Son's first hang with me

**cneill13** · 03-13-2016, 14:28

Uno card game. S'mores over the campfire. Short night hike before bed.

Carl

**1202OSFM** · 03-13-2016, 15:38

My son and I have been camping since he was 5 and amazingly enough he finds stuff to get into. He brings a book along and reads that in the hammock before going to bed. Before that we set camp, gather wood, and do hikes out of camp and explore the area. We also do the wilderness survival stuff. He knows 4 different ways to start a fire, basic orienteering, first aid, and other basic skills.

There is nothing like the time in the woods and he and I have really enjoyed it.

**kev138** · 03-13-2016, 16:52

My son likes to read. When he gets bored with that he helps gather firewood or plays cards with me. At night we take flashlights and hunt spiders ( their eyes reflect the light and you hunt them down in the grass till you can see them). He's a great hiking buddy. Quite and always looking for wildlife. Love our overnighters. Got one planned in two weeks.

**Spiguyver** · 03-14-2016, 09:22

I did get him up to show him the spiders. He thought that was really cool.

**Spiguyver** · 03-14-2016, 09:26

The backpack I had him wearing was on old one I had from a while ago, and it wasn't even close to fitting him, he ended up carrying almost all the weight on his shoulders. So after coming home, I ordered and have received, a new backpack for him, the Osprey Ace 50. Fits him great, adjustable so it will grow with him. Also, since I know he enjoys hammocking, I got him his first Hammock Gear quilt. It will cut 1.5 lbs from the weight he carried with the sleeping bag he was in last time.

I'm already looking for the next destination, we'll try out some of the ideas, we love Uno, and I have a strong background in survival techniques, so we'll be practicing a few of those. He did mention whittling while we were out last time, so I think I may pick up a knife and put it in his pack just for that. Once we get to camp we'll talk about it and go over safety, then I'll let him give whittling a go.

**Caminante** · 03-14-2016, 09:41

Looks like fun, thanks for sharing! I'm really envious of anybody that gets their kids out on a proper backpacking trip.

I'm just getting ready to take my 9-yo backpacking, still diy'ing and collecting enough gear for her to be able to carry her shelter system, I'll sherpa everything else. She, and her 3-yo and 6-yo sisters have car camped since they were babies, and *** the 6 and 9-yo have gotten older we've started working on knots, knife safety, first aid, orienteering, etc. which they really enjoy and it passes the time. Basically, all of things that I learned in Scouts. If we wind up camping next to a creek or some kind of rock formation, things just kind of take care of themselves and boredom isn't an issue.

It seems to help skill retention on non-camping days if you require a demonstration in order to get butter & syrup on your pancakes. #dadoftheyear

pancakes.jpg