Originally Posted by
WDR
FWIW, my daughter is now 7 and she went deer hunting with me last fall for the first time (real walk around the mountains hunting, not sit in a stand hunting). I was never more than 25-50 yards away from her, and most of the time, much closer, but I still found a lanyard from an old streamlight, ran it through a bright orange plastic emergency whistle, and made her wear it, and practice blowing it loudly... just in case we were ever separated for some reason. Every time I was more than a few steps away from my daughter, I'd think about the risk of a cougar or bear suddenly showing up, and a whistle isn't going to help that. She might have been fine sitting on that rock for days by herself, but I made her walk with me to peek over the ridge or whatever, every time, even though the sage was nearly as tall as she was, making picking her way through it tough.
Kids are resilient and tough... and some of the best lessons they learn are by failing and getting hurt. I'm not saying you shouldn't take precautions, but it is important to let go of the reigns sometimes, and let them explore and learn a bit. I'm sure you already know this, and he's very young. But you are right, its a huge thing to be committed to, raising a kid. That "Heart relocated outside the body" bit really resounds with me. Years ago, my father and I built a small duck hunting boat out of plywood and epoxy/fiberglass, and it was a fun project. My father is a much more dedicated craftsman and woodworker than I, but every once in a while I get an urge to build something like that again. He's constantly working on projects, and I think it's helped keep him young and active now that he's pushed into his 70's. He recently finished building plantation style shutters for every window in his house (a lot of them!)... custom fitting each frame to the window openings, which were absurdly un-square and un-plumb.
I wont clutter up this boat thread farther, but I wanted to drop in and say it is an interesting thing, and I keep checking back to see how things are going.