RE: Kids that don't hunt?
I come from a long line of hunters. There aren’t many (male) members of my family that do not hunt. It is just in our blood. My son seems to be following in the same blood line traditions and wants to hunt (although he is more focused on fishing right now).
All my family had different ways to teach their kids “how to hunt”. Some would just let the child learn the hard way; others would try to force “habits” on their kids. My father was the type he’d rather show us how to do everything than let us learn for ourselves. He also had a way of turning every little adventure into a lecture to my brother and me. We loved going hunting with Dad, but we preferred that Dad hunt over there and we hunt over here. The reason being is that my bro and I were hands on learners, and we couldn’t learn anything when Dad did it all for us. For instance, he had to show me how to gut my first deer, rather than just letting me do it and offer advice. He was always more focused on us doing it “wrong”, so it was easier for him to just do it. Sometimes I think he got so worked up and worried that his boys weren’t “doing it right” that it would ruin his own experience on the hunt. Don’t get me wrong, I did learn a lot from my father, but it didn’t sink in until I could recreate it myself. I also seemed to learn more by watching him without him knowing than letting him “show me the ropes”.
I’m trying to take a different approach with my son. Just let him figure it out on his own and try to only give advice or demonstrate something when asked. I also try to just lead by example. Kids seem to pick up habits so easily just by observing their parents (good and bad), so if you just do your thing without it turning into a lecture, I feel a child is more prone to pick it up.
…just my two cents worth….