Growing up as a child in New York may be a dream for some, but others who experience it tend to frequent a psychotherapist’s office more often than someone who was born and bred in the country. Despite the excessive number of opportunities that can open up for you in the Big Apple, after all, you have to deal with many problems as well. E.g., hours of traffic, water and air pollution, high housing costs, et cetera.
Apart from that, being a city sleeker entails that these kids may not be able to adapt quickly to a new environment. That is especially true if they get displaced in the wild, yet the most outdoorsy thing that they have ever done is sleep in a tent in the backyard.
Considering you want to teach survival tips to your children, you may allow them to watch the following shows.
1. Combat Zone
Combat Zone is a documentary TV series shown on the Military Channel in 2007 to show us what the lives of military men and women are like when they are on the battlefield.
It makes viewers realize that to come out alive from a place where a lot of adversaries can target you at any angle, you need to be determined and focused on what’s happening around you.
2. Falling Skies
A series produced for TV by Steven Spielberg, Falling Skies is about the new state that world has been in six months after the alien invasion, and how a band of survivors in Massachusetts has joined forces to reclaim the planet Earth.
The show explains to us using more than words the only way you can continue to live after an apocalypse, which is an event that elicits fear from most humans.
3. Doomsday Preppers
The concept of Doomsday Preppers centers on some people in the United States who are already preparing for the day that the planet will not be able to stand still.
How to be always prepared for the worst to happen is what we can learn from this reality show. No one can predict when Doomsday will come, but having the essentials packed – food, clothes, floating devices, et cetera – for you and your family beforehand is not a bad idea.
4. Life After People
Life After People was a two-season television show that, as the title implies, discusses what disastrous incidences will take place in various critical locations in the globe in case the humans vanish all of a sudden.
It will be unfortunate if the predictions made in the series will come to reality. Nonetheless, it still is a must to know all these probable aftermaths so that we can ensure that humans will not perish entirely from the face of the Earth.
5. Man, Woman, Wild
Man, Woman, Wild is a reality TV series in which a real-life husband and wife stay in the most remote places across the globe without complete rations.
This show helps us appreciate the importance of learning some survival techniques even if you are with someone who is an expert at it. Hopefully, it does not happen in reality. In case that person disappears, though, at least you are equipped to rely on your skills.
6. Top Sniper
Another survival show on the Military Channel, Top Sniper, archives a competition held at Fort Benning, Georgia to decide which among their sniper teams is the best.
The sniper’s sharp eyes and precision at handling their gun can save lives – theirs and their comrades’ – during an encounter. For the civilians, these traits remind us that we have to stay alert and grounded at all times if we want to survive an attack – physically, emotionally or mentally.
7. The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead provides the audience with a glimpse of a world that is swamped by zombies that can spread a mysterious type virus on the living and turn them into zombies as well.
We have seen from the TV series how surviving in that kind of circumstance as a breathing human is close to impossible. Despite that, the characters have also exhibited that if you can’t win against them, leave the town and avoid them for as long as you can.
8. Top Shot
Top Shot is a show for sharpshooters that features two opposing teams consisting of eight members each who battle it out to see who is most skilled in using diverse kinds of weapons. The winner brings home the prize money amounting to $100,000 and becomes the “Top Shot.”
This reality show encourages people to be expert in not just one thing. Even if what you know is not related to artillery, if it’s fire-making, for instance, your knowledge has to extend beyond rubbing two stones together.
9. The Colony
The Colony revolves around the story of a family that is fighting to survive in a dystopian Los Angeles, which has been conquered by a new military organization which acts upon the orders of extraterrestrial beings.
Spectators are presented with two ways to survive in such a situation – you can either display your allegiance to the people who hold power or resist them with all your might. However, no matter what you choose, you need to stand by it.
10. Survivors
A European flu has eradicated almost all of mankind in the Survivors series. The ones who are not infected by the contagion have had to endure on their own.
Survivors aim to widen our perception about a world that is not governed by any law or society and offers demonstrations on how one can get out of difficult settings without much outside help.
11. Man Vs. Wild
Man vs. Wild is a show hosted by Bear Grylls who journeys to various parts of the world to test his strengths and limitations when it comes to survival.
Whether you get abandoned in a seemingly barren desert or a wild forest, you can learn from Man vs. Wild the effective way to stay hydrated, warm and well-fed in these places on your own.
Final Thoughts
Even if many of the shows mentioned above may not be in mainstream media anymore, you can still find episodes or clips of them on the internet. Find the ones that are suitable for your kids’ age and enlighten them about the importance of learning how to survive in any circumstance.
Good luck!