An example of a readymade shelter, the root-ball of this downed tree will block the downslope, nighttime breezes. Picture by Author |
Author’s Note: I chanced upon this article in an
almost 30-year-old edition of Scouting magazine, while I was combing
through Google Books. I had never read
it before, however I had read many of the ideas that the author wrote about in
this article, in other, later, works. It
is a well-written article, chock full of great ideas and I hope that you enjoy
my summary of it.
Did you know that about 2/3 of
lost people are between the ages of 10 and 19 and that 95.9% of lost people are
found alive by searchers and that most people are found within two to three
days? Do you know what to teach your
kids or grandkids so that they are among the 95.9% that are found alive? Do you like about the general topic of
survival in the wilderness?
If your answers to the first two questions was “no”
and your answer to the last question was “yes”, then you should read “Kids Can
Survive In the Wild” by Steve Scarano.
It was originally printed in the Family Safe magazine, before
being reprinted in October 1989 edition of Scouting magazine (the
article can be found HERE).
To help your children, or for that matter, anyone,
survive a wilderness emergency, first you have to realize that a wilderness
emergency can happen to anyone, anywhere, since as survival expert Gene Fears quoted
in the article, a “wilderness emergency”
is when “a person suddenly loses those
things he relies upon for comfort”.
Second, you have to remember that your greatest survival tool is a
positive mental attitude, and as a later quote by Gene Fear in the article
stated, “Survival is 80 percent attitude,
10 percent equipment and 10 percent skill”.
“Survival
is 80 percent attitude…”
In the past, I have written about how I have taught
children that you are never “lost” during a wilderness emergency, rather you
are “misplaced”, because misplaced things are eventually found and lost things
stay lost. Being lost is scary and since
most of the art of survival is keeping a positive mental attitude and not
giving into your fears, the distinction between being “lost” or just being
“misplaced” can mean life or death. A
quote in the article by Gene Fear, supported this, when he noted that, “A human being will act, feel, and perform in
accordance with what he imagines to be true about himself, his environment, and
his situation.”
“Survival
is…10 percent equipment…”
Every child, and for that matter, anyone who ventures
in to the wilderness, should always carry a bare-bones survival kit, which
includes a plastic trash bag to act as a shelter; a pea-less whistle on a
lanyard and a metal or plastic mirror, or a piece of aluminum foil, for
signaling; some high energy foods and a canteen of water. Additionally, the author recommended that, for
those children who are old enough to use them safely, the survival kit should
include a pocketknife and waterproof matches.
“Survival
is…10 percent skills…”
If a child knows what to do in a wilderness emergency
and believes that he or she can survive, then their chances of being among the
95.9% of those found alive, increases.
Help children develop a positive survival attitude by asking them to
imagine being “misplaced”, quiz them on what they would do and teach them what
to do in a wilderness emergency, based on the suggestions found in this article. Teach them about S.T.O.P., which stands for Stop,
sit down, stay put; Think; Orient and organize yourself; Plan and put your plan into
action. Anyone who carries a survival
kit should learn to use everything in the kit and should regularly practice
using them. Teach children how to find
and use a ready-made shelter, build a bough bed and how to use the plastic bags
in their survival kit as a shelter. Also,
teach them how to signal for help and what to do if they hear scary noises.
I hope that this summary of “Kids Can Survive In the
Wild”, by Steve Scarano, will help you prepare your children, or grandchildren,
for the possibility that they might be “misplaced” in the woods someday and
what to do if they are, so that they can be among the 95.9% of people who
experience a wilderness emergency and emerge alive.
Besides the information found in the article “Kids Can
Survive In the Wild”, by Steve Scarano, which can be found (HERE), you might
find the following links useful.
You Are Never Lost, Only
Misplaced… (HERE)
The Ace of Spades: “Survival
Basics” (HERE)
Making an Emergency Bough
Bed (HERE)
Building An Emergency Bough
Bed, video (HERE)
Using your poncho or a trash
bag as an Emergency Shelter (HERE)
Emergency Trash Bag Shelter,
video (HERE)
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