Why You Should Talk to Your Kids About Zombies

It's not as insane as it sounds. If you're ready for zombies, you're ready for anything.

When I talk to my kids about preparing for a zombie apocalypse, it’s not because I expect the dead to rise and start gnawing on our neighbors. It’s because framing preparedness in imaginative terms gets their attention. And once their imaginations are engaged, something incredible happens—they start thinking critically about survival. They start asking questions. They start learning skills.

I’m a homesteader, which means I live every day with an eye toward self-sufficiency. My family grows our own food, raises livestock, filters our water, and heats with wood. But let me tell you something that surprises people: some of our most important survival lessons came not from dry lectures about disaster prep, but from games about zombies.

WHY ZOMBIES? BECAUSE ZOMBIES MAKE SENSE TO KIDS

Kids don’t lay awake at night worrying about economic collapse or cyberattacks. They don’t fret over food chain disruption or grid failures. But give them a story—an exciting, even scary one—and they get it. Zombies represent the collapse of normal life. They symbolize the end of convenience, safety, and supply chains. In that fictional world, they understand why it matters to grow your own food, defend your home, and know your surroundings.

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