Sons and/or daughters that have no interest in hunting or the outdoors

[tsitenha]

I guess I am thick headed and dense, i just realised my son really has no interest in the outdoors, hunting, fishing, shooting....whatever

I have done my best to entice him to learn but to no avail.

Frankly I am disapointed, disallusioned, and bewildered about this turn of events.

My life time of preparedness down the drain I feel.

Just ranting I guess, anyone else so distraugh?

[tsitenha]

I am thinking more and more on this.....
such a sick feeling I have never had....

I guess this is survival

[RangerXanatos]

Perhaps it is just a stage and he'll pick up the interest later. Time can only tell. In the meanwhile, enjoy it yourself.

[Alaskan Survivalist]

Well maybe he'll find the next 40 years of work and debt slavery interesting.

[Swamprat1958]

tsitenha don't give up on it yet. My son had little to no interest in hunting until he turned 10. He was to interested in video games, skateboards, etc. I always asked him if he wanted to go and he might have gone once or twice a year from the time he was 4 until he turned 10. Now he is ready to go every chance he gets.

Just be patient, you can't force him to hunt and you can't act horribly disappointed that he doesn't want to go. Just keep offering him the opportunity and see what happens. Hopefully he will come around in time.

[pgvoutdoors]

I've always encouraged my son to take an interest in outdoors. Over the past seventeen years he has enjoyed many activities but never to the degree I did at his age. I must admit he is involved in many other activities that weren't available to me as a child. But just this past year he came to me and said that he was finding a greater interest in fishing and wilderness survival. He wanted to learn more before he graduated high school this year.

I believe every boy should be introduced to outdoor recreation and encouraged to pursue some aspect of it. Plant the seeds when their young but realize that it may take time to grow. Most men that were exposed to the outdoors when young develop some interest as an adult. It is well worth the time to show them the way even if they travel that path later down the road.

[SARKY]

Don't feed him and send him out into the woods to gather his own food, That might change his mind.

[your_comforting_company]

It is disappointing and discouraging. You can't force a person to think the way you do, even if it is your own offspring.
Most of the flash and bang out there distracts folks from our true roots, and it's something that you have to gain an appreciation for, before you can decide it's not for you. Many a country hick has left this town to go to the big city and make good lives for themselves. I'm sure their parents take pride in that, as much as I take pride in my kids tying sticks together, or just going fishing.
Not sure how old your kids are, but if you live in a small town, it is often an act of seeking something "better" than a small town mentality. It took me years to realize that I was really wasting my life away with all the "high tech" stuff, like phones and computers and games. Now I realize that actually sitting down with the kids and playing board games, leaving the phone turned off, etc. was much more fulfilling.

He'll come around eventually. Don't beat yourself up about it. If it's any consolation, My daughter hates bugs, dirt, mud, sweat, gnats, dirt, worms, fishing, dirt.. did I mention she doesn't like dirt?

[Rick]

Why are you (or any of you) disappointed? You made your own choices didn't you? No one forces you to go to the woods today, spend time doing whatever YOU like to do. What's wrong with a son or daughter choosing their own road. Everyone on here talks about making your own choices and finding your own path. Then, when someone does just that, folks are disappointed. A tad hypocritical if you ask me.

I have one son that likes the outdoors, one that can take it or leave it and a daughter that can take it or leave it. That's fine with me whatever their choice. Life is short enough without doing something because someone else has special expectations for you. Do what makes you happy. That's really the first rule, isn't it?

[Beo]

Throw him out!!!
Naw just joking, look my son likes to camp but his idea is to take the whole house with him. He's doesn't like fishing or hunting, and he hikes only to the frige. But what I gotta do is let him become his own man.
Sure I'd love for him to like to do the survival things I like, but if that's not him then he's become his man. He's into college and technology and computers, doesn't wanna do the outdoors but that's him. He still makes me proud, he's smart as a whip, and has a bright future, if the shtf, he'll come home and learn then. My job as his dad is teach him when and if he's ready. Forcing him will turn him off more so just let him grow into his person.
I know it sucks but he's just his own person and that's a good thing.
Beo,

[Justin Case]

What YCC and Rick said !

[oly]

When mine was young they would rather stay home and play with friends but they wasn't old enough to stay home alone. Now with the youngest of 21, me and the wife have to ditch them when we wont to go alone.

maybe this is the same situation your in now.

[Alaskan Survivalist]

Children doing as they please is good preparation for the rest of thier fairy tale lives where they will always have a choice and never have to do hard things. I gives them good practice making the big decisions like will I be a a male or a female today. Self indulgence is what America is all about.

[your_comforting_company]

Just to fortify what Rick says.. My own father could care less about survival, or any primitive skills. When I was growing up it was all hunting and fishing and working on cars. Luckily my Grandad was around when I was little and he had tremendous impact on my views about being self-reliant. Of course it wasn't until I was older that any of it made sense.

What I'm getting at... We are all individuals and we see things through our own eyes, and our existence is the product of our exposure and experiences. Who I am now, is not who I would have been had I not had the freedom to live my life and make my own choices.
Now here I am full circle.. seeking the self-reliant lifestyle my grandfather instilled in me as a child.
Life has to be lived!!

[Rick]

Children doing as they please is good preparation for the rest of thier fairy tale lives where they will always have a choice and never have to do hard things. I gives them good practice making the big decisions like will I be a a male or a female today. Self indulgence is what America is all about.

What a great post!!! That's the best laugh I've had so far today. Thanks!!

[ClayPick]

Here's my grandkids, I ended up with the exact opposite.
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[Alaskan Survivalist]

What a great post!!! That's the best laugh I've had so far today. Thanks!!

You just like it because I am agreeing with you.

[kyratshooter]

My Dad was a college professor, pastor, dedicated pacificist, antiwar liberal. He was the long standing ametuer Chess champion of our state and the first computer nerd of the 1970s era. He had absolutely zero knowledge of which was the business end of a screwdriver and could not light a fire in the BBQ grill. The presence of a firearm would send him into convulsions. I was not allowed to join Boy Scouts due to the bad influnce they would have on me.

I was an outdoor kid. As soon as I could drive I had camping gear in my car trunk, including shotgun and rifle. I chose military science as my first minor in college, graduated in a uniform and volluntered for combat operations. My hobbies and lifestyle were choices he considered barbarian. He could not tolerate them or a person that engaged in them.

We bacame farther distanced as the years went by. No common ground for even a polite conversation, constant remarks concerning my "rebellion". The final break came when I took my son to hunter safty class and bought him a rifle for Christmas. My father was terribly disapointed that he could not have me charged with child endangerment and take custody of my children for a proper raising.

He died in 2005 and I had not spoken to him for the last 20 years of his life. He had two fine grandchildren he never got to know. He forbid my mother from continuing contact with me so I had no contact with her either, until after his death.

The pendilum swings in a wide arch. As parents we demand respect and tolerance. As long as we are gretting that respect and tolerance I feel we should have some of our own.

And keep in mind that one day he will be picking your nursing home.

[tsitenha]

To us, family loyalty was always paramount, there are ways to accomodate both.

Luckily He won't choose my old age home...every day I wake up is a medical miracle...just a matter of time(nyah:wen, thank the Creator for that small mercy).
Maybe that's what I find the most upsetting in that I will not be able to pass on anything to my son, or grand kids, he is 29 so the mold is made and he will never likely change or at least not in what remains to me.

I expected him to take care of family, as I did with my parents and they with theirs and so on and on. We go months with no contact (any talk or spending time doing thing together) just a nod going in and out of his house. Except of the time I was trainning in Japan, I saw my parents every day of my life* , brought them food, took them out on trips, help when they were sick, worked around the house and in their business.

I understand, to a point, of choosing your own road, but to what point of loosing what you are and have.

I still don't understand of forgeting his future.

*Need to revise: I was away on occassions and my wife went in my stead, wouldn't want for people to think of me as a lyar, when I was in town I did see them on a daily basis

[huskymill]

i have like the opposite situation. my dad doesnt hunt, he fishes sometimes but not often. his big thing is golf and i cant stand golfing lol.