Would your child survive if lost in the woods? If not, then this is a must-read!
Could your child survive if lost in the woods?
An adult without training will have a hard time surviving, but he or she may have very good critical thinking and improvisation skills.
Many children do not possess these things yet, which makes it even more important to teach them hard skills, like the ones in this article.
'Prevention is the best cure' applies to almost every aspect of life.
When going on an outdoor adventure with your child, it is a great idea to give them their own survival kit with all the emergency items they will need to survive 24 hours alone.
At the very least they should have a signaling whistle and an emergency blanket.
But just having the items isn’t enough. Make sure they know how to use them!
As a general rule, when you get lost you should stay where you are.
This is especially true for children because they are more likely to have people looking for them.
Staying put makes it much easier for their parents and rescuers to find them and get them back to safety.
Three whistle blasts (or flashes of light) are a well-recognized signal of distress.
If you do it twice, they might figure out it is a whistle, but if nothing happens after that they are not likely to think it is someone in distress.
Blowing the whistle three times is an unusual sound in the wild and people understand it is a sign of distress. They will stop and try to listen out for it again. So make sure you pause for a moment and do it again.
If you do this repeatedly, they will realize that what they are hearing is not just noise but a signal for help and will be able to follow the sound.
So those are the three things you must teach your children to help them survive in the wild.
Make sure they have a whistle, a survival blanket, and a kit, and teach them how to use them. Remind them to stay put in case they get lost and do three whistle blasts to signal for help.
If you want to learn more wilderness survival skills for adults and children, check out ‘Evasive Wilderness Survival Techniques’.
Safe training!
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Sam Fury is the creator and owner of the Survival Fitness Plan.
He has had a passion for martial arts and outdoor pursuits since he was a young boy growing up in Australia.
As a young adult he joined the military and studied outdoor leadership in college. After that, to further his skills, Sam started traveling to learn from the best in the world in various fields related to the Survival Fitness Plan including various martial arts in China, SE Asia and Brazil, Parkour in Singapore, Surf Life Saving in Australia, and others.
These days, he still enjoys learning new things, traveling and sharing what he has learned via the Survival Fitness Plan.
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