromethorphan): This comes in pill or liquid form and helps the cough. You need to be careful and just purchase plain Robitussin DM. Robitussin CF contains a decongestant that you already are taking when you take Sudafed. Robitussin DM also contains guaifenesin which breaks up the thick mucus in your system.

What About Pain Medications?

There is a range of medications that are successful for pain. The three main categories are simple pain relievers, anti-inflammatory medication, and narcotic pain relievers.

  • Tylenol (acetaminophen): This is a simple fever and pain reliever that works on all sorts of pain. It is safe to take by anyone who does not have liver disease as it is metabolized by the liver. It is usually taken in adults as 2 500-milligram tablets every 4-6 hours. It has the added advantage of being able to be taken with anti-inflammatory medication in a pinch when the pain is severe and you want to take something more than Tylenol.
  • Advil or Motrin (ibuprofen), Aleve (naproxen): These are anti-inflammatory medications that work best on pain caused by inflammation like arthritis. They also work on fever and generic pain. Some people will get stomach upset if they take these medications on an empty stomach so it’s best to take them with a small amount of non-acidic food. Try taking 2-3 tablets or capsules of ibuprofen every 4-6 hours. Take naproxen at 2 tablets every 8 hours.
  • Narcotic pain relievers. These work for strong pain and include Vicodin (hydrocodone and Tylenol) and oxycodone. Give one to two tablets every 6 hours. Be alert for signs of confusion if the patient is taking too much. You can get this online or get a prescription from your doctor.

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What You Need to Know about Antibiotics

Choosing a simple antibiotic is difficult because people have allergies and intolerances to antibiotics and there is no perfect antibiotic for every illness. Poll your family members for allergies before selecting one.

Any antibiotic must have several properties: it must be inexpensive, easy to administer, it mustn’t cause resistance and it must act on as many bacteria as possible, in as short a time as possible. A good choice is a broad spectrum antibiotic like cephalexin or Keflex. Two other choices include erythromycin (or azithromycin) and sulfa antibiotics like Bactrim or Septra (trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole).

If you have these five classifications of antibiotics, you’ll have covered for several kinds of infections including:

  • Cephalexin: Respiratory and upper respiratory infections, skin infections
  • Erythromycin or azithromycin: Upper respiratory infections and lower respiratory infections such as “walking pneumonia”, skin infections
  • Bactrim or Septra: bladder infections, some gastrointestinal infections.
  • Cipro or Levaquin: used for bladder infections, respiratory infections, or skin infections
  • Flagyl: used for parasitic infections and some gastrointestinal infections

Antibiotics won’t cure the common cold and they will do nothing for influenza but it does wonders for sinus infections stemming from the cold, a case of strep throat, and certain cases of bronchitis, pneumonia, bacterial skin infections and bladder infections.

You need to use them judiciously, when you know that you’re dealing with a bacterial infection.  This means you have a fever, yellow or green drainage from the nose or coughed up from the lungs and redness around a wound. Strep throat and bladder infections are hard to determine.  You just have to guess.

Give the body, the limb or the spot in question where the injury occurred, time to recover. Do not immediately jump to drugs, don’t start pouring the entire reserve of drugs down the patient, because you won’t solve anything like that. Sometimes the simplest solution is to not do anything, not to force it.

If you dole out antibiotics before you give the body a chance to heal, you’re wasting valuable medical supplies that may be needed later. Wait and see, and only when things are going towards the worse end should you start with antibiotics.

Breathing Medications You Need to Stockpile

In some disaster situations, even people without asthma will have problems with wheezing and shortness of breath. The best choice for this is an inhaler containing a beta-agonist, which opens the breathing passages.

The trick is to use these medications in such a way that the medication gets in your lungs and not in the back of your throat. With inhalers, you take a deep breath with the inhaler in your mouth and when you’re in the middle of the deep breath, press the plunger and keep breathing in. The medicine should get sucked down into your bronchial passages.

This is the main medication you’ll need:

  • Albuterol: This is available in an inhaler form but it can be given in liquid form to young children. It needs a prescription so get one from your doctor or on the internet. Take two puffs as directed above every four hours for wheezing and cough.
  • Primatene Mist: This is a less effective over-the-counter medication containing aerosolized epinephrine. Take two puffs every four hours. Use it when you absolutely can’t get albuterol.

Gastrointestinal Medications

There are a large variety of medication choices for the gastrointestinal system and you’ll need to condense them down to just a few. You’ll need something for the upper part of your GI system—your stomach.

Medicines for excess stomach acid and heartburn include TUMS, a medication like Zantac, and a medication like Prilosec. TUMS is just calcium carbonate and it quickly neutralizes the burn of heartburn or the rumbling of an acid stomach. If you can’t afford to wait for a few hours, try Zantac, which is a histamine-2 blocker, blocking the production of stomach acid.

If you can afford to wait a few more hours but want all day relief, try Prilosec, which is a proton pump inhibitor. It more thoroughly blocks the production of stomach acid; it just takes a few hours to kick in. The medication or medications you choose for stomach problems and heartburn depend on your personal preference and on how much room you have in your stockpile.

For nausea, the standard treatment is Compazine, given as 10 mg tablets or 25 mg suppositories if the person cannot tolerate oral medications.

There are medications for constipation and diarrhea — problems that can befall anyone in a disaster situation. For constipation, you can choose Miralax, a medication that must be mixed with a glass of water, X-Lax, which contains natural sennosides, or Correctol, which contain biscodyl. Of the three, biscodyl is the strongest, which means it might result in diarrhea if taken to excess. Choose the medication you are most familiar with and stockpile it.

For diarrhea, you can choose Kaopectate, which is for use in adults and very small children. It is a liquid medication that doesn’t need water to use.  You can also choose something like Imodium-AD (loperamide), which is a pill form of a medication helpful in treating diarrhea when the disease is not a result of an infection. It can be taken only by adults as 1-2 pills every 6 hours or closer together if the diarrhea is persistent.  If space is an issue, select only one of these medications.

What You Need for Treating Your Skin

20235219_mNo medication stockpile would be complete without items for the treatment of wounds, sprains and strains.

There are a number of items to choose from. While no one might become injured, disaster situations put people in positions they can’t predict so make sure your injury kit is well stocked.

Items to stockpile include:

  • Antibiotic ointment like bacitracin or Neosporin
  • Antiseptic cleansing wipes
  • Scissors
  • Cloth or paper medical tape 1-2 inch wide
  • 4 x 4 gauze; it can be folded over when the injury is small.
  • Ace bandages — 3-5 inches wide for the lower and upper extremities
  • Sling for the arm in adult and children’s sizes
  • Splinter remover to remove foreign bodies
  • Ice pack; you can buy chemical ice packs that turn cold on hitting it with a fist

You can get very elaborate with injury supplies, such as buying upper and lower extremity air splints and buying cervical collars for neck injuries but that may be overkill. The above list will cover the vast majority of injuries you’ll get in a disaster situation.

As for skin ointments and creams, there are several medications you need to have on hand for your skin. The first is antiseptic ointment. Use this for cuts and scrapes so they don’t get infected. Conditions may not be optimum for keeping a cut or scrape clean so using the ointment is the next best thing. Most antiseptic ointments contain either neomycin or bacitracin or even both. An ointment called Neosporin is good for all types of open injuries to the skin and contains both medications.

You might add a cream or ointment that contains hydrocortisone. The maximum over the counter strength of hydrocortisone you can get is 1 percent, which is effective for many different rashes. Rashes like poison ivy or other itchy rash can be managed with hydrocortisone cream. Allergic rashes can be treated with hydrocortisone cream as well.

These should be the basic when preparing your medicine supply. But don’t forget about the healing power of nature, and prepare yourself for replacing meds with natural remedies if needed.

Interested in more about survival medicines and techniques? CLICK HERE to find out more!

DISCLAIMER: The data contained in this article are for informational purposes only, and do not replace by any means professional advice. 

This article has been written by Radu Scurtu for Survivopedia.

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Sunday, November 22, 2015

Refugee… The Non-Publicized Cost to the U.S. Tax Payer

We all know that our southern border is wide open, and that anyone from anywhere can just walk across the “border”, and into the U.S. – this is a huge problem from a security and economic standpoint but one that Obama nor our “representatives” in congress want to fix, because it’s being done by design – it’s the “Cloward-Piven Strategy” at work.

Unfortunately our wide-open southern border doesn’t seen to be enough for the Obama regime, because even after the recent deadly attacks in France that killed over 120 people, the traitor in...

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10 Things To Prepare For When Bugging In With Children

Bugging In KidsNo matter whether you have a new baby, a young child, or teenagers living with you, they will depend on  you in a crisis situation. If you have decided to bug in instead of move yourself and your family to another location, it may be weeks or even months before they can resume any kind of normal activities.

Needless to say, during that time, you will need to find ways to meet their basic needs as well as others that you take as a matter of routine. Here are some very important areas to consider that go beyond the basics of food, water, clothing, and shelter.

Failure to take these matters into account will invariably make it harder for children to cope during a crisis situation and may also do serious damage to their long term well being at many levels.

Keeping up With Education

readingIf you look back at hurricane Katrina and the earthquakes in Fukushima Japan and Haiti, it becomes readily apparent that educating children tends to be one of the first things that becomes disrupted in a crisis situation.

Community based education also tends to be one of the last things restored in the post-crisis world. For school age children and teens school routines are a normal part of life, and as such, they provide the comfort of “normalcy”.

Do not underestimate the power of school routines or providing an education during a crisis. Here are some things you can do to make sure your children focus at least some of their time on studies:

  • Because current text books tend to be very expensive and constantly moving from school to home, it is impossible to say which ones your children will have on hand prior to and during the crisis event. Rather than try to guess, you can purchase older textbooks online that have similar information. For example, if your child has a brand new 10th grade math book, you can purchase books from as far back as the 50’s and 60’s for just a few dollars. Just make sure that the topics covered are the same. Aside from providing a fresh perspective on these topics, your children might just enjoy the novelty of working with a different text book.
  • Make sure that you are always up to date on what your children are learning and what kind of homework they are doing.
  • Have a few age appropriate novels or classics on hand for light reading. Aside from getting all kinds of classics for free via Project Gutenberg and other free ebook sites, you can also print them out and store them away.
  • Know how much learning includes computers, calculators, and other electronic aides. In instance where computers or other devices are required, make a list of ways to manage this type of learning without these devices. Even if you can provide power for a tablet, calculator, or other device, that does not mean you will necessarily want to log into the device or use it. At the very least, if you have paper based methods ready and waiting, then your children can go on learning without the need for electronic aides.
  • For math and science – obtain a slide rule that is suitable for both routine and complex math calculations. You can start teaching your children how to use the slide rule before a crisis so that they are accustomed to it. If your children protest using a slide rule, remind them that the United States successfully sent astronauts to the moon, and that those involved in the project relied on these relatively simple devices to get the job done.
  • Purchase a few science fair projects or other exploratory kits that your children can use to build things and learn about the world at the same time. This is especially important if you have young children or teens that like to work with their hands or tend to be experiential learners. Even if your child has a hard time focusing on a textbook, sometimes these building kits can make an enormous difference
  • Perhaps most important on this list, make sure that you can teach all of the lessons in the textbook if needed. Do not be afraid to spend extra time yourself with alternative text books while your child is at school in the pre-crisis period.

Social Development

This will be one of the hardest things to manage in a bug in situation. You child may not be able to communicate with friends or other family members. Over time, lack of contact with others can make it very hard for your son or daughter to reconnect with others.

Even a normally outgoing and well adjusted child can become shy or develop other problems. Unfortunately, once the crisis event happens, you won’t be able to change this.

Take the time know to fully understand how much contact your child needs with other people to feel comfortable and secure. If you have a naturally outgoing child or one that likes to be in groups, then you will need to spend a lot more time with him/her in the post crisis world.

pizzaMake sure that you have plenty of activities that require at least two people. This may include everything from involving your child in cooking, cleaning, and tending other basic needs. Just remember that it may not be enough to assign your child a task, you will also have to socialize and interact with them at these times.

Perhaps it may seem strange, but children that tend to be shy or loners also need a good bit of socialization in the post-crisis world. If left to their own devices, these children can slip even further into their own little world. This, in turn will make it even harder for them to shift the gears as needed to engage with other people.

Utilize games and other activities where your child can interact with you and preserve at least some sense of being around others. Books and novels that focus on social interactions may also be of some help since they can provide models that will be remembered. Make sure that these books are based on constructive social interactions instead of destructive ones.

Managing Emotional Trauma Symptoms

If you think that social collapse and short/long term crisis will change your life forever, then you should also understand it will also change what the future holds for your children. Career choices that were once possible may no longer be open while all sorts of other plans and preparations will be more or less useless.

Under those circumstances, your children will be very confused and need more emotional support than usually. Here are some things you can do to prepare your children for managing these issues now, as well as enable them to cope better if a crisis happens to wipe out everything they have grown accustomed to:

  • Go back to fundamentals and basics as a way of life. Refrain from modernizations that may not be available after a crisis occurs. This includes everything from video games to fast foods.  Instead of fast foods, prepare meals at home. If you have a specific food plan for bugging in, try utilizing that plan at least once a week. Not only will you and your children have  a chance to adapt to these alternative foods, they will become commonplace to the point where it will not be such a harsh transition on top of everything else that happens in a social collapse or other major crisis.
  •  Make sure your children know how to hunt, fish, prepare food, and manage the basics of living without modern conveniences. The more you can teach children about basic survival in a range of settings, the better chance they have of avoiding panic, anxiety, and other emotional problems that tend to occur in a crisis situation.
  • Make sure you know the signs of emotional trauma and how to manage them without medication or other forms of conventional medical support. Take the time now to learn how to de-escalate situations instead of resorting to punishment or fighting.
  • When it comes to emotional distress, there are many ways that therapists use various tools to help both children and adults regain control of themselves and their lives. These tools include guided meditations and making use of objects that can be associated with safety and wellness. Together with that, you may also want to try binaural music  and other alternative therapies.  To use the binaurals, you will need to store an mp3 player with the appropriate files and earbuds/headphones in the EMP proof section your bug in bag. I personally recommend the older style mp3 players that accept AAA batteries as opposed to the players that have the battery built in. Not are the older players much cheaper now, they last longer and it is very easy to use them with rechargeable batteries that are readily available.

Managing Mental Trauma Symptoms

It is very important to realize that in the days after a major crisis, your child may have difficulty focusing, remembering, and engaging in other mental activities at a normal level. Since you may also be having similar problems, it is important not to judge or push your child excessively beyond his/her limits.

Always bear in mind that any person can and will most likely have problems after a crisis situation. Even though reduced capacities may exist, that does not mean the responses are abnormal. Rather than judge or punish, try to look for ways to help your child return back to, and then beyond his/ her former mental function level. Some things you can do include:

  • Focus more on art or building related activities instead of purely mental ones. As time goes on, increasing attention spans and focus can be gradually shifted back into books or more academic tasks.
  • Give you child chances to feel confident of his/her abilities as opposed to constantly supervising. You can try assigning chores as well as longer range goals that your children can work towards.

Health and Physical Wellness

As may be expected, providing adequate food, water, and clothing is extremely important and may well be the priority you think about most in a time of upheaval. It is also very important to think about medications for pre-existing conditions as well as any injuries that may occur.

It is very important to realize that many children today are over medicated and may be in far more need of a proper diet and exercise than they are of pills that only make them sicker. Take the time now to see what kinds of natural remedies are available for diagnosed illnesses as well as suitable dosages.

If you cannot find a pediatrician to help you, do not hesitate to look at the side-effects listed on any drugs that you child is already taking.

When you find cases where these drugs may cause sterility, cancer, heart disease, or symptoms that your child is experiencing, you can try contacting the state licensing board, a lawyer for the purpose of starting a lawsuit against the pharmaceutical company and the doctor, parental rights activist groups, natural remedy activist groups, and the media.

Sadly, in today’s world, parents are often superseded by doctors and school administrators simply because they do not know how to use the legal system to stop the harm being caused their children.

Not only is this important to consider in a time of crisis when routine medications may not be available, it is very important to your child’s well being and capacity to bring forth the next generation regardless of what happens to our society.

Self-Defense

karateWhen it comes to teaching children self defense and giving them the confidence and strength to believe in themselves; there is nothing quite like the martial arts. No matter how close a social collapse may seem, it is very important to enroll your child in a good quality dojo.

It does not matter which form of martial arts your child studies as long as he/she gets good quality training and a range of physical, mental, and emotional skills that will last a lifetime. In fact, if you are debating between buying yet another batch of video games and other things to “amuse” your children, it is much better to send them for martial arts training.

Aside from helping your children defend themselves in a crisis, martial arts training will also help them if society does not collapse. If you do some research, you will find countless stories of teens and youth whose lives were turned away from mayhem by martial arts training.

In that respect, you will truly be preparing your child to live a good life with character as well as the capacity for self defense in the time of major upheaval.

Boredom and the Need to Play

hand-1008103_1920Chances are you have heard the saying “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. While modern schools constantly limit lunch breaks, recess, and gym time, children must develop as whole beings.

This includes time for developing physical skills as well as mental ones. Play time and unstructured time are extremely important for healthy development. Sadly, video games and other forms of electronic entertainment only serve to keep children focused on goal acquisition or focusing concentration in pre-defined pathways instead of letting them expand and develop on their own.

You can start reversing this process now by limiting, and then completely eliminating video games and other forms of electronic entertainment.

Encourage your children to engage in real, tangible social activities with their friends as well as pick up hobbies they can work on at home while alone. This should include hobbies that can be worked on if you are bugging in and have no place else to go. Some activities (based on age) might include:

  • Working with building blocks and tinker toys
  • Model building
  • Science fair projects
  • Sculpture oriented arts
  • Building electronic devices without the use of transistor or resistor based parts.

Special Needs for Infants

Even though babies may not need much in the way of toys and complex educational materials, they still have some special needs that may suddenly be impossible to fill in a crisis.

For example, if you are currently feeding your baby infant formula, it may be impossible to supply that, let alone make a suitable replacement with the foods you have on hand.

If you are pregnant or plan to get pregnant, it may be worthwhile to consider breastfeeding. At the very least, you can have some assurance that you baby will get some nutrition if a disaster occurs before your baby completes this stage of development.

Other than eating and sleeping, your child will also produce a fair amount of waste. Oddly enough, cloth diapers may not be the best single option to have on hand because there may not be enough water, disinfectant, and soap available to wash them.

It may be to your advantage to store away at least some disposable diapers as well as cloth ones so that you can use them as needed. Needless to say, it will also be important to store away baby safe washes as well as learn how to make them on your own from any plants that you choose to grow.

Special Needs for Toddlers

It is no secret that telling a toddler what to do is about as useful and effective as trying to do the same with a cat. Unfortunately, if a toddler has a screaming tantrum or decides to start a game of “catch me if you can” when thieves are lurking outside, or during some other crucial moment, it can spell disaster for everyone.

Oddly enough, this is one of the few situations where a soundproof safe room may come in handy. If you suspect something is going on outside your home, or a situation is ongoing, place your toddler in the room.

You will also need to be sure that zones of fire around the safe room and your defense abilities are sufficient to prevent invaders from getting to your child. It is up to you to decide when and if you will go to the safe room during a direct confrontation with invaders.

Special Needs for Teens

At times, it may seem like teens are even more stubborn and determined to do what they want than toddlers. On the other hand, teens are usually much easier to manage when they have an important task and feel good about themselves.

During a bug in situation, make sure that teens have enough tangible tasks to keep them busy. Try to work with them as equals, yet give them enough guidance so that they are not left trying to think 100% for themselves. In preparation for this time, make sure that you understand how your teen’s mind and emotions work, and how to bring out the best in them.

Some teens may be relatively easy to steer into productive ventures while others may take a bit of extra work. Finding the best paths and options now will ensure you know what to do in a crisis. It may also make your pre-crisis household far less chaotic and filled with stresses that go with the teen years.

If you have children, then you are likely to be aware of how important it is for the next generation of humans to grow up and take their place in the world. During a major crisis situation, it can become all too easy to forget that personal survival also equates to the survival of our species and its progression through time.

Aside from giving your children all the love and care they need now to thrive, make sure that you are as prepared as possible to take on extra duties during a survival crisis in which neither they nor you can have normal contact with the rest of the world.

Interested in improving your EMP survival skills? CLICK HERE to find out more!

This article has been written Carmela Tyrell for Survivopedia.

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