There are a lot of opinions about “preppers” and “prepping” that have a lot of negative connotations. There is nothing inherently wrong with prepping and I think that everyone should have some preps.
Even the US Federal Government recommends that American families have some basic supplies on hand in case of an emergency. Don’t take my word for it, check out the site for yourself over at Ready.gov.
Isn’t Readiness just rebranded Prepping?
In my mind, prepping is nothing more than the act of collecting stuff. I have water filters, food, plastic sheeting, radios, & generators. All the supplies I think I need to respond to critical incidents that may come our way. Yet, this is all stuff. It’s all sitting in storage waiting for a disaster to strike.
By itself, all of this stuff is a waste of resources and poor use of time and money.
Readiness is about developing skills. It is a practical and pragmatic evaluation of the challenges my family will face and our ability to face those challenges together.
Do you know how you are going to cook your white rice and black beans when the power is out? How many days of eating beans and rice & rice and beans before you get food fatigue?
Do your wife and kids know how to start that 5500watt generator you bought 5 years ago? Do they know how to safely use it to power all the appliances you initially bought it for?
Preps Get Consumed, Skills Persist
I have an important question to ask. What are you going to do when your preps run out? What are you going to do when you have to leave your preps because you have to evacuate and you can’t take it with you?
This is where having skills matters. Skills are about facing challenges and problem-solving them with whatever resources you can get your hands on.
Skills and skills development can be shared amongst all family members. Skills allow your family to operate as a team that shares the stress and burdens that occur in challenging environments.
Younger kids can be responsible for pet care. Your wife can develop skills to make soap, bake bread, operate radios, and such. Older kids should have first aid skills, basic firearms knowledge, and the know-how to store water.
Essentially, your readiness plan is about utilizing the stuff that you have on hand and acquiring the stuff that you don’t.
Skills Benefit Your Community
I don’t talk about preparedness with my neighbors or the people in my community. I demonstrate skillsets that I have and we have conversations about those skills.
While preparing for an Amature Radio event last month, I was testing all of my gear for that event in my front yard. A couple of neighbors asked me about my gear, how it works and what I was going to do with it. It was intriguing to them and it gave me an opportunity to share some knowledge, get them thinking, and build stronger community ties.
For me, community ties are one of the most important things I need to prepare for. We live in the suburbs. We are not going to build a homestead deep in the woods with chickens, goats, and well water. We like the schools here. We like the community amenities. So we have to adapt how we choose to live and the readiness challenges it presents.
Final thoughts
Suburban readiness has some unique challenges. By choosing to live in a more populated area, we get to enjoy the day-to-day perks of living in the ‘burbs. It’s good for us and our kids.
It doesn’t mean that we can rest on our laurels. Many family challenges are not going to be because of a disaster. Sick kids or spouse, job loss, local water boil orders, and runs on the grocery store are going to be far more common than zombies walking the streets.
We are ready for the common challenges first, and they provide the baseline for the uncommon disasters that can affect us later.
