Has anyone here sat down with their adult children and discussed "peak oil" and the drastic

[Atticus]

convulsions that civilisation seems bound to go through when gas and petrochemicals just aren't available to any but the extremely wealthy?

I have not had this conversation with mine yet because I haven't wanted to sound like their "crazy old man", but, I am beginning to think my silence is irresponsible.

Your thoughts?

[stray cat]

1. Are you sure if they are adults they don't already know?

[rurallib]

2. With one of my two kids

She is 31 though, so she is quite aware of the problems. Not sure if that counts.

[Bigmack]

3. Same here...

They don't want to hear. Mid-thirties "kids" are faced with some horrible shit right now, and I'm sure they don't want to hear more. I'm loathe to hit them with all the really bad stuff coming down the road.

But.

Knowing about this shit might improve their chances for survival... and the survival of my grandkid.

I've gently broached a few of the big topics.. Peak Oil and Climate Change and the Debt/Deficit crisis, but they say it bums them out, and they prefer to think of the daily crises they can actually handle.

It's hard for me to separate in my own mind what is, I'm sure, Old-Fart Cynicism and Sky-is-Falling syndrome, from the ugly reality of where the world, and especially this country, is headed.

I'm going to teach my grandkid to fish and shoot and scrounge. Probably some of the best skills I can pass on.

[Joe Bacon]

5. Bigmack, I remember hunting and fishing with my Dad

I'll always remember the good times I had when my Dad and I would go fishing. I'd always get more fish and he'd feign anger. But they sure tasted good cooked on a camp stove. Also remember when we would go deer hunting. We'd spend the day creeping through the forest and Dad would take a shot and miss, I'd goof on him. Then there was the one time we got into the car and headed for home, sure enough, Dad hit a deer in the road. This happened several years. The guys at the ranger station had a running joke about Dad's magical ability with a car.

[Joe Bacon]

4. My family ignores this.

I posted thoughts about peak oil on my family's Yahoo discussion board. Every one of them said that there is no peak oil. Several who are Jesus junkies replied that when Jesus returns, he will make all the oil we need.

They are going to be in for a very rude awakening in a couple years when there is no gas for their cars or oil to heat their homes.

[grasswire]

6. we did it with our family middle schoolers more than four years ago

Actually, I guess it was more than five years ago, since one of them is 18 months out of high school now.

We talked about how life was going to change in the next decade. The boy, an optimist, didn't think it would happen. The girl, a hedonist, immediately began thinking of ways to make money in a failed economy.

They are children of a single mom who doesn't earn a huge amount of money as a liberal minister of a small congregation. They weren't used to opulence, ever. And they were experienced in the life where the month's money is gone before the month.

But they still think of completing college and finding a job in chosen profession and having a family as obtainable. It might not be. Their dad has lost his job and can't help with college costs. There are no jobs for college grads, it seems.

I'm glad we talked freely about the situation over these past five years. They've had no surprises, really.

I don't think protecting kids is any favor. Only in America are kids spared so much.

[grasswire]

8. added note

We talked early on about keeping a family journal about ways our world was changing due to peak oil and economic issues, but we never started it. I think it would have been useful -- a journal where any family member can jot down whatever comes to mind, with observations, fears, plans, whatever. A historical record for a historical time. Just think if we had a family journal of the end of dinosaurs. Hehe.

[Radical Activist]

7. Why would that be more impotant than the climate change conversation?

It's possible that we could find more accessible sources of oil and gas. In fact, we have much larger reserves of natural gas in the US than we knew about a decade ago. Climate change is a more certain and more immediate problem that needs to be dealt with.

[Warpy]

9. Adult children of people on this site would already know

but it would likely be useless to sit down with the Freeper kids who don't. They're just going to have to be surprised.

As for your silence, it's laudable. They know gasoline is getting more expensive and that eventually it will be out of sight for all but the wealthy. Nobody knows what the rest of us will do to transition, what shape it will take as all the oil fields peter out.

The only time I'd speak up is if they're thinking of buying a house that comes with a long commute. Let them know that without a rail option, they'll be stuck with a white elephant as cheap transportation by car is no more. Let them know that cities have amenities for kids, that you can take them to city parks instead of shoving them out the back door and that playing with other kids in those parks is a good thing. Just let them know there are options besides that detached single family with a square of yard fore and aft and the dog with hair in its eyes.

Then sit down and shut up. They'll have make their own mistakes just like we did.

[WinkyDink]

10. I'm glad I have no offspring. Peak Oil, Peak Potable Water, Peak Large Mammals, Peak Dollar, .....