# Average age of a prepper.



## Megamom134 (Jan 30, 2021)

It seems like most of the preppers I know are in the mature category. Over 30 and under 90. I know some of you have your kids active but when I see the 20 year olds in my town I know they would sink like stones in a crisis. They aren't taught anything useful in school anymore. When I was in school years ago the farm kids all had rifle racks in their pickups. Kids got a BB gun or their first rifle when they turned 10 or 12. That is the age I taught my grandchildren to shoot, their mom didn't speak to me for 2 weeks which was fine with me. So what are the ages, I am 66. Slow to start but getting prepped. Better late then never.


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## Robie (Jun 2, 2016)

One commercial I think speaks volumes about the "preparedness" of today's youth is:


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

I was 38 when I started prepping, I will be 80 in 15 days.

Half a lifetime of learning and storing.

I know I will not be around forever, but my kid will be well situated for the future.

Has learned well and backs me up on everything I do.


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

Robie said:


> One commercial I think speaks volumes about the "preparedness" of today's youth is:


Oh yeah, ignorant is the word, one I know is so dumb that they throw out their kitchen knives when dull!

They actually keep several sets of spares, I asked once why not sharpen them? how can you do that? might get cut.

Same person takes their Mercedes in to fill the windshield washer solution.

No guns, police will protect them in their upper class neighborhood.


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## Robie (Jun 2, 2016)

So much has changed. Growing up, we never looked at it as surviving...just being prepared.
I had a jackknife in my pocket was I was 7. Owned a hatchet when I was 10. Drank from garden hoses all my life...still do if I'm thirsty and outside.
Had the Cub and Boy Scouts to teach about the great outdoors. Had shop class to fill in some blanks along the way.

I take my grand niece camping in her backyard every year. She's 7. Two years ago I showed her how to light a match to light the campfire. Her Mom said...she wasn't allowed to light a match until she was around 10. 

Just some real basic simple things are getting lost. I don't expect a young kid to perform miracles but it would be nice if they could whittle a point on a stick without cutting a finger off.

Get off my lawn!!!


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## Back Pack Hack (Sep 15, 2016)

People Over 40 Should Be Dead

According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 40's, 50's, 60's, or even maybe the early 70's probably shouldn't have survived.

Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets, ... and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. (Not to mention the risks we took hitchhiking.) As children, we would ride in cars with no seatbelts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors! We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem. We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the street lights came on. No one was able to reach us all day.

NO CELL PHONES!!!!! Unthinkable!

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal cell phones, personal computers, or Internet chat rooms! We had friends! We went outside and found them. We played dodge ball, and sometimes, the ball would really hurt. We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame but us. Remember accidents?

We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it. We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms, and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rang the bell or just walked in and talked to them.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team.Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Some students weren't! as smart as others, so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade. Horrors! Tests were not adjusted for any reason.

Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law. Imagine that!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.

How fortunate we were to grow up as kids before lawyers and burgeoning government regulated our lives, for our own good. How sorry I am for what those years of meddling have done to our children and grandchildren and even sorrier that we all allowed the government and politicians to get away with it!


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

I’m 72, wife is 74.
We were raised by parents who survived the Great Depression and then World War Two.
Was taught to shoot at age 6, got my first very own rifle for my 10th birthday.
Was a Boy Scout when the Scoutmasters were all WWII veterans.
Joined the Army at 19, went to war.

Now, just think how frustrated I get with today’s society.


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## Megamom134 (Jan 30, 2021)

I used to lay my babies on the backseat floor with a bottle so we could go to the drive in. Remember the car seats we had back then, LOL. Kicked out of the house when the sun came out and told to come home when the street lights came on. Playing in the gutters during a rainstorm. Building camp fires and roasting hot dogs. With no parent supervision. If my teacher said I did something wrong my mom made me live to regret it. Been working since I was old enough to babysit, tasseled corn, picked beans, bought my own first car and put myself through college with my own money, it was cheaper back then. Went swimming in farmers ponds and climbed out covered in leaches. kick ball, ice skating rinks. Oh the good ole days. I miss them.


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## Chipper (Dec 22, 2012)

Never started prepping just always have. 

Got my first 22 rifle at 6 and first motorcycle at 5. Over 50 years ago.


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## Robie (Jun 2, 2016)

Chipper said:


> Never started prepping just always have.
> 
> Got my first 22 rifle at 6 and first motorcycle at 5. Over 50 years ago.


I always had a "what if" box in the trunk since the days of my first car.
What if this...
What if that...

Carried a bit of everything from socks to drywall screws.
Just made sense to me.


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## Robie (Jun 2, 2016)

Something else I get a kick from...

I work a lot in different fairly nice housing communities. 

The amount of parents letting their kids off and then lined up to pick them up is unreal. 

These places are no more than 3/4 mile at it's widest part.

Kids can't walk 100-200-300-400 yards to get the bus and then walk home?

This is in beautiful weather too.

As corny as it sounds, there was so much to learn and experience with a friend or 5 just walking to the bus or to school.


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## Tanya49! (Jun 20, 2020)

I’ll be 72 in 3 months. My parents had 5 of us kids. Mother and father both worked so we had a sitter watch us until I was 8, after that we were
free to wander. No more paying for a sitter. Joined army at 18, been on my own ever since with the exception of 2 marriages.Try to always be prepared,vigilant ever since military service.


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## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

I am 70.5 and except for a thick head of gray hair, I still get asked if I'm 50. I have been a gym rat since I was 24, and I recommend it to everyone, men and women alike. For example, I am prone to tight muscles at the small of my back. Most guys just walk bent over and complain. But if you start with lighter weights and then move up, you back pain goes away in one lifting session.


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## Back Pack Hack (Sep 15, 2016)

Robie said:


> ........Kids can't walk 100-200-300-400 yards to get the bus and then walk home?.........


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Megamom134 said:


> It seems like most of the preppers I know are in the mature category. Over 30 and under 90. I know some of you have your kids active but when I see the 20 year olds in my town I know they would sink like stones in a crisis. They aren't taught anything useful in school anymore. When I was in school years ago the farm kids all had rifle racks in their pickups. Kids got a BB gun or their first rifle when they turned 10 or 12. That is the age I taught my grandchildren to shoot, their mom didn't speak to me for 2 weeks which was fine with me. So what are the ages, I am 66. Slow to start but getting prepped. Better late then never.


Allow me to give you the best advise you will receive today;

STOP USING THE TERM PREPPER!

You're welcome!

Slippy! :vs_wave:


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## Nick (Nov 21, 2020)

Back Pack Hack said:


> People Over 40 Should Be Dead
> 
> According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 40's, 50's, 60's, or even maybe the early 70's probably shouldn't have survived.
> 
> ...


I know this is long to repost but it basically describes what it was like for me growing up exactly. I'm only 40, if I was born 5 years later I think I would have been part of the wimp culture. I have an 8 year old son and it's unbelievable how different things are for kids now as opposed to how they were back then. I try to raise my son the old way but it's not easy. Even though I don't do it at home he is "babied" everywhere else. Schools are the worst. They have what they call "zero tolerance" now. My son was suspended 3 times in 1st and 2nd grade. One of the times was because a teacher overheard him say knife while at recess with another kid. When the principal called me I asked what he said to get suspended. It was nothing threatening or anything like that. He was just joking around with the other kid and the word "knife" was said. I told the principal that I wasn't going to punish him and he was basically just giving him a 3 day vacation. The other 2 times were because he got in fights. In both cases he didn't start them. Bigger kid punched him after trying to push him and he punched back causing the kid to fall down crying. The other time was almost identical. I told the principal the same thing those times. I thought him to defend himself. I've always told him to never hit someone first and to never hit girls or kids that are younger or smaller than him no matter what. Suspended for self defense again because of the "zero tolerance". He plays 3 different sports and they get trophies no matter how many games they win (which they don't keep track of or even keep score during games). He actually won't even put his trophies on display unless they won that season. And then I get to scouts. He is in scouts, but it's more like play dates. Nevermind learned to make a fire, they use battery powered candles and orange and yellow paper to make them. When they do have an outdoor event a fire is already made when they get there and they have a safety line which is literally painted about 5' away from the fire pit all the way around that they can't cross. I told the scout master at one of the meetings that I have about a dozen .22 rifles and belong to a private range. I've taught many kids and even adults how to use a firearm. I asked if we could set something up where all the kids could come and learn to shoot safely. He looked at me like I had 2 heads and said "we could never do that". Anyway I could go on about this forever but that's the end of my rant.


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## Prepared One (Nov 5, 2014)

I have been surviving on my own since I was 17 when I left home, but even before that my parents were big on self reliance. Both served in the Air force. Both sets of Grandparents came up during the great depression. Both grandfathers fought in WWII and one in Korea so I learned a lot from their old stories. I have always been ready because of my early years on my own and the life style I was living, but I have been hard core survival for about 15 years now. I am going on 62.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Nick said:


> I know this is long to repost but it basically describes what it was like for me growing up exactly. I'm only 40, if I was born 5 years later I think I would have been part of the wimp culture. I have an 8 year old son and it's unbelievable how different things are for kids now as opposed to how they were back then. I try to raise my son the old way but it's not easy. Even though I don't do it at home he is "babied" everywhere else.
> 
> Schools are the worst. They have what they call "zero tolerance" now. My son was suspended 3 times in 1st and 2nd grade. One of the times was because a teacher overheard him say knife while at recess with another kid. When the principal called me I asked what he said to get suspended. It was nothing threatening or anything like that. He was just joking around with the other kid and the word "knife" was said. I told the principal that I wasn't going to punish him and he was basically just giving him a 3 day vacation. The other 2 times were because he got in fights. In both cases he didn't start them. Bigger kid punched him after trying to push him and he punched back causing the kid to fall down crying. The other time was almost identical. I told the principal the same thing those times. I thought him to defend himself. I've always told him to never hit someone first and to never hit girls or kids that are younger or smaller than him no matter what. Suspended for self defense again because of the "zero tolerance".
> 
> ...


Crazy world we live in!

(PS I broke your post into paragraphs which are easier to read. Good story, but sad for the kids.)


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

Slippy said:


> Crazy world we live in!
> 
> (PS I broke your post into paragraphs which are easier to read. Good story, but sad for the kids.)


If you notice, I double space my postings.

That is done so I can read them, Nick's all ran together, into an alphabet soup.

To read something like that, I have to quote, space it out, read then cancel.

Long ones (rants)for the most part, I do not read.

They start a headache process within the first three lines.

Video games I cannot look at, they give a migraine and borderline seizure.

Took kid to see the first X-formers, Had an attack and threw up in the aisle.

A brain short circuit.


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## Piratesailor (Nov 9, 2012)

Man.. I used to walk to elementary school, in the snow..up hill.. both ways. Ok, truth is only one way uphill but it was in the snow. Walked abut a mile to elementary and that was when I was in 2nd grade. 

Moved to Florida and rode my bike about 3-4 miles one way to the new elementary school up until 8th grade. Banana seats on stingray bikes and no helmets!! We’d ride in packs to the school but not all the time. 

That was in the 60’s.


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## Robie (Jun 2, 2016)

I had to walk 2 miles each way to school my freshmen year of high school in Augusta, Maine...1969.

They didn't care how much snow there was...school was on. And no bus service.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Robie said:


> I had to walk 2 miles each way to school my freshmen year of high school in Augusta, Maine...1969.
> 
> They didn't care how much snow there was...school was on. And no bus service.


2 words;

Bi-Cycle?

:vs_blush:


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## Robie (Jun 2, 2016)

Slippy said:


> 2 words;
> 
> Bi-Cycle?
> 
> :vs_blush:


One word.

Hills


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## Annie (Dec 5, 2015)

Slippy said:


> 2 words;
> 
> Bi-Cycle?
> 
> :vs_blush:


A bicycle in the snow? Sounds too slippy, Mister Slippy. :tango_face_wink:


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## Megamom134 (Jan 30, 2021)

Walking to and from school with my friends is one of my fondest memories.


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## StratMaster (Dec 26, 2017)

Robie said:


> I had to walk 2 miles each way to school my freshmen year of high school in Augusta, Maine...1969.
> 
> They didn't care how much snow there was...school was on. And no bus service.


Kid: "it's too COLD to walk to school. There's snow everywhere".

Dad: " When I was young we walked through three miles of snow until our LEGS ached to get to school".

Grandpa: "LEGS!!!??? We didn't HAVE legs. We dragged our torsos through the snow..."


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## SDF880 (Mar 28, 2013)

Slippy said:


> 2 words;
> 
> Bi-Cycle?
> 
> :vs_blush:


I used to ride mine in the snow heck it was a lot of fun!


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## SDF880 (Mar 28, 2013)

Oops i started out replying to Annie's post....I need a GF beer!


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Robie said:


> One word.
> 
> Hills


3 words;

Both Ways, Sir? :vs_lol:

4 words;

Slippy For The Win! :vs_clap:


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Megamom134 said:


> Walking to and from school with my friends is one of my fondest memories.


Yeah, walking to school with my buddies was fun, but Making Out with my friend's older sister after school was funner. :vs_smile:


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## Robie (Jun 2, 2016)

My Dad used to tell stories of having to drive up the hills in reverse in his Model A Ford. Apparently, it was the strongest gear.
Maine has some serious hills.


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## MisterMills357 (Apr 15, 2015)

Robie said:


> I had to walk 2 miles each way to school my freshmen year of high school in Augusta, Maine...1969.
> 
> They didn't care how much snow there was...school was on. And no bus service.


I had to walk at least a mile to get to my elementary school, and it might have been one and one half miles. And snow just meant that I would get cold feet.


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## Nick (Nov 21, 2020)

SOCOM42 said:


> Slippy said:
> 
> 
> > Crazy world we live in!
> ...


Sorry, lol. I log in on my phone and it's easier to just keep typing with run on sentences and paragraphs.

Next time I have a fairly long post I'll go back and space it.


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## 2020 Convert (Dec 24, 2020)

Being raised in the next city over from Buffalo, we didn’t worry about the 3/4 miles to Elementary or 1.5 mile to Middle School. 

We worried about feet. Like the 2, 3, or 4 we had to walk through to get to school.


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## smokeyquartz (Oct 24, 2020)

I'm younger than most on the forum here. I came of age in the Columbine school-shooting era. Then a couple years later came September 11. And then the never-ending 2nd Iraq war.

I don't really have fond memories of school. It was something to get through and get over with. We wore ID badges and there were "guards" at the entrances to the school; it must sound totally different from what most of you experienced. I went to college, which I consider a scam.

School did not teach me anything useful. I'm learning on my own the local edible weeds and how to fish so that I can feed myself outside the money system. My goal is to one day need absolutely nothing from society. I have a long way to go compared to you all and I'm grateful to hear your experiences and learn from it on this forum.


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## Annie (Dec 5, 2015)

I'm 58. I started prepping in 2015. It just seemed like things were going to hell in a bucket. Thought I'd make it my priority.


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## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

My parents were products of the Great Depression. They prepped to a point. Food, necessities of the household. Enough to get by for a month or so. So I have just naturally followed suit, just at a deeper level . I probably got on board with stuff beyond my parents in the mid 90s


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## Pobilly Duke (May 9, 2020)

SDF880 said:


> I used to ride mine in the snow heck it was a lot of fun!


No matter what time of year your bike was your main source of travel.

I remember, some mornings, wrapping rope between the spokes, to get traction, to do my paper route on the weekend mornings.

Yes, it was all challenging but the satisfaction for completing a task given are things I will never forget or regret.

I am 60 now and my kids were not raised with a silver spoon.

I learned the real meaning of proud watching their accomplishments and now my grand childrens accomplishments.

They were raised with tough love and real love, hated me sometimes, at the time. But to this day thank me, and my wife, for teaching them life lessons at an early age.

It seems parents now adays feel they owe their children a soft life so they don't have to endure any of the difficulties they went thru.

Hell! That's what builds character!


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## Pobilly Duke (May 9, 2020)

Robie said:


> My Dad used to tell stories of having to drive up the hills in reverse in his Model A Ford. Apparently, it was the strongest gear.
> Maine has some serious hills.


Sounds like the early version of front wheel drive! Ha, ha.


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## Megamom134 (Jan 30, 2021)

I feel sorry for the people that had to live post school shootings etc. Childhood was suppose to be full of memories of things you did with your friends, hiking, swimming in farm ponds, shooting for the first time, walking miles over the countryside and not worrying about someone kidnapping up or shooting us. Johnny Gosch was the first time we were really aware bad things could happen to children. I am lucky that where we live my children were able to have that type of childhood, but did have an incident where one of my children almost was abducted out of my front yard. I just happened to look out and see what was happening and me and my old dog stopped it. We have to learn to adapt the world we live in now. I wish my son would wake up to whats happening and start some type of preparation. I am glad to see you are.


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## Big Boy in MO (Jan 22, 2018)

Three or four of us guys get together several times a year and go camping to get away from everything. Our camping spot is fairly remote, we can cut our own firewood and we cook everything over the camp fire. I have a nephew that wanted to go with us, He was just short of his Eagle Scout badge. We cut wood, split wood and cooked everything, even our coffee over the campfire. We shot target practice, fished and just had a nice comfortable weekend. On the way home, He told me he really enjoyed the weekend and learned so much from us just hanging out. I asked him what he meant, remember he is working on his Eagle. He told me, where the troop goes camping, the fires are made for them, the wood is hauled in ready to burn, they never have been allowed to shoot anything but a bow and the adults do all the cooking over stoves they bring. They are only responsible for putting up there tents and packing them back up. I was blown away!!! What is the purpose of Boy Scouts??? Girl Scouts???


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## Big Boy in MO (Jan 22, 2018)

Gravity fed gas tank. Drive up a steep hill forward the engine would die of fuel starvation.


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## Megamom134 (Jan 30, 2021)

When my boys were young them and a friend were spending a lot of time in our back woods, which was fine but we started noticing other kids going back with tools so I told my husband to go back and see what was up. Well these 5 young preteen boys were cutting down trees to make a cabin, not little trees either, they had hauled a bunch of stones and made a round firepit and had a small fire going. My husband told them to pack it all in and go home because, 1, we don't own the property and technically it was trespassing and destruction and 2, it was super dry that year and we didn't want any fires starting the woods on fire. My husband later told me he was so proud of them. the fire ring was perfect, all dry material had been sweep away, the trees had been notched, he was amazed at how good of a job they did. When we put a stop to that they took to digging underground bunkers which were equally impressive. They worked hours hauling away dirt the 3 bunkers are still there 30 years later. But ask them to take out the garbage..............


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## Momma23Littles (Dec 12, 2017)

I’m a millennial. I started prepping when I was 23 when my first child was born. I realized quickly that God had entrusted this child to me and it was my responsibility to keep him alive and fed. I am not comfortable with going to the grocery store weekly to get just enough groceries for that week. I’m am now 31 and the more kids I have, the more I want to be prepared. I feel that is my responsibility. 

Why do we do what we do? Why do we have food stored? Why do we learn how to shoot well and tie knots? For survival. Why do parent today not allow children to play in the alley? Why don’t parents send their kids out in the morning and tell them not to come home until the street lights come on? For survival. We don’t feel that it is safe in this day and time to allow our kids free range of this world. Is that right or wrong? We are each doing what we think is right with the information we currently have. 

It bothers me to no end when generations of people place all the guilt and blame on another generation. Is my generation getting it all right? No. Did yours? No. Did the generation before that? No. We are all doing the best we can with the information we currently have. You can’t blame the next generation without taking some of the blame yourself. You raised us. Millennials are your children and grandchildren. Apples don’t fall far from trees. Always have, always will. 

I am far from the only millennial prepper. My preps probably look different from yours. I enjoy reading your posts and learning different ways of doing things. There is a lot of wisdom is groups like these. But be careful what you say, if someone is told they are doing it wrong and there is no hope, eventually they will give up and believe it.


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## Megamom134 (Jan 30, 2021)

You grew up in a whole new world. It isn't safe to allow kids to do the things we did as kids and I don't blame you. I was much more restrictive with my grandchildren then my children because it seems their are more evil people, or at least we are hearing about them now. I commend you for getting prepared because like all of here, or most, we do it for our families. Don't give up, learn from the past and prepare for an uncertain future.


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## Back Pack Hack (Sep 15, 2016)

Many parents won't let their kids 'play in the alley', not because they're bad parents raising their kids badly, but because there _are_ pad parents _out there_, raising _their_ kids badly.


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## LetsGo (Feb 16, 2021)

I am 58...well ok I'll be 59 in a month, so let me go back 50 years - I'm 58 and 11/12ths. I will start it like this

Hello, my name is Dan and I'm a prepper. Truth is I am not a prepper, I am trying to be a prepper or prepperish. I think I have not taken it as serious as I should have because I grew up in the country before moving to the city in my late teens and have lived in-between since my mid-twenties. I either had a BB Gun or a fishing pole with me from the time I was let roam, probably about 7-yrs old, guessing, maybe 9, I don't really remember, didn't really pay attention about it back then. I've been country, I've been city and seen the good and bad of both. I can shoot, hunt, and fish and I am married so I am willing to die. I have had a pitiful BOB for several years, one that would be comparable to a 10-year old packing six PBJ's and running away forever. 

However, here lately I have taking on a new interest to get more serious about prepping, I smell the rat's getting closer all the time. Ammo, like CRP land, someone(s) is getting paid off very well not to produce. I mean who wouldn't, why go through the trouble making a product if the government will pay you not to make it or farm it, whatever "it" is.

So, I am here to step up my game. I suspect I already have a lot more than a lot of common folks out there, not this group, just regular people. But it is unorganized, not well thought out, mostly sporadic and impromptu gathering over the last year or so.


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## Steve40th (Aug 17, 2016)

Robie said:


> One commercial I think speaks volumes about the "preparedness" of today's youth is:


When my Daughter was 17, she called and asked me to come help her change the tire on the Jeep.. She had it jacked up, spare out, but could not find the lock.. Rest of the lugs were off.
PSA, get rid of wheel locks.. Unless you live in a bad place.


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