Tag Archives: children

Episode-2180- Growing Children in the Garden

Posted on March 12, 2018 by Modern Survival| 5 Comments
Episode-2180- Growing Children in the Garden Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

No we won’t be talking about planting little Timmy and little Tammy seeds in the garden but rather how gardening can plant seeds of knowledge, compassion, resiliency and skills in our children.  One of my true heroes in the world is Geoff Lawton and Geoff made a statement that sounds almost absurd in some ways…

All the world’s problems can be solved in a garden!

Even I balked a bit at that statement at first, then stepped back and said well, metaphorically is how he means it.  But I realized when I looked at how he said it, he was dead serious.  So I stepped way back and said, is this statement true.

When I did so I realized you had to look at it though the right lens.  No one thing is generally sufficient to fix any major problem, so a true solution is one that sets things in motion.  It is that initial motion that creates inertia and that provides an opportunity for more things to be done, and in the end the problem is solved or mitigated as much as can be done at the time.  So true solutions are the catalyst, the spark of a solution, that create something akin to a trophic cascade.

What is a trophic cascade, it is when a small change creates powerful indirect interactions that can control or change entire ecosystems.  A classic example is how the reintroduction of wolves changed the course of rivers in Yellowstone.

So today we will ask the question, if a few packs of wolves can cause life to explode and a river to moderate and change its course, what might be the effect of teaching our children, how to do something as simple as grow a garden.

Join Me Today to Discuss…

  • Can we really solve the word’s problem with a garden
  • What is a trophic cascade and how can we hope to create one
  • What happens when a child learns about gardening
    • They learn patience
    • They learn actions have concequences
    • They learn to feed themselves and others
    • They learn to recognize patterns
    • They learn to solve problems
    • They learn the value of hard work
    • They learn that all living things have a place in our world
    • They learn that everything in life is a cycle
    • They learn that some things are beyond your control
    • They learn to teach
    • They learn how to find answers from elders, literature, etc.
    • They learn a hundred more things
  • How can this create a trophic cascade?
  • The difference between solving a problem and setting a solution in motion

Resources for today’s show…

Sponsor of the Day

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK (866-658-4465) and you might hear yourself on the air.

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Episode-1825- Raising Resilient Children in a World Full of Wusses

Posted on July 12, 2016 by Modern Survival| 11 Comments
Episode-1825- Raising Resilient Children in a World Full of Wusses [ 1:17:30 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

adventureToday we discuss a subject near and dear to my heart, frankly the future of our nation and our world.  I hear all the time today how our kids are tea cup kids, how they are soft, easily offended and incapable or getting though adversity.

Oh dear friends if only it were that limited.  There are plenty of 20, 30 and even 40 year old people today that I can say the same about.  Yet I will admit that in my experience as an employer, that something clearly went very wrong between the 1980’s and the 1990’s.  There absolutely is a dramatic divide in the number of tea cups based on growing up in one of those two decades.

Translation if you were born after 1978 and are not a tea cup, go hug your parents around the neck right now and say thank you!

Today it has gone full on idiotic!  It is far more that participation trophies, not keeping score in game, “everybody wins” and a refusal to discipline.  Now we have young adults with safe spaces on college campuses at the very time they should have very belief challenged.  Instead they are being protected from “micro-aggressions”, and having their college level work graded on a “curve” to make sure anyone who even tries passes.

But today will not be a rant session, I will absolutely not focus on the problem, or what can be done about the current generation as a whole.  Instead I will stay inside your personal circle of influence, and focus on how to help your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, etc, grow up strong in a world full of wusses.

Join Me Today As I Respond to Your Emails On

  • How we got here, many people meant well, many did not
  • My 10 rules for raising resilient children
    • Let them fail
    • Challenge them
    • Give them a system, teach them to “work it”
    • Get their hands dirty
    • Praise them for failing in the right context
    • Encourage “next step thinking”
    • Incentivize self directed learning
    • Teach them to safely use “dangerous” things
    • Put them in charge at times
    • Teach them about self ownership
    • The Bonus Rule – Everyone is great at something, find that for yourself

Resources for today’s show…

Sponsors of the Day

apricotBob Wells Plant of the Week – Blenheim Apricot – The Blenheim Apricot is highly adaptable from zone 5 to zone 9.

It is the most popular apricot in the United States. It’s considered to be the most flavorful, best tasting apricot in production. This medium to large, yellow skinned with orange blush apricot has superb flavor. The Blenheim Apricot Tree ripens late June to early July and is self-fruitful. Estimated chilling requirement is 400-500 hours.

Bob Wells specializes in edible landscape, including: Fruit Trees, Berry Plants, Nut Trees, as well as the hard to find Specialty Fruit Trees. Find this plant and more at BobWellsNursery.com

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK (866-658-4465) and you might hear yourself on the air.

Also remember we have an expert council that can answer you questions. If you have a question send it to jack at thesurvivalpodcast.com with TSPC Epert in the subject line. Ask your question in one to two sentences so it is clear then provide any additional details. Make sure to tell me what council member the question is for. You Meet the Expert Council at this Link.

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Episode-1432- Why the Current Generation is “Lost”

Posted on September 23, 2014 by Modern Survival| 48 Comments
Episode-1432- Why the Current Generation is "Lost" [ 1:17:11 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Call a Generation Lost and it May Believe You.

Call a Generation Lost and it May Believe You.

You might think that the most difficult questions I get come from older folks who have been around a while, you would be wrong.  The most difficult questions to answer come from young people, asking “what do I do with my life”, in some sort of way.

The current generation (Millennials) and the one coming next (Generation Z) take a lot of flack.  We hear they are lazy, don’t know the value of hard work and never knew a day without a computer.  Really, well, hey Boomers and Gen X on that last one, few of us knew a day without a TV right?  Sometimes we should think before pointing to the “flaws” of others.  I digress though.

The reality is this generation has been born at what should be one of the most exciting times in history.  There is more opportunity today than ever before.  Businesses are easier to start, educations are easier to obtain and new ways of doing things happen every day.  The truth is right now is one of the greatest expansions of entrepreneurship ever seen  on the planet.

Yet many of our young people feel lost.  TSP is about survival and living a better life.  If we don’t preserve families and if we don’t look out for our next generations, who will look out for us when we are old men and women.  What of any value can we leave behind if we don’t leave behind young men and women who value both their past and their futures?

Join Me Today As I Discuss…

  • Why today really is a great time to be alive
  • Why can’t people see how great this time is, what went wrong
  • Why do out children and young adults feel lost
    • They don’t know where they have come from
    • Due to that they don’t know where they are going
    • They don’t have a connection to the earth and innate humanity
    • They believe the hype from both sides of the dichotomy
    • They feel helpless about the hype
    • They are not permitted to fail
    • They are not challenged to excel
    • They are praised for mediocrity and they know it
    • They are presented with a single path to “success”
    • The path is expensive and they know it often doesn’t fit or doesn’t work
    • They are being taught success formulas that are often out dated
    • They see their “parents hell” but are pushed to follow that example
    • They are then blamed for all of the above
    • It is more our fault then theirs and they know it
  • Fixing the problem isn’t really that hard
    • Address the above at least for your family
    • If your family won’t do it, do it for yourself
    • Life really is amazing, just make sure to realize that
    • Take risks, winners fail before they succeed
    • Realize that others will always urge caution to the bold
  • The choice is yours, choose your path wisely and don’t hesitate to change paths

Resources for today’s show…

Bob Wells Plant of the Week – Arbequina Olive – Adaptable from zone 8 to zone 10

Cold hardy variety that has one of the highest olive production and oil yields. The soil should be well drained. Tree has an upright habit. We recommend covering the tree the first winter if the temperature drops below freezing. Once the tree has been in the ground for a year and is well rooted, it then will begin to withstand the colder temperatures.

The older the tree gets the more, cold hardy it becomes. Oil is sweet, delicate and fragrant with intense fruitiness but low levels of bitterness and spiciness. If you live above zone 8, you can grow it in a container and bring it inside during the winter months.  –  Order this Plant at Bob Wells Nursery

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK (866-658-4465) and you might hear yourself on the air.

Also remember we have an expert council you can address your calls to. If you do this you should email me right after your call at jack at thesurvivalpodcast.com with expert council call in the subject line. In the body of your email tell me that you just called in a question for the council and what number you called in from. I will then give the call priority when I screen calls.

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Want Every Episode of TSP Ever Produced?

Remember in addition to discounts to over 40 vendors who supply stuff you are likely buying anyway, tons of free ebooks and video content, MSB Members also get every edition of The Survival Podcast ever produced in convenient zip files in blocks of 24. More info on the MSB can be found here.

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Episode-920- Building Self Reliance in Our Children

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Modern Survival| 33 Comments
Episode-920- Building Self Reliance in Our Children [ 1:09:15 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

After I answered a question by John from West Virginia on Friday’s show I have received a ton of email asking me to do a full show devoted to teaching our children self sufficiency and self reliance.

I am going to do that show today but I want to point something out.  I am not nor do I claim to be a parenting expert.  I simply have had the honor of serving as a step father to a great kid who now has grown into a fine young man.  I think Dorothy and I did a great job, much of what I share today will be what we did, however, much will be what we didn’t learn until we did it wrong first.

Parenting is a skill like any other skill, you yourself grow in knowledge overtime and will likely have reached the pinnacle of your parenting skill set at the point where you kids no longer require it of you, why do you think kids are generally so fond of grandparents?

Join Me Today As We Discuss…

  • My limitation, no real experience in the kindergarten and back years
  • Understanding “growth” and that it takes time
  • Working with your children, not judging their “progress” on the “progress” of others
  • Rules we brought up our son with
    • As you grown you should end up with less rules every year
    • If you cry for something you don’t get it period
    • You are expected to pitch in around the house
    • Allowance is a paycheck, it also is a two way street
    • Never lie to us, you will need our trust some day
    • When I ask you what you think about something, IDK isn’t an answer
    • We never buy anything of consequence with out a thinking period first
    • Saving money is important, so is giving it away
    • When you make a bad choice it is your fault and your responsibility to make it right
    • You can have anything but not everything you want
    • Life isn’t fair, it isn’t supposed to be, oh and likely you don’t want things to be fair either
    • We always have your back, always
  • Things I would suggest any parent consider in raising their children
    • They are small growing people not dolls to be dressed or clay to be formed
    • Their opinions should be heard and matter even when not followed
    • You child needs to be sad, mad, upset, hurt and unhappy at times
    • If they say they can do it themselves, shut up and let them try
    • Don’t put them in sports where “everybody wins”
    • Teach them to value education and don’t lie about the value of school
    • Remember what you do is more important than what you say

Resources for today’s show…

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

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Episode-739- Changing The Way We Help Children Learn

Posted on September 7, 2011 by Modern Survival| 78 Comments
Episode-739- Changing The Way We Help Children Learn [ 1:16:52 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I was originally going to call this “changing the way we teach our children”, but when I went to type that, I realized it missed the entire point.   To me this is one of the biggest problems of the modern education system we teach instead of encouraging learning.

When you teach you “push” information when you encourage a person to learn you are “pulled” by them to learn more.  Have you ever wondered about this fact…

No person asks questions that start with why, what and how more than a child.

Now given that is the case why do kids always end up bored in school, how do they get from wanting to know the why of everything to bored apathetic teens in just a few years of school?  Can we really blame them when the results of our system are so uniform?

Today’s episode was inspired by a comment in response to the segment I did yesterday on “unschooling”.  Unschooling is where children are largely self directed in their learning and study what they are most interested in.  Most of the feedback was great but one commenter left the following comment…

“Dear Jack,

Your remarks on ”One step beyond homeschooling – unschooling” are completely wrong and disturbing, not that expected you to be perfect.

Let the ”children discover what they like” is nothing more than parents skipping their parenting responsibility to educate their children and a petty excuse.

Parents have the responsibility to orientate their children because they do have life experience, in contrast the Children have almost no experience and lots of romanticism … how does the child discover what he wants? By analyzing his own ignorance ?

Another problem is that it opens the door for children to escape reality by studying ”cool”, but ultimately irrelevant subjects, in order to escape their petty lives. This going to create a lot of little Nicolo Machiavelli, who become philosophers because their lives sucked.

In short : Unschooling is a petty excuse for parents to escape their responsibility, children do not have not enough life experience or stability to make important life decisions and this will certainly result in children escaping reality in BS studies, just like the example of your article studying ”exo-geology”.”

I find this view very myopic and very limiting, today’s show explains why and expands on the concept of putting people (kids are PEOPLE) in charge of their own learning.

Resources for Today’s Show

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

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Episode-244- Survival Podcast Audience Questions 7-27-09

Posted on July 27, 2009 by Modern Survival| 14 Comments
Episode-244- Survival Podcast Audience Questions 7-27-09 [ 51:41 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Today we do another round of your questions on the air during my morning commute.  Today I answer questions on emergency radios, patio gardening, food storage, credit unions vs banks, dealing with unprepared neighbors and more.

I will also continue my “intro segment” about current events.  Today what the Obama administration is doing right (yes right) about illegal immigration and what I think the eventual endgame is, and to quote Chris Rock, it ain’t right.

Tune in today as I answer these questions…

  • How useful are hand crank radios, what about the units from Kaito?
  • Are the earthtainer, vertical hydro or small scale aquaponics right for the patio garden?
  • How long have I been personally storing and how long did it take to get to 30 days reserve?
  • How do credit unions compare to banks?
  • How do you deal with a neighbor that always borrows stuff when TSHTF and they are in deep trouble because they are so unprepared?
  • What age is good to start teaching a kid to shoot and how do you keep your guns secure from them?
  • If money is tight and you are a renter what preps should you have on hand, what do you do first?
  • What are the advantages and disadvantages of prepaying utility bills?
  • Where do you find good info on canning veggies?

Resources for today’s show…

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show.

You also now can call in questions or comments for the host at 866-65-THINK, (866-658-4465) please read the suggestions for calling in before you do for the best chance of getting your comments on the air.

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Episode-186- Life Long Lessons from the Garden

Posted on April 23, 2009 by Modern Survival| 16 Comments
Episode-186- Life Long Lessons from the Garden [ 39:34 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is an updated version of a show I originally did back on July 24th, 2008 this time I have expanded it to be even more in depth.  Today as we go over 10 crops and 10 lessons that we can teach kids with a garden that are priceless beyond words. Tune in today to learn…

  • How Radishes and Greens teach that what we do now matters
  • How to use beans and peas to teach kids how plants “help” each other
  • How Tomatoes, Squash and Peppers can build a community and teach sharing
  • How Potatoes and Carrots teach that what you don’t see matters
  • How Pumpkins teach us to create our own entertainment

With Gardening in General we talk about…

  • How gardening teaches kids that food does not come from a store
  • That the life in a seed applies to the entire world
  • How the earth should be seen as a provider not a “resource”
  • That hard work pays off
  • That you can take care of yourself and others

We need to realize that survival preparedness is best done by blending it with life on a day to day basis. To survive we need to also ensure the survival of the next generations.  Today we will discover how a garden can build a new generation of Americans that value hard work, seek self sufficiency, have planning and know what they do matters.

I would love to hear your stories about what you learned about from gardening with parents or grandparents and what these lessons mean to you. Or what other lessons do you think we learn from gardening. Remember to make suggestion and comment.

Resources for Today’s Show

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show.

You also now can call in questions or comments for the host at 866-65-THINK, (866-658-4465) please read the suggestions for calling in before you do for the best chance of getting your comments on the air.

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