At times it can be difficult to explain to your children of family members how important prepping and being prepared is. With the world the way it is today, and all the different potentially catastrophic scenarios we face, we know we can’t afford to sit around with our fingers crossed, but how do we convey that to our loved ones? How do you explain the importance of a situation to someone, so they understand it?

Have you ever gotten that condescending stare from your children when you try to explain why you have so much food and water stored? I have. Sometimes the looks you get from teenagers can drive you nuts because it feels like you are talking to a brick wall, or you get “the blank stare” which basically means they are only listening to you because they must, and they’re probably not listening at all.

The principals of getting someone’s buy in do not just apply to family and prepping, these principles can be applied in business or your personal life as well. It’s important to remember that not everyone thinks the same way we do, and we need to take that into account while speaking to them.

Basically, we need to take a look at ourselves and “teach ourselves” before we can effectively teach our loved ones to become more involved in prepping and preparing for their future. We need to try and understand “why we do what we do.” Why we get so frustrated when they don’t see things the way we see them, something that concerns us like our governments over spending might not be a concern for them.

SPP259 Getting the Family Onboard with Prepping

While there is not exact blueprint to get your family on boar with prepping, there are some things you can do to increase your odds. This week Lisa and I talked about some ways we can bring up the subject of preparedness with our family, and hopefully get some buy in.

We Are the Authors of Our Own Frustration

As Capt. Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean) said “The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem.”

When we let external situations determine the choices we make, we get frustrated, and frustration shapes our behavior. When we get frustrated, without even knowing it we are giving our children control over us (they are good at this by the way.)

A child’s field of experience is much different than ours, and when your young you believe you’re invincible. Children don’t understand what losing a job or supporting a family is like because they have never had to. They don’t understand that we could lose everything in an instant and our lives could be turned upside down. They don’t understand because they don’t have to. Everything is provided for them (like some of the entitleists today.)

Here is an example: let’s say I tell my 8 year old son that he needs to put his shoes where they go and not to just leave them lying around the house. Then he proceeds to throw them across the room towards the front door, where the rest of us put our shoes. Here comes the frustration! I proceed to tell him what the rules are, how we don’t throw stuff around the house, how I pay the bills and do the cleaning and maintenance. Do you think he really cares or understands why I am frustrated? Nope! Because he is 8 he has a completely different outlook on life than I do, he doesn’t care about bills, he just knows the lights work.

But because I got frustrated I lost sight of my main goal “put your shoes by the door” and started yelling about how lazy that was. I ended up getting into a debate with an 8 year old. If I had chosen my attitude and made a conscious decision to not “freak out” in the beginning, I probably could have explained my perspective or “spoke to his listening” a little better.

We control our outlook; we control how we choose to react. Until we make a conscious decision to not let fru...