Not wanting to start any arguments, Azalea, but if I follow your reasoning, I would never have gone on a canoe trip myself to begin with!  I never camped as a child, my family stayed in motels when we traveled (and my mother demanded that they be nice ones, too!)  I had never slept in a tent in my life until Spartan1 decided that we should go on a "Wilderness Canoe Trip", just the two of us, at age 26.  I was terrified of bugs, was likely to scream if a spider came within ten feet of me, and actually did duck and squeal when dragonflies darted above us as we were paddling on our first sunny day on the Loon River.  I found them absolutely terrifying and Spartan1 had to assure me that they wouldn't bite!

It is admirable that you took your children on trips as infants, if that is what your family wanted to do.  But I don't buy the theory that it is an "important step in teaching kids to enjoy the outdoors", or at least that it is a necessary one.  Many kids go on their first outdoor adventure with a youth group or a scout group when they are in Junior High or High School, even college age, (as Spartan1 did) and the outdoor camping "bug" bites them then.   ;)

And, as others have already mentioned, sometimes you can do it through all of their childhood and they STILL decide that it isn't for them.  There is just no figuring out what will happen with that next generation.

Isn't parenthood wonderful?   ;D

And now we are starting to introduce our grandchildren to the BWCA.  I find myself wondering how that will end up in the long run, too.  

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