Rant--Parenting

I have to rant a bit about some of the parenting skills I've seen on display recently. It blows me away how some people treat their kids. Never mind that these same kids who are being yelled at, slapped around, and talked to in the most disrespectful of ways will soon be making decisions for their horrendous parents (like whether or not to leave them by the side of the road instead of a nursing home), but should something like a pandemic or chemical attack happen, these families would need to shelter in place for a few weeks together. If they can't stand each other, can't depend on each other, can't respect each other, and can't communicate with each other in a public place, what chance will they have to survive together during a disaster?

Fortunately many of the survival-oriented families I know have wonderful kids (which comes from good parenting), but there are other families where either the kids seem to be in charge or where the parents are out of control (or both). Families need to work together as a team to develop all of the skills necessary to be both good citizens as well as good survivalists. Like all teams, there needs to be a leader (this will be the parents). And like all teams, each member needs to respect each other, be responsible, learn as much as possible about as many things as possible, take the lead in their various areas of expertise, and learn how to rely on and communicate effectively with each other.