I need "Uncle-ing" advice

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Blackjack, Mar 24, 2008.


  1. Blackjack

    Blackjack Monkey+++

    My only nephew is coming for a 2-day visit this week. He's almost 15 yrs old, and I only see him once or twice a year as he lives some distance away. I promised to take him shooting... we've done that once before and it went very well, I stressed safety above all, and he turned out to be a helluva good shot for his first time handling real guns. And you should have seen the gleam in his eye when I handed him my AR15 with a full mag :)

    Here's the question:
    How do I go about preparing him for the crap that's coming? Given that I don't see him very much, it seems hard to do without just becoming "that crazy uncle that thinks gov is out to get us".

    Any ideas? Experiences?
     
  2. overbore

    overbore Monkey++

    WEll, since I am "Grandfathering" a 15 year old, we started in the Bible and how God has a plan for all to be free but when the people and or the government goes bad. the Bible is full of what happens next. Tell him that since the future is only the past repeating itself, what happened during the American Revolution is going to be happening again with neighbors tuning in neighbors--- and at that point have a copy of Mel Gibson's "The Patriot" to show and discuss with him--. I also gave him the same rifle and showed him how to reload- a necessary skill. Overbore
     
  3. <exile>

    <exile> Padawan Learner

    I'd say the same thing I've been working with my kids on, being aware of what's going on around you when you're out and about. Most people don't pay attention to jack when they're running around living life.
     
  4. Minuteman

    Minuteman Chaplain Moderator Founding Member

    Kids that age today are more involved in media. It takes a lot to keep thier attention. I would go the video route but I would go more to the doomsday scenario movies. The first season of Jericho opened up a lot of discussion with my 14 yr old. Also The Day After, an oldie but goodie. Maybe throw in a little Red Dawn. Another oldie but goodie is The Survivalist.
    They will sit and watch a movie longer than they will sit and listen to you. And then you can start with "What would you do if that happened?". Usually they are the ones who ask the question. Good ice breaker.
     
  5. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    The Constitution is not so long that it cannot be read in one sitting. Next day deal with the Bill of Rights. That should be good for several chats while changing targets.
     
  6. Tracy

    Tracy Insatiably Curious Moderator Founding Member

    Minuteman is absolutely right. Media is their focus. A man-movie night is a great way to open up dialog about such topics without looking like the crazy uncle.
     
  7. BigO01

    BigO01 Monkey+++ Founding Member

    Skip the Bible and even the Constitution at least for quite awhile and go with Minuteman's idea as an intro but , I would go with a general self reliance theme Movie like Anthony Hopkins "The Edge" for starters and perhaps the Survivor Man series as an evening discussion . Also watch the evening news looking for disasters such as the floods happening in the Midwest and even attacks by animals that require one to think about defense as well as treating and injured person .

    People seem to think they are always safe and that civilization is only around the next bend or over the next hill and if they can't get there alone the cell phone will have help on it's way in seconds .

    Take the boy on a quite ride in the country where homes are few and far between and pull over and ask him to pretend the car has broken down and you just had a heart attack trying to fix it .

    NO cell along to call for help . Did he even pay attention to from which direction you came to get back to the main road or where the last house you past was ? What if you slid off the road in a snowstorm ? What would he do if you fell getting out of the car and broke your leg ?

    Take him for walks in the woods and teach him to use a compass and ask if he is interested in doing some primitive camping with nothing more than he can carry on his back , if so do it and include winter camp outs .

    At 15 if you want avoid being labeled the crazy Uncle it's gonna take time and patience on your part , if done right you'll get the label of the "Cool Uncle" that he saw his first Deer and fox in the woods with and perhaps repelled down the first rock slope with or went caving with and taught him to fish with only a line and a hook .

    The outdoors is a natural gateway to discussions of self reliance and survival and from there you can work on Urban survival in emergencies or a SHTF situation .

    O and buy a few wilderness survival manuals and leave them laying around the house for him to look at when he's bored .
     
  8. franks71vw

    franks71vw Monkey+++

    One word at a time for however longer you have him... It is sad that the youth now n days are interested in PAris HitlTOn and all hollywood crap instead of looking ahead of them as they are in front of an abyss..
     
  9. Blackjack

    Blackjack Monkey+++

    I think the movie route might be the way to go..... Jericho starts airing from the beginning this friday...... maybe I can talk him into watching it.

    Good Idea.
     
  10. MbRodge

    MbRodge Monkey+++

    He's old enough to be driving now. Give him a printed out Google map from his house to yours and let him know if "anything ever happens" my door is open....Just don't bring your friends with you.
     
  11. Tango3

    Tango3 Aimless wanderer

    Buy him a ferro firesteel and a swiss army knife. teach him to build a fire with it..( kids love fireworks; at 15 he should be safe enough)
    proceed to the priority of 3's
    maybe intoduce the idea of peak oil /food
    Michael badnariks constitution class is very good ( its here somewhere).
     
  12. Blackjack

    Blackjack Monkey+++

    Had a great 2 day visit/training session, I'm happy with the outcome.

    Without ever realizing he was being "trained", I managed to get him interested in a lot of stuff, I never pushed anything on him, I just mentioned things in passing and let him ask the questions.

    He learned how to field strip and clean an AR, he learned a (very) little about food and water preps, what will happen if the economy collapses, a little about the bill of rights. Of course I had to work all that in around playing "Magic the Gathering" with him :)

    We spent about 3 hours at the farm shooting, his mom bought all the ammo (damn, that was expensive!).

    We shot:
    AR15
    Ruger 22 rifle
    Colt King Cobra (38's and a few 357's)
    Colt "Peacemaker" (clone)
    Ruger Red Label O/U 12 gauge

    Maybe it's the youthful eyesight, but he really impressed me with how accurate he was. Even when we worked on instinctive draw/fire with the revolver or rapid fire with the AR, he did much better than I expected.
     
  13. <exile>

    <exile> Padawan Learner

    Good job Blackjack, another one that is well ahead of his peers. Any woman that buys ammo can be my Mom as well, you should mention to him how lucky he is to have a Mom like that.
     
  14. sheen_estevez

    sheen_estevez Monkey+++

    That's the way to do it, start small and work in a bit more later on, with my 8 & 10 year old we are slowly working on fire starting, shelters, etc. we live in the woods and go camping every summer, I have them of the midset that if they go out in the woods playing and get lost they will know how to manage until we can find them. Both boys are also in Cub Scouts so there is another avenue, I'm my oldest boys leader and as you stated you can teach them things without them realizing they are being taught, if you make it fun for them they will hold onto the experience and use it going forward.

    As you go forward there are many good movies and shows, my oldest is into Survivor Man with Les Stroud, he also did a show called Surviving Urban Disasters, focused on floods, hurricanes, etc. The show was OK, but one thing I noticed is that when it was over my boy started putting together his own kit to keep in the house, not so much a BOB but just a box with all the things he thinks he would need in the house during a emergency, did this on his own and the only time I realized he was putting a kit together is when he came up to me and asked me for a plastic storage container, he has quite the kit. First Aid is covered, radio, flashlights, glow sticks, water, kool aid, granola bars, not bad for a 10 year old, and like I said he did it on his own just by watching a show on the subject.

    Another thing you may want to do is put together a simple BOB and give it to him as a gift, go through all the items in it and explain to him to keep it with him in the event he can't go right home.

    Glad it went well, now the trick it to keep it going, he'll thank you in the long run
     
  15. Blackjack

    Blackjack Monkey+++

    Ya know.... I just realized..... 2 whole days and he never asked to turn on the tv or play a videogame. That's kind of amazing right there.
     
  16. Tango3

    Tango3 Aimless wanderer

    Wow +1; excellent job
     
  17. NVBeav

    NVBeav Monkey+++

    That is incredible! He must have great parents and an uncle that's not bad either. Spending time with family (in my book) is one of the more fruitful things you can do.
     
  18. E.L.

    E.L. Moderator of Lead Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    Awesome thread, good job Blackjack.
     
  19. monkeyman

    monkeyman Monkey+++ Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    Arrangeing a primitive camping trip with him might also be a great thing for learning some of the skills that could help him out. If nothing else set up plans for it with him that you will go on such and such dates a few months off, say late this summer or this fall, and let him know some of the things he could study up on/practice in the mean time like fire building, shelter building and so on. Then if you wanted to you could even point him in the direction of some resources. Being a teen he is likely most comfortable with online resources so you could point him to some online resources for primitive/survival skills and you know, when one goes looking into those topics they are often linked to areas where there are discussions of other things like whats going on in the country/worl and what situations might come up and so on. Good chance he would stroll through some of the ideas and then just might have some more basis for questions and discussion on the trip when you are helping him hone some of the skills and at the least the ideas would likely not be totaly foriegn to him at that point.

    Even if it didnt lead to the political awarness or whatever then it would help give him some basic skills.
     
  20. dragonfly

    dragonfly Monkey+++

    I started a group of 5 teenagers off with some simple sightseeing trips,...where people live "off the grid" out in the middle of nowhere....Then we all went fishing,...then we slowly progressed to archery and now we are headed for the range!
    It didn't take a lot of personal encouragemnet on my part,...I let them SEE for themselves, and once in a while I'll drop a word or two just to see IF they have listened or have payed any attention. It has PAID OFF! They are smarter than most people give these kids credit for! The read, they watch and they absorb, a great deal in a short time. Now, I have only to keep them occupied! They do get bored rather quickly, but,.. can you imagine my state of mind, when I asked these kids IF they'd all like to go out in the middle of nowhere, and have a "Scavenger Hunt"?
    They got themselves ready, and was waiting for me to catch-up with them!
    I found the simlest of thing they figure out very quickly and make a game out of doing their very best, and the only competition they have is themselves, not against each other!
    Bill
     
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