Teaching children situational awareness
- Thread starter REELDOC
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My take is start early and teach kids along the way as they grow and situations present learning opportunities ... don’t wait for them to get “old enough” and then put them thru a “boot camp” type training. Growing up learning skills along the way sets them up far better to deal with the dregs of society than cramming it in them later.
I raised my Son by exposing him to things rather than hiding him from the “cruel world”. I didn’t drill things into his head day in day out but when he reached about 4 maybe 5 years old and an opportunity presented itself I’d discuss things ... the Amish School and Virginia Tech shootings were his first ones where I actually started talking basic tactics with him. He knew what damage firearms could do from me teaching him firearms safety but the application to real world events became real with Sandy Hook. Funny thing is his 4th grade class had counselors coming in to “discuss things” and apparently most kids in his class didn’t really understand what truly happened ... their parents “protected” their kids from what happened. He came home and talked with me about the “dumb questions” kids asked ... why did the man have a gun? ... why didn’t the police stop him? ... etc and how the counselors and teachers didn’t want to talk about anything but how bad the gun was and what needed to be done about it. From that point I started to expose and teach my kid situational awareness and what in the environment can be used to save your ass ... cover vs concealment ... what everyday things can help protect yourself ... don’t count on others ... etc. I didn’t do it all the time but when a situation presented itself we’d play “what if” and “what would” ... I raised him over the years teaching him along the way rather than the “boot camp” version.
Today, at 18 years old, my kid is about 2/3 as cynical as me when in public ... he hasn’t seen shit happen first hand ... and is way ahead of other people his age or older ... and also ahead of what I knew at his age but my excuse for me was the World I grew up in wasn’t the cesspool of today ... and even more what the future holds.
I raised my Son by exposing him to things rather than hiding him from the “cruel world”. I didn’t drill things into his head day in day out but when he reached about 4 maybe 5 years old and an opportunity presented itself I’d discuss things ... the Amish School and Virginia Tech shootings were his first ones where I actually started talking basic tactics with him. He knew what damage firearms could do from me teaching him firearms safety but the application to real world events became real with Sandy Hook. Funny thing is his 4th grade class had counselors coming in to “discuss things” and apparently most kids in his class didn’t really understand what truly happened ... their parents “protected” their kids from what happened. He came home and talked with me about the “dumb questions” kids asked ... why did the man have a gun? ... why didn’t the police stop him? ... etc and how the counselors and teachers didn’t want to talk about anything but how bad the gun was and what needed to be done about it. From that point I started to expose and teach my kid situational awareness and what in the environment can be used to save your ass ... cover vs concealment ... what everyday things can help protect yourself ... don’t count on others ... etc. I didn’t do it all the time but when a situation presented itself we’d play “what if” and “what would” ... I raised him over the years teaching him along the way rather than the “boot camp” version.
Today, at 18 years old, my kid is about 2/3 as cynical as me when in public ... he hasn’t seen shit happen first hand ... and is way ahead of other people his age or older ... and also ahead of what I knew at his age but my excuse for me was the World I grew up in wasn’t the cesspool of today ... and even more what the future holds.
Chuckman
Senior Member
I have 6 kids, ages 9, 12, 13, 15, 16, and 18. I teach them all. The. Time. How to be the gray man, how to avoid confrontation, how to read people and situations, how to de-escalate, how to look for exit routes. Not a single bit of this is about guns. What if we're in a restaurant in another state where the carry laws are different? Or Disney? Or on a cruise?