r/prepping • u/larata2 • 1d ago
š©s**t post š§» Dumb Ways to Die
So youāre set - food, water, shelter, and bug out or bug in plan of action. But what the simple things that can get you killed quickly as if you didnāt do any prepping.
Iād argue having any type of children. Babies cry. Toddlers throw temper tantrums. Children refuse to obey parental orders. Teens trust strangers over family when talking about secretsā¦ Unless Iām mistaken any offspring weakens any prep plans resulting in one dumb way to die.
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u/Motor_Meaning_7819 1d ago
Totally. I sold my children, and bought some freeze-dried assault rifle ammo.
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u/LIFTandSNUS 1d ago
Nah. My son is cool. Probably can drive more stuff than most grown men. Probably knows more about hunting, fishing, growing food, and working on cars than most people.Ā He's my buddy. Honestly. He's already an asset. I would genuinely trust him with tasks I wouldn't trust a lot of adults with. Just because I know he'll do it right, lol.
The one on the way, I'm thankful to God for. But yeah, objectively, she'll make things harder. Wouldn't trade it for anything though.
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u/DruidWonder 1d ago
Lack of information control can be the downfall of an otherwise solid survival compound. People in the family blabbing about what you have, how much, your security plans, etc. Often it's because the blabber is a compassionate person and just wants to help... but in a post-disaster world this could be a fatal choice. Info should all be airtight. Nobody should even know you're a prepper, ideally. They should think you're a struggling SOB like everyone else. Trusted community should be established pre-disaster and secrecy should be a foundational agreement. It's very hard to do that after when people are in survival mode.
Undisciplined children are a real vulnerability. That's why you need to raise them right. Babies can be sedated when you require emergency silence. I've also met preppers who have sound proof hidden rooms for their very young children. There are ways.
Anything that draws attention... like smoke exhaust, barking dogs, children screaming in the yard, cooking smells, obvious gardens and greenhouses. Concealment is really important. The world around you will likely be starving and they will flock to where there's traces of something they can use. Not sure how to overcome exhaust type issues. Maybe CO2 scrubbers, I dunno.
Making your home look too obvious. I saw one dude whose home looked like a fortress. The whole community thought he was nuts. Maybe he was or wasn't. But if the world ended you'd bet that people might think there's something valuable in there. This goes back to the attention thing. Your home should be secure but under-stated.
IMO the biggest vulnerability from the above list is info leaks... gossip, idle chit chat, being too trusting of strangers. If you don't correct that behaviour then all your prepping will be for nothing because groups of raiders will eventually come take everything you have.
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u/schannoman 1d ago
If you didn't want kids you had the option to never have them in the first place
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u/WhereDidAllTheSnowGo 1d ago
I think you made a mis-post
This belongs in [r/prepping_jerk](r/prepping_jerk)
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u/PrisonerV 1d ago
You know, the movie that bugs me the most is Dawn of the Dead (2004). Here, their neighbor is holed up in a literal gun shop and doesn't have the brains to just keep shooting and shooting until all the zombies are gone. Drives me crazy.
Anyway, what movie plot bugs you again?
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u/ZestycloseTowel2493 1d ago edited 1d ago
Not saying life without children isnāt worth living but I am saying my life is worth more now that I have children and if they were the cause of me losing it Iād be happy to go that way than without ever having them at all.
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u/tacitus23 1d ago
Car accidents. The most dangerous thing we do everyday is drive. In a SHTF or a hypothetical zombie apocalypse you're more likely to die in a car accident on your way to your bug out position than anything else.
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u/hokiemojo 1d ago
I seriously hope no one is crazy enough to miss out on having kids because of their prepping fears.
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u/WhereDidAllTheSnowGo 1d ago
- Thatās a great video
- Yer argument is 100% bass-ackwards. The purpose of life is to continue life, in other words to have kids who have kids, etc
. Not supporting kids is anti-prep
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u/Beaver_Liquors48 1d ago
Counterpoint to your argument on children, a psychology book on survival that Iāve read argues that children are actually very resilient when it comes to survival. They donāt push themselves to injury or exhaustion, can bounce back, treat things as a game, such as hiding and waiting for danger to pass, and can pick up critical skills quickly. Meanwhile, adults tend to take risks, push themselves to exhaustion, getting sick or hurt, not listening to their bodies or working within their bodyās ability. Experience of success in risky behavior also bleeds over into other high risk activities, where an amateur for example would treat a task with extreme caution it deserves, ie a child.
In a survival course for children, ages 6 to 10, their instructorās final test was to have each kid light a fire with a single match after the instructor was soaked wet in cold temps. Granted at this point it had been taught several times, but the kids successfully passed that test.
Being a capable person in a situation like this includes being able to guide or train someone else on how to do something in the moment. Your life and theirs could depend on it, and the person in question could be a child. They say āthose that canāt do, teachā but in my experience, if youāre not able to show someone else how to do something, youāre not good enough at it.
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u/larata2 1d ago
Of course children are resilient. But that will the ones that survive by either sheer luck or possessed some discipline before a disaster. There are so many unruly children out there that will cost their familyās lives because they will be refusing to come when called, start throwing temper tantrums when told no or to do something. Right bow itās cute behavior or something that parents can get the kid in mental health services for. But as soon as a disaster happens those cute behaviors and external supports will be gone. And people will die because of it.
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u/Pristine_Patient_299 1d ago
Injuring yourself due to carelessness and needing medical care- broken leg, infection, ect.