Survival skills are for everyone and there are opportunities to get an early start in learning them.

RANDALL’S ADVENTURE & TRAINING PARENT-CHILD CLASS TEACHES SURVIVAL BASICS

STORY AND PHOTOS BY REUBEN BOLIEU

Two shelters were made during the Parent-Child class in Alabama. A classic lean-to and debris shelter (right).

PARENT-CHILD CLASS

The minimum age requirement for a Randall’s Adventure & Training class is 18. However, the Parent-Child class allows participants from age eight and up. All must be accompanied by a parent, legal guardian, or family member. Randall’s Adventure & Training has offered this class for several years. I have been fortunate enough to attend a few as an assistant. Lead instructor Patrick Rollins heads the outfit and covers the basics of survival in a class setting before taking the bunch into the woods for the hands-on portion. The parents are also students and responsible for keeping their children on track, hydrated, and focused.

Learning in a group under a parachute gives a sense of an outdoor classroom. This becomes the pavilion of the training class.

DAY 1

Class starts at 8 a.m. in a small classroom with PowerPoint instruction on survival priorities and basics. The classroom portion lasts about 45 minutes before everyone heads outside. The class really harps on one major point: the Hug-a-Tree and Survive program.

The classroom portion starts at 8 a.m. and then it’s all outside from there.