Hunting Sense

It’s that time of year. That time when thoughts turn to Christmas. The stores will be displaying tons of toys while all the commercials on television will be of the coolest gifts for the kids and kids at heart (yes, that would be me, as my wife pointed out). It’s when our wallets are emptied faster than nearly any other time of the year.

Evach year, as the kids name off all the cool new toys they want Santa to bring, I’m reminded at just how old and out of touch I am. Whatever happened to toys like I played with when I was a kid? The answer, at least from my kids when I ask them, is that they’re ancient. Either that or they look at me like I’m crazy when I mention Lincoln Logs.

Expensive game systems and electronic gadgets tend to top the lists. That or a line of dolls called Bratz. I don’t know which is worse, an X-Box 360 costing around $400 or dolls named the very thing I hope my kids don’t turn out to be. I have to admit, I think I’d play with the X-Box, too. The Bratz dolls though, not so much so.

This year is a treat though. My eight year-old is getting a BB Gun for Christmas. Now that’s a cool gift!

After showing a growing interest in hunting, my wife and I decided that it would be a good idea to get him a BB gun of his own. Since he is interested in it, then he needs to start learning about guns and the responsibility that goes along with having one. Although after the lecture of do’s and don’ts from me and his mom, I don’t know if he’ll be as excited anymore. He may be wishing he’d gotten the X-Box instead.

I’ve always felt that knowledge of guns is an important thing to teach kids when they are young. If they learn how to properly handle them and the dangers of them, they are less likely to do something stupid with them later on. Luckily, my wife agrees with that, only because she knows how responsible I am with them and that it will be passed on to our son.

And I have to admit, it is one big Christmas present for me as well. I get to pass along my knowledge to my boy. And, hopefully, that will open the door to teaching him about the long and rich history of hunting. While I love playing video games with him, I’d love numerous father-son hunts over the years even more.

Now I just have to convince my ten year-old daughter that hunting is cooler than Bratz dolls and wait a couple more years so my four year-old can join us.

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