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I have a son who is 7. He's always been with me in the woods and on the water. He's quite rambunctious by nature. I find that including him and letting him find his own pace works quite well. I've given him quite a few jobs because I've found that he wants to learn things faster than I would have paced him. He has his own day pack with compass, map, signal mirror, first aid kit, small “leatherman”, small knife and the respect needed to use it, flagging tape, whistle, survival garbage bag and knowledge to use it, head lamp, bandana, note book and pencil and metal match with cotton balls. He also has his own tackle bag, and rain suit packed in it. Yes you will find them digging in their pack a lot and yes you will find band aids on more often than normal, but it gives them ownership and value. (They will run out of band aids when they are younger, it seems you can’t pack enough, LOL) Since he's been 4 he starts the fires with a metal match...I won't let him have a lighter or stick match. He also has been fishing since before 4, and has advanced to bait casters when he was 6. give him a rod and reel, take the hooks off the lure and let him practice in the back yard or driveway...yah you need to change the line, and leader and the lure is "ruined", but it's a cheap lesson, and you will find you've just occupied about an hour a day at home! He has certain packing and camp chores...some were listed previously, as well as a notebook, pencil, extra batteries, and YES I know this is terrible, but I do bring the Game Boy along...just in case. Last year in Canada, with my son 6 at the time, and my buddy’s two boys 8 and 12, the Game Boys got used in the truck on the way up and way back, yet we never had to fish them out of our "kid's possible's bag" on the water or in camp. By the way…bed times are for places with 4 walls, they will sleep when they are tired, but the awe of stars, the sounds of tree frogs, the flicker of a fire, and the howl of a coyote, just don’t always happen during daylight, and those are things they remember long after. We sing lots of songs, tell lots of stories, hear lots of bad jokes, the adults have to get used to hearing words like poop and fart, and belches and giggles more than normal, but you will find yourself smiling while trying to tell them to knock it off. LOL. You will find the world has more things in it than you've ever heard and seen before, and you will realize there are questions you can't answer, and things they won’t let you use your adult mind to rationalize. You will find it's much easier to comprehend that there has to be a God and that there is no way something this beautiful happened by accident. You will find that patience can be tried and that with a second adult along, they can tag in when your patience has reached its limit. It's amazing how well they will respect your buddy’s stern voice when they quit listening to yours. The same holds true for their child. You will find that you will hug and smile more than on any other trip, I love yous flow more freely than in civilization, and that your solitary winter memories by the fire place will also have more smiles added to them. One last piece to this long winded response... BRING A POLAROID! Instant gratification is even better for the parent than the kid on these trips! My best pictures are worn out Polaroid’s of our trips...and a Polaroid does scan in, and enlarge just fine when you get home. Any more questions, been there done that and would highly recommend it! Kevin Posted by Kevin on January 02, 2002 at 10:56 |
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