Does your daughter need a pocketknife or a gun?

Let's read that title again, does your daughter need a pocketknife or a gun? The answer is quite simple, and the answer is a big, resounding, YES, to BOTH! The answer also includes that your son needs the same, and BOTH need the knowledge for the safe, and successful use of both tools of self protection/survival.

Now I know there's a huge debate about owning guns, having guns around children, etc..the list of those types of debates is long, and on-going. That being said, I don't give a %$#@ about what anyone else thinks about a child owning a weapon to protect themselves..and that belief comes from personal experience that I will not provide an explanation for.

Now that you know how I feel, and my husband shares this belief/feeling of self protection...back to the question above.

Our oldest daughter just got her first gun, a rifle, for her birthday. She will also be getting a pocketknife for this birthday. She is 9 years old. She is a bit on the petite side so we had to wait a little longer to gift them to her so she could physically handle it. Now she has started the process of learning everything she needs to be able to safely and successfully handle said rifle and pocketknife in ways to protect herself and her siblings in the event of an attack by humans or other animals. She has had experience handling rifles and pocketknives since she was 3 years old. We, her parents, both share the belief that a child should have the knowledge to defend themselves because let's be honest, life has sadly taught us that it is a necessary knowledge, and because in the worst situations it would come down to a child needing to defend themselves since an adult is incapacitated or not there for whatever reason. We are determined that our children will be equipped with ALL of the knowledge they need to successfully navigate our world as children AND as adults!!! There are so, so, so many adults that don't possess the simple knowledge needed for successfully surviving and navigating our world. I would say the very most important lesson that we all need to remember is that in order to survive and be successful, you HAVE to be able to adapt to any situation...

And let's be honest y'all, we are moving off of the grid, out in the semi-wilderness, next to a bunch of government-owned hunting land so our kids NEED to know how to handle a weapon for protection but I think they need the knowledge of self-protection more while among people.

Thanks for reading and follow our blog for more thoughts on surviving off grid with a family in the semi-wilderness.