Family Camping

Family camping is perhaps the cheapest, easiest, and most fulfilling family equipping activity we can engage in.

camping

Numerous critical skills can be taught along with complete immersion into a simple life with no electricity, minimal living space and limited entertainment. In many families, the father is the only one possessing outdoor survival skills. However, in a true survival situation when time is of the essence, having tasks divided up among members could be critical to your survival.

We learned this 200 miles offshore in our 30’ sailboat when hit by a huge storm. I was not physically able to leave the helm for 75 hours. We had taken damage to the boat and needed to navigate to the nearest port. Since I could not go below and plot out the course and hourly progress my wife had to take the little knowledge she had along with my instruction and get us to safety. She did a great job and put us right between the jetties in the pitch black of 3am in heavy seas and fog. The moral of the story, teach before it’s critical!

If you are just starting, get a second-hand tent and set it up in the living room and let the kids sleep in it. Next, move it to the backyard. Then do a one nighter in the great wilderness of a local state park. Work your way up and make it fun! Make smores and tell stories by the campfire.

Here is a short list of things to do while family camping to secretly make it survival training.

Camping activities (i.e. Survival Training):

Setting up shelter – You do not always have to go primitive; sleep in store bought (or pawn shop, or craigslist bought) tents to keep the comfort level at a reasonable level for your family; keep it fun! Additional shelters can be made near the campsite for practice. Practice making shelters from various supplies like from ponchos, tarps, grass, thatch, trees, etc. This type of practice is great fun and will serve the family well if and when you need it.

Food and water rationing and preparation – Include the whole family in on how much food there is and how to ration it for the number of people with you for the amount of days you will be out. Assign rationing to one person for a day so they can seriously think about it when they plan. Become familiar with the berries and other edibles in your area and CAREFULLY guide your family in gathering native foods. Making containers from clay gathered from a river/stream bank and properly firing into pots, cups, bowls, and utensils for cooking, drinking and eating is a rare skill that will give your family great advantage.

Fire starting – Starting a fire without a match or lighter is much more exciting to a child than the latest video game. Each person can use a different technique or people can team up and have a race to see who can get a fire started first.

Navigation – Navigation can become a critical skill especially if a child wanders off. Having the knowledge to read a compass, map, terrain, as well as the sun, moon and stars gives confidence to the lost as well as the searching. Setting up some “prizes” beforehand and letting the children navigate the family to the point on the map can be great fun and the confidence gained will serve as coolness in an actual crisis, and coolness separates those who walk out and those that don’t.

Tool/Weapon making – There are few things more prized by a child than a tool or weapon made from the elements with a parent. Whether it’s making cordage from grass or vine, or a flint knife or ax, or a bow and arrow that really shoots, these can be great fun and a huge accomplishment.