Well, you gotta know several ways to make fire. And some of them should be without tools of any kind other than what you can fashion quickly from common items in the areas you frequent.

you can make fire from water, did you know that? save your little sandwich bag or snack bag of clear plastic. Heck, most places in the world you can find such litter even in the wilderness. Put some water in it, about a golf-ball volume minimum. make a 'bubble' of water and twist it off. Don't use a corner of the bag, use the middle so you get a nice, round ball. you can manipulate this ball of water to act like a magnifying glass. And it does work as long as the bag is good and clear, not dingy and dirty, which filters too much light.

I've heard you can fashion a magnifying glass lens from ice and make fire with it if you're caught out in a cold place, I've never tried it but it makes sense.

and you should know how to make a fire-plough, or drill-method (bow-and-drill is not necessary, just easier. You can just twirl the stick with your hands if you know what you're doing concerning drill-tip shape, thickness, dryness, etc)

Practice PRACTICE!!! the 'moment of truth' is a really crappy place to be testing out (and probably failing) your vague academic ideas about a skill. Know how to do it. Know the difference between good tool materials and bad ones. Good methods and bad ones. Even terrain selection and slope of the land and time of day can affect your ability to make fire.

For me it is easiest to organize my thoughts around survival priorities:

3 seconds - keep your calm; DON'T PANIC - just having some adventures, going on some camping trips where you don't take all the amenities, can do wonders to give you a "been there, done that" type calmness.

3 minutes - address life-threatening injuries - everyone can take a half-day CPR class, and most of us should be able to take a 2-day Wilderness First Aid course through WMI, WMA, or SOLO. There are more extensive certifications if you find you have a talent or passion for this stuff.

3 hours - shelter (from hypo- or hyper-thermia) - everyone should be aware of the five ways a body loses heat and some basic ways to mediate these in an emergency. Everyone should know multiple ways to start fires (what if you lose your $100 wind-proof lighter? what if the woods you are used to using for friction fires aren't around?). Everyone should practice building debris shelters (and test their shelters for wind and water resistance). Everyone should also be able to predict the weather at least a day in advance, even without modern technology.

3 days - water - Everyone should know how to find water and how to assess the water for safety. Everyone should know at least a couple of low-tech ways for treating water (boiling, uv).

3 weeks - food - Everyone can learn to fish, and everyone can learn to recognize at least a couple of edible plants in their local area. I would not wait for an emergency to practice harvesting and eating these plants (remember the importance of "been there, done that" peace of mind). POSITIVE IDENTIFICATION is a must! You are better off hungry than sick.

3 months - social contact - here I would include some navigation and communication skills. Do you know universal emergency signals? You don't want to be telling a plane that all is well when you really want help! If you get turned around in the woods or the desert, can you find your way back? Even if it is overcast or you are snow-blinded? If not, you are probably best to just sit tight and hope someone finds you. With only a little practice, however, all of us can learn to find our way even without modern instruments. Look at the Polynesians! They found their way back and forth between small islands all over the Pacific!

Me and mine are starting lower on the skill chain here. I've enrolled the kidlets and I in a first aid/CPR class. I'll be going for "re-certification" ((have taken these classes many times over the years)). The kidlets are ages 10 & 12 and should start learning the how-to's and the what-happens-when......especially since we've already "been there / done that" with broken bones and gashes needing stitches.

While maybe not considered *essential* in the common sense of the word - but I think strong parenting skills will be needed.

Packing for an evacuation is *not* the time for open discussion and majority agreement, begging, pleading or bribing between parents and children. If your children give you a hard time now about vacation spots, where you eat out each week and what they wear out of the house - imagine what's coming your way when you absolutely need them to hustle with no questions asked.

Our household is a "benevolent dictatorship". The kidlets get say-so in some things, but once a "no" has been decreed, discussion is over. <<I need to brush up on the
"dictatorship" skills...mine are reaching that semi-feral pre-teen / teen stage.>>

Firstly, no I'm not laughing about the swimming lessons thing, Zarina. That is on my "to do" list.

Ok, back to the topic. Skills I feel are needed and I would be comfortable using in a survival situation.
As already mentioned....fire, and yes being able to make it several different ways. I'm going to be putting the water bubble to the test.
The ability to make a water still.
Fishing, from what ever I can find laying around.( a stick pole, thread from clothing tied together, something from my hair as a hook, yes I always have some sort of something tucked in my hair that can be reconstructed and used.) Or with a stick spear.
Some knowledge of basic editable plants.
The ability to make a rough shelter.
The ability to make traps for smaller animals for food. In addition, setting up traps and signals to alert for people or animals entering your camp area during the night.
Star / Sky gazing. Being able to know the seasons, direction, and weather by looking up.

Other types of skills....
Meditation, for calmness, centering.
Journaling, to be able to retain rational thought.
Exercise, for cardio and strength to carry a pack.

I think the mentioned of a water thread would be a great idea. I've made a water still in a slightly different way from Craig, and yes have used pee. It would be very helpful to share ideas, since water is so essential.

The ability to make cord, or "cordage", as they say, is an important primitive skill. And one of my favorites. The "reverse wrap" will roll strands of plant fiber into cord.

The first essential skill of a survivalist is

PLANNING- If you forget everything else, you should have a Plan. That is a plan for any event, how to get you to your loved ones if your not with them when it happens. DO THEY KNOW THE PLAN. Where do they meet you, how do they get their. Alternative routes and back-up plans. Sure you can't plan everything, but you still need an initial plan, and everybody needs to be involved. The whole Idea is survival, and it is for you and your group.

In the event of a major event, those first hours or days are the most crucial for you. If you spend that time looking for everyone or trying to figure out where to go and how to get there, you will be behind the bar and possibly won't be able to escape trouble before it is too late. Major road ways will be jammed first. The idea is to BUG OUT quickly and never look back.

I think that truly one of the most essential skills is the abililty to see the possibility and utility in the things at hand. When I was in school, the teacher in my gifted program would bring in a random object every morning, such as a tin can or a garden trowel, and we were supposed to come up with as many uses as possible for the object or its component parts. It's a good exercise, one that I do when I'm otherwise bored. Once you adapt to that type of thinking, the world and all its trash start looking like a hardware store.