Friends, I am tired... anyone else have "prep fatigue"?

[housemouse]

I am exhausted, really, and it probably is because I am a ":::seasoned citzen:::".

I can only save food, tools, try to buy farmable land, etc... I know these will be needed for survival, but me and the DH are too old to make it all workable. We need to convince our "grown and flowns" that they need certain skills to survive, and we are failing at that task. We did too good a job at getting them prepped for modern living, and now we kind of regret it.

It matters, because while we are "seasoned" enough to know that the present is not going to hold, we have no idea how to communicate this basic fact of life to those who have grown up in the midst of plenty, and have no true sense of history? They think that all they have to do is work hard and head for the mall or the supermarket when they need something, and it will automatically be there...

I am not criticizing them, for I like "bagged pre-washed" lettuce in mid-winter too! But I know it is a luxury, not a birth-right!

So how do we convince the "young adults" we love that the present party isn't going to continue forever? Please help me to formulate good and sensible statements to convince our young adults to hedge their bets, and think about what they would do "if"...

I really think this is important. We need to be able to pass the wisdom on, if we want to make sure they are able to pick up the torch and survive.

 

[okie medicvet]

I wasn't sure what to expect from the title but now I understand completely what you are talking about. I too have to face family members and loved ones who are dgi's every single day and it is very difficult. what makes it even more so is knowing that the only thing I can do is just keep on keepin on so to speak.

It does get frustrating because there is only so much one person can do and I do feel in my gut that I will be doing more for others because they didn't do for themselves when they could have but I love my family and would never shut the door in their face. So I just keep on.

 

[housemouse]

Thank you, Okie, for your repsonse to my elderly complaint. It makes me feel less alone, less lonely.

So many here are ready to lock and load, and to take on all comers. While I appreciate their enthusiasm, my reality just doesn't match, alas.

I am the kind who can try to keep the home fire burning, get next season's tomatoes started, and worry about why the young adults do not get the message.

Where have I gone wrong?

 

[BV141]

Housemouse,

EVERYONE at TB2K faces the exact same challenges as you with regards to
"educating" family and friends on prepping.

Most people, including myself, never succeed in convincing many others of the times we are living in. Our prepping opinions are often tolerated, when not ignored.

I would try to revisit recent issues that may have impressed them enough to listen
to your prepping stances.

- Asian tsunami
- Hurricane Katrina / Rita
- Illegal immigration rioting
- Rioting in France
- Bird Flu
- Iranian Nuclear crises.

Explain to them, these are the problems the world has faced for the past 17 months. And that things may get dicey.

I have been able to convince my 73 year old mom and of 1 of 2 best friends that we live in dangerous times. My mom listens to me, my wife tolerates me and the 1 friend prayers (but almost no preps.) Others just don't get it and don't want to get it.

best of luck, Your not alone!!

bill

 

[hillbilly]

no way I'm just getting warmed up getting really excited about prepping
big time huge gardens ect..

 

[vlad]

circa 1998 I talked with my extended family re stocks of food, rifles, ammo etc. They smiled, raised their eyebrows and exchanged significant glances.

I have not mentioned preparedness in years, except to my immediate family.

the gene pool needs cleaning. only those who are fit will survive. iife is an intelligence test, etc and so on

So be it. My responsibility is to my immediate family. my extended family can row their own boat. They will not freeload off me. If they and their idiot kids starve that's too bad.

 

[LC]

housemouse, I am pretty much where you are. I find that I walk a fine line between being a worrying Mama and imparting knowledge about what could happen, but I am seeing small improvements in attitude in recent months. "Kids" that are at least thinking about what they would do if at least one or two of the possibles were to happen. That is a big step because we all know that no matter what the threat, for the most part, prepping is prepping. All I can offer you is what someone else said, just to basically keep on keeping on. Put aside what we can, learn all we can, gain the skills, knowledge and tools (including seed) and pray that they reach us in time.

Reaching us is the one that worries me. DD with the babies is half way across the country from me and near a major military installation on the coast, a place I consider very scary. So I guess we do what Mother's from time immemorial have done, we pray and we keep doing.

 

[Amazed]

Perhaps the best you can do, housemouse, is to have lists of critical supplies on hand for 2 week, 1 month, 3 month etc survival. People can change their mind in a minute. Who knows what the trigger will be? Just knowing what the essential supplies are will give them a jump ahead of most of the dgi's.

 

[John H]

Same old, same old.

The only thing you can do is sell them on saving money by stocking up on sales.

'Look at the money I'm saving' and 'I'm spending 40% less on groceries than I used to', etc.

In other words, appeal to their greed and not their need.

At least that will lighten the load on you putting stuff aside for them.



John H

 

[tosca]

As a comparison to trying to get the middle aged

children to prep; I recently began a prep committee in a retired "home" for people who were totally unprepped. They got it right away! Why? They and their parents lived through the depression! Alot of them canned foods each season, planted gardens and made quilts, etc. Our chiildren to not get it at all. I have always bought ahead and if I run out of something (like coffee) I buy three at once (hopefully on sale), etc. I have always been stocked up because I do not like to run out of sometihing I use every day! I would think my example would "hit home" one of these days. I tell the children to prep for times they can't foresee....job loss, food shortage, etc. I talk to them about concerns I have in the world......what could happen with just one wrong move, etc. I would say half of my children take heed; the others are too busy living the high life.

Never give up trying to encourage them to put some extra away, just in case. We must try to get the word out and see some action among our children!

 

[RoadRunner]

Housemouse you're not alone only my story is reverse of you'rs. I'm a mid 30's married male and have been mentally and physically preparing since my late teens.I found out earley that I had more in common with my grandfather and older WWII era than I did with people of my own age, so I was always asking how it was like back in those days living, jobs,day in day out hand to mouth stories from the depression etc. Always had a feeling of where things where going to end up by the way they were going and tried telling my older brothers and sisters to put a little aside for hard times to no avail they just treated me like a nut-job.The only people I will support and defend to the end will be my mother and father, and my wifes.Might sound mean not to support my brother/wife/kids but they refuse to open there eyes and only want to get deeper in debt with the lastest gadgets and toys with only mabey a weeks worth of food in the cubbord,and not even follow the economy,news and whats going on around them or care what the consiquences.

 

[BUBBAHOTEPT]

It matters, because while we are "seasoned" enough to know that the present is not going to hold, we have no idea how to communicate this basic fact of life to those who have grown up in the midst of plenty, and have no true sense of history?

So how do we convince the "young adults" we love that the present party isn't going to continue forever?

You don't...............They are not going to get IT..............I argued with someone recently about wealth creation; basically what life is for so many who work in this convoluted system.............They don't get it, they have what Jed Turtle spoke of in his story: Category Error. They have defined the issue/problem of your post in such a way that no amount of explaination can bring them to the point of where this place is heading..................Unfortunately, they will have to live it..................

Worse than that is that they number in the hundreds of millions..............But you can always just turn around and do what everyone else does.................

 

[6ftofun]

I too, have grown kids who think food comes from the grocery store.

Following a hurricane last fall here in S FLA, I took pictures at the grocery store of the empty shelves, of the closed gas stations, the NG enforcing martial law. signs at local merchants that said, "Cash only" and the endless lines of cars and people for ice and food.

I also took pictures of raw sewage coming through the manholes in the streets, trash that hadn't been picked up in days. Then I got my video camera and filmed myself turning on the kitchen faucet with no water coming out, washing my laundry with a stick in the bathtub, boiling water for bathing. Filling bottles from the pool to use for flushing. You get the message.

One child took the info seriously and is prepping now. The other, well, notsomuch. The 20.00 weekly prep challenge has helped her build up her supplies fairly quickly and now she also buys a bag of beans, a bag of rice and a case of drinking water EVERY time she runs to the store for something. As other posters suggest, advise and educate, but ultimately, the kids will make their own choices and will have to live with the results of them.

 

[summerthyme]

Housemouse... I hear what you're saying. But the unfortunate truth is, we can't do much about changing the entire worldview of others... if they can't see the potential problems out there, they aren't going to prepare or change until LIFE changes them.

For us, it's not as big of an issue, because we're on the farm, raising all our own food, and while the kids are living comfortable suburban lives, they know darn well where food comes from, and 3 of the 4 have chosen to have small vegetable gardens of their own. My daughter sews and cooks from scratch, and if she isn't stashing as much food and other needs as I'd be comfortable with, she does have the skills. My DIL has learned to can from watching me, and although she doesn't do more than make jam and salsa herself, she and my son usually come down a couple times in the summer to help pick beans and tomatoes and can them up.. taking a case of the finished product home with them.

I suspect the best thing you can do in your circumstances is provide KNOWLEDGE. Books on various subjects are good, but a personally written "instruction book" of your own might be better. Ways to cut corners and still eat well, how to cook a delicious bean soup from scratch, things you've learned over the years...."Mama's little instruction book" so to speak.

If TSHTF soon, you'll be around to guide and teach and can use their stronger, younger bodies to do much of the heavier work. If things continue on for decades, your "instruction book" will be a family treasure, even if they don't take it all to heart until they need to.

I have to say, I've been always grateful that we were broke when the kids were growing up. They learned to appreciate what we had, and the little extras as they were able to get them. They may have made fun of the gardens, etc (a favorite remark was "when Mom cooks from scratch, she starts by digging the potatoes)... but they learned what fresh food tastes like, and it ruined them for life :-)

They make good livings now, but they don't take any of it for granted. If TSHTF, they'll be valuable additions to the farm, once again.

Summerthyme

 

[ejagno]

Knowing that the siblings generally follow the lead of their older brother I was on a roll. I had him just about convinced on prepping. He actually had fuel stocked and was working on other things gradually. Then hurricane Rita struck. Aside from fuel keeping things going for others, my home was destroyed as well as all of my preps. He watched as years of canning and stockpiles of other foods was shoveled into trashcans. Now, although I'm restocking, he questions me as to why I'd want to put myself through this again. I've explained the multiple reasons but his discouragement for me hasn't convinced him yet.

 

[window2watcher]

I have one daughter that believes that God will provide if something happens. two sons who are making huge amounts of money who say that there is no real problem for them as they can go out their doors and hunt what they may need. (true) however, that relates only to meat. I simply said, the last time I visited, to go into the back of the ONE store that feeds the entire area, withthe closest other store being a good 40 miles away and asked how long would they think their little store would supply them. As far as I know they haven't bothered.

I have plugged along trying to get preppped for whatever the current disaster might be for going on 8 years now and find that even I am tired of the whole business of being alert, aware and doing without in order to be WITH if something hits. I have to constantly judge my level of fear, realistic or not?

The sad fact is that y2k completely stripped me of any credibility--even though we all know that had it not been for a gigantic effort there would have been some real problems had they not.

What to do? well, as said many times, there really isn't a thing to do but plow ahead with what I believe---whatever else is there to go on? the current fairy tales?

 

[Charlie]

No burn out here since I took up "ZEN PREPPING"!

I don't think the act of prepping creates burn out. I think wringing your hands in woe and doom is the culprit.

When you "ZEN PREP" you do not worry. You just live a normal life and do a little prepping every day.

Attitude is EVERYTHING!

 

[Dinghy]

To me, prepping is my hobby. I look forward to the grocery ads and Sunday paper coupon inserts every week. After I get them, I plan my store trips. I try not to buy anything that isn't on clearance or on sale with an added coupon, unless I absolutely have to. Except for milk and animal food, I don't have to pay full price for much of anything unless I want to.
I got stressed before y2k because I was just starting serious prepping. I always had extras in the house, but really felt pressured then for some reason. I've been able to take my time since then, and have gotten to enjoy the challenges of finding good deals.
I do get upset by people that refuse to listen though. My kids know that we will always help them. But I'm really worried about the rest of the relatives who just laugh at us and do nothing. I refuse to try and feed everybody! I just keep hoping that nothing major happens around here!

 

[Freeholder]

My two older daughters will still tell people that "Mom used to make them eat weeds"! But you know what? They at least know that you CAN eat weeds! They also know how to garden, and raise dairy goats and poultry and meat rabbits. They may not want to engage in those activities right now (though DD #1 usually has a small garden, and DD#2 recently informed me that she'd been elected to be in charge of starting a garden on church property for the church family -- that was, I know, because they knew I'd taught her to garden), but they do have the knowledge. Neither one of them has a lot of space to store stuff, but DD #1 and her family live with my ex, who is a prepper, and DD #2 has been keeping a bigger stash since the hurricanes in recent years (though NH is more at risk from ice storms in the winter). I think she and her new husband have also kept the wood stove that was in their condo, rather than replacing it with a gas stove as he originally meant to, because they have access to free firewood. They certainly aren't as prepped as I'd like to see them be, but they do at least know where food comes from, and have the skills to grow their own if need be. I have, however, pretty much stopped talking to them about it. They are both intelligent young women and I think will be able to figure out on their own that they need to do a little more, as time goes on.

Kathleen

 

[seraphima]

Seems like most people's kids have some connection between an interest of their own and prepping. Strengthening that connection is what we have to do; if someone hunts or camps, then camping supply gifts or books about tracking and reloading, if they like winter sports, then cold weather survival info or long underwear, if sewing then ideas for nifty things to sew (surprise your husband by sewing him a tent! ) and so on. Those who are into buying toys can sometimes be directed into buying useful toys! (generators, good sleeping bags, hiking boots, tools.) Camping is a nonthreatening family vacation activity that can lead to good things too.

It is very threatening for young people to "get it" cause it makes them feel endangered during the time they are nest building and want to feel safe. That is why empowering people to learn and do more helps them to deal with the fear, and then they can emotionally afford to see threats.

Thanks to everybody here who is trying hard to prep their kids; thanks for your ideas and all your hard work.

 

[momof23goats]

my son's thought I was crazy, until the last year, and the hurricanse, and the fact that bird flu is coming. then all of a sudden, I had kids here, wanting to learn how to make soap, and making it with me. and buying canned goods, filling freezers, and getting plenty of water up.
both son's can , can meat, or vegies and fruit, as good as I can, and they hunt, and can dress it out., cut it up, and can it.
Now even the daughter in laws , can plant and grow a garden.
we can do it well.
but mostly all is done here at the homestead. I have taught all to milk, and am teaching on of the girls how to deliver animals. so she helps me with the birthings.
these skills are important ,and can be used when TSHIF. I think they will do fine. and we will work together.

 

[WalknTrot]

Housemouse,

Don't worry yourself. If you raised the kids in a prepping household and they watched you do all the things we talk of here...garden, raise and butcher stock, can and preserve, live frugally and keep a good pantry....you might be amazed at what they learned by watching you. Give them a chance to grow up, sow their wild oats, then settle down to households of their own. Bet some if not most of the "kids" eventually come around asking Mom how to do the things they saw you do when they were young.

 

[FloridaGirl]

It hurts when family members does not take the prepping seriously. I know, I have been hitting my head against a brick wall with my family for years. Everyone thought I was nuts.

I have to admit, they are starting to pay attention now and DH is even building me a special closet (safe room) at our BOP for me to store food supplies and his rifles. He is even planning an underground shelter for us to evacuate the hurricanes and also use as a root cellar. He still fusses about all the food I bring in, but now he just does not fuss as loud.

I have extended family that still laughs at me, but I know in my heart that I could not turn them away, if they came to me needing a hand out after TSHTF. That is why I continue to increase my preps, I have no idea how many people I will be feeding, family as well as strangers. When the food runs out, then I pray the Lord will provide for us.