What should we tell our children?

[jagman]

I have, On many nights struggled with what I should say to my children concerning future
events. I told my oldest son, Jason, Who is 12, The World might dramatically change soon.I did reassure him everything would be alright.
My youngest son Joshua is 9, I have not said anything to him. I grew up in a troubled home that was very disfunctional. I always told myself that when I grew up and had kids that I would be like Ward Cleaver from "Leave it to Beaver" lol So when my sons were born, I did just that. I tried to shield them from this wicked world, The best I could.
I have taught them to greet the world with a smile.Ive taught them to embrace and help those less fortunate. I can honestly say, I have never said anything to my kids I regret.
But I also think, I may have done them a disservice in the fact that they are not prepared for a world that might be drastically changed soon.

[music]

Kids are incredibly resilient, but forwarned is fore armed. The trick is to frame the possibility of change in such a way as not to alarm them. Teach them survival skills at the same time, and use examples like possible pole shift or massive finacial collapse as reasons to prepare. Best not to introduce them to concepts that are difficult for adults to understand or agree on until it is absolutely necessary in my opinion. I have kids by the way, they are younger than yours, I have not told them feeling it is not appropriate at their age, but I try to pass on certain skills, and try to gain their complete trust so they will listen to and act on my words without question in an emergency. It's a difficult area, and thank you for bringing it up.

[bennycog]

i would not say anything to my children about any coming event. i would just try to be as close them as i can when i feel it is on the tipping point to happen...
i would only tell them so much about what i have found out about the world. because they get so many conflicting **** from going to school, so if they were home schooled you might put a bit more of the true facts into what we already know..

but i do put little things out there and if they want to follow up on it i just find the sources of information that can quell that appetite.. but not cause too much disruption for their repitition of it when attending school..

because these days it does not take much for the damn government to brand you an unfit parent, am i right?

[pie'n'eal]

Do not believe everything you read.
Be aware of what is going on and note it.
Do not exaggerate anything.

Do not feed fear.
No one know the future.

Just have love and have fun!




We all feel the same.
Tony

[music]

Good points Tony, and true, but the difficulty stems from our responsibility to take care of our children while allowing them to be themselves. When mine are old enough, I will present them with the thoughts of all sides so hopefully they can make up their own minds. We also have to consider that while some of us adults grow in awareness, particularly where "reality" is concerned, our children are still all too able to feel intense physical pain. My belief is basically that "all will be well", and hopefully my children pick up on that.

[mariposafe]

Be open and honest with them and give them the framework within which they can learn to make their own judgments.

Teach them not to be afraid to make mistakes, or be afraid to be wrong.

And don't beat yourself up about "doing them a disservice" no parent has ever got it 100% right, and I suspect no one ever will !!! You're giving them your best, from the fullness of your heart,
I reckon that's more than enough

[GK76]

Hi Jagman,

Looking at your post you no doubt understand the basic parenting tip: You can't always protect your children, but, you can educate them to overcome problems with intelligence, strength, and compassion.

Educate them with your knowledge of this world, but not to accept it as their truth. Then tell them to build their own understanding and exceed your own collected wisdom.

Knowledge is power... children respond well to that idea, just make sure they use it in positive ways.

If it becomes a struggle to pass on the information without becoming an energy sapping exercise, simply stand away from the subject a bit. If you are telling them about the nature of the negative people or the sleepers of this world, instead, just explain about the duality of man and let them make the distinction between good and bad actions. If you are talking about the poisons in the food system, instead, tell them what they should be eating to maintain a healthy physical presence. Make sure they know the side effects of aspartame and such, let your children decide its worth in their diet.

Remember there are people on this planet who, no matter what, will always default to 'sleeper' mode. They will still experience their life as they had chosen to do, just make sure they know they are loved and you will be there if they need you.

There I go waffling on again... good luck with your journey, I feel your children will do just fine with you helping them along.

[spiritguide]

Teach respect and dispell fear. Teach sharing and dispell greed. Compassion and empathy go a long way towards peace and love. Showing is much better than telling when it comes to learning. IMHO Do your honest best from your heart, the rest is up to them as long as they understand the consequebces of their behavior (responsability).

[Tarka the Duck]

I feel for you, Jagman...your kids are lucky to have you as a dad. A couple of things occurred to me as I read your post, and the thoughtful replies:
Ideally, children need to be allowed to stay as children for as long as possible. That is almost impossible in many parts of the "developed"world these days: children are burdened with so much at such an early age.
None of us know for sure what the future will be.
Perhaps they only need to know about the things they can have some control over. For example, as Music said, learning survival skills is a great tool to have whatever happens - and it's fun too!

[MorningSong]

Hey Jagman!

I am an ESL (English as a Second Language) highschool teacher and have pretty free reign on what material I present to my students as long as I follow my yearly proposed/approved program and it is not offensive to anyone in any way.

I often treat matters that we discuss here on the forum (current events, changing political-social-scientific-cultural scenes in the world) through my lesson plan.

There is a lot of material on the net for children regarding Earth changes (etc), for example, exercises and such for school teachers/ children/young people.

Here is an example: by just googling "how to explain Earth changes to a child" I found a good list of things like this:

http://science-ed.pnnl.gov/teachers/earth.stm

There are many sites that are just informative science sites that you could show your children on a rainy day:

http://www.kidsgeo.com/geography-for...-the-earth.php

I have been "walking the talk" that I stand by forever, it seems. Though, with small children, it was often necessary to explain some things (like why mommy bakes her own bread and doesn't go to the grocery every day to buy bread like everyone else's mommy, lol) obviously using simplified explainations and motivational comparisons (see how store-bought bread is different (chewy, hard, full of air, molds quickly, smells like the swimmingpool (lol)), etc).

My sons are in their 20's now, and, as far as I can tell, are pretty "awake and aware" of the changes our times are presenting us with. I do admit that when they reached an age at which they started asking questions and making their own reasons and rhymes of things, I dropped the veil and told them how I truely saw things unfolding and began sharing more and more information and ideas with them. I am very lucky to have raised them in a very rural area, so gardening and going with grandma to pick up chestnuts in the fall, or going with granddad to cut wood to burn in the fireplace was a normal thing to do, as well.

Teach them the basics of simple living (survival) in a casual way. Show them the possible dangers around them (teach them to observe their surroundings - sounds (are the birds chirping today? are they happy? what are they saying?), geological features/buildings/other (I wonder if crayfish live in the creek back behind our house? Let's go see....), smells (is that gas I smell? Can you smell rain coming?), etc) and discuss possible ways to avoid/appreciate them or situations that could evolve (good or bad) without causing fear, from a practical common sense point of view.....(let's see how we can take a walk without having to pass under powerlines...). I know, it could sound silly or even crazy to most people, but to a child it could turn into a real adventure... and be of some use in a critical situation.

[WhiteFeather]

You can start with planting the seeds in which you are doing so now. Dont over water or give to much sunlight (information). Children are fragile. Love is important as well. If you follow these instructions carefully you will be suprised how your children respond to the gardener with his care and message.

[Wantsthetruth74]

They have actually discussed the whole 2012 thing in my kids school,(last year), and they came home and asked me if I thought something catastrophic was going to happen. I simply said, that I did not know, that many people thing the world will end, some say nothing will happen. I said I thought it would be somewhere in between, because many parts of the planet ARE seeing catastrophic events. Earthquakes,floods,volcanos,hurricanes. Yet, other places, not so much. i told them nobody really knows if the big event will occur and just try to live each day happy, and if anything ever did happen we would all get through it together.

[ghostrider]

I would teach if a tree doesn't learn to bend , it could break. Positive thinking can do wonders, just as negative can influence the outcome. staying positive will soften the effect when the winds are strong.

[rgray222]

I think the word dysfunctional is bantered around way to freely, I believe that if you scratch the surface of everyone's family you will easily find some type of dysfunction. It implies some type of co-dependency or children growing up thinking what is happening in their family is normal only to find out later that it was not. Right, wrong or indifferent dysfunction is simply an experience that children/people need to go through. Those experiences no matter how horrible we learn from to gain wisdom and knowledge. I think one of the best things that parents can do for their children is let the real world wash over them and at the same teach them to 'think' about the world and not just 'react' to it. Show them that following the path of truth, light and honesty is by far the hardest road to stay on (and not always possible) but the best one to take!

[Czarek]

I'm not talking to my kids about it. I'm collecting Lego blocks, books and other things they can play with in case SHTF.

[bluestflame]

teach them how to question , how to challenge , how to feel the truth( or the absence of it) behind what is presented to them , how to find thier own answers

to test what is offered to assess its validity


and to make thier OWN choices based on what they feel

[mescalitto]

This parenting is certainly not easy , just do what you feel in your heart and mind is right . I recently was asked by my 6 year old daughter a question that made me shudder and it really stopped me in my tracks. She said "Daddy why do people have wars" Im no big man and if im honnest it made me well up a bit before i could answer her. Such a dreaded question from so sweet and inocent a child. I think i replied Because some people are greedy and want what others have and some people just want everyone else to do as they say. I dont know if this was the right or wrong answer but like i said it felt right and this is all you can do. Love and light Mescalitto

[Camilo]

How about the truth. Kids are smarter than anyone believes, and they came prepared for what's at hand.

[Arrowwind]

Posted by jagman (here)
But I also think, I may have done them a disservice in the fact that they are not prepared for a world that might be drastically changed soon.

This had been my concern too. I have not well prepared them except for teaching them to enjoy life, be honest, independent, hopeful, loyal to self and others, practical, and to stay out of the military, how to think for themselves and to say please and thank you. With this my hope is that they will find their own way according to their very own soul needs, not mine.. They are well aware of ALL the conspiracy stuff as this information is no longer limited to a select free thinking few. Its really out there and my one son handed me a whole stack of DVDs on such topics when we were discussing 9/11 one time, said he had watched them all.

I have long let go concern that changing times might be very hard for them, even bring them to their physical demise. We each have our own path to walk. But they know where my bunker is and they know that they are welcome at any time. I am the one preparing for the worse case scenario and carrying that burden. They will rise to the task if and when it becomes necessary.

[MorningSong]

A great video on parenting:

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-A5ewl2Mdk

aDDING THIS ONE..A CLASSIC!

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq6rusc_EjM