mini bushcrafter

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Jun 27, 2013
5
1
Uk
When is a good age to start taking your kids out on camping holidays,hikes and the like?
I have a daughter who recently turned 2 (i know i have a good few years yet) and am really looking forward to getting her out there,teaching her all the different types of shelters,foods,all the usual kinda stuff.

As you can probably tell from the post she is my first and I'm still learning the ins and outs of this parenting lark, hopefully have it cracked by the 3rd child haha.

knowing my luck she will grow up to be an 'indoor' kind of person laughing at daddy through the window checking his kit in the garden :lmao:
 

ADz-1983

Native
Oct 4, 2012
1,603
11
Hull / East Yorkshire
You can never bee too young to be outdoors, Infact its very important as it helps build the immune system. So you cold take her out at any age you liked really for camping etc.

However hiking it would be best to wait till much older otherwise you will get 10 metered and they will say I'm tired/bored can we go back to car and you will end up carrying them all way lol.
 
My son is two too.
At the moment I need eyes in back of my head to see he isn't doing something dangerous when we are in our own home.
I'm personally holding off until he's four for overnighters. If only so I can semi relax when we're out.
But we get out for walks in the local woods and I'm certain he'll be comin for day visits when I go camping.
Currently he's too much of a livewire to stay still and I have visions of him face planting into the fire or something as he onky has one moving speed-full pelt.
 

Lou

Settler
Feb 16, 2011
631
70
the French Alps
twitter.com
All I can suggest is that you get on and do your bushcraft and let her be around you when you do it. Even at the age of two she will sit and watch you and absorb what you are doing and then want to try. You could make a wooden knife and vegetables set for her, something like this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bigjigs-Toys-Play-Cutting-Vegetables/dp/B007KMKANS where she can PLAY at chopping things up whilst you do the real cutting. That way, even though she will try and reach for your knife and start cutting with it, at least you have something to replace it with when you take it away from her, which at two, you probably should do. I think my girls started cutting vegetables with a real knife at around three or four.

It is never too young to learn about the hazards of fire, my two daughters learnt at a very early age about it. But the key is not to be afraid to let her discover herself. If you continuously pull her away from the fire, she will pick up your fear of her getting burnt and not want to go near it at all. The best solution is to show and tell her "ouch, hot!" and then leave it at that. She will watch how you handle fire and do the same as you, if you give her enough time and the confidence to let her see how you do it. Kids are generally much wiser than we give them credit for :)

We go fishing a lot, and whilst I have the rod, my daughters started with nets and caught stones. For them they were doing serious work and it was just as real as if they had caught real fish. That is what pretending is all about, it is practise for the real world. They pretend to cut the stones and eat them for supper as they watch you cut up your fish and eat it, but for them the stones really are fish :) later on, when they are old enough to catch real fish, they have landed and cut up so many stones that they know instinctively what to do.

I taught my girls, at a very young age that berries can be eaten but never without me seeing what they were first, the same with mushrooms and most plants in general and now at ten and seven they still come to me to ID berries etc. before they eat them. They can ID loads of plants now because I always made a point of saying, "look a dandelion, a nettle" etc whenever we went anywhere and picking and tasting them, they now love to make nettle or wild mint tea and can do it quite easily by themselves. Children have such a wonderful sense of smell that these plants are easy for them to ID, even at two, you can be doing walks with your daughter and getting her to touch and smell different plants and taste berries etc. she will not forget them if see is immersed in that way from a young age. The best thing to share with her is wild strawberries of course, but be strict and tell her that she must NEVER eat anything without showing you first. Even at two, she will understand this.

Don't be put of if, in ten years time, all she wants to do is sit in front of the computer indoors, I think that this is a stage most children go through as they are opened up to the world of adults and my eldest is certainly doing that at the moment, but I know that my time spent with her outdoors when she was very young has instilled her with a love for the wild, she still loves camping and lighting fires and foraging with me when we go on family trips and she has a special affinity with animals and birds that is just beautiful to watch. She is very self sufficient when it comes to things like that and will often go and find a dock leaf to rub on a nettle rash rather than anything from the first aid box and that is because I did that with her when she was young and I guess it must have made an impression somewhere along the line.

So what I would suggest is that you get on and do your bushcraft as if it was the most natural thing in the world for you to be doing (it obviously is) involve her as if it is the most natural thing for HER to be doing too and she will follow you into the woods.

A great book to read, which I think every parent should have a look at is 'How Children Learn' by John Holt. http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Children-Learn-Penguin-Education/dp/0140136002/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y it goes into some detail about children's methods of observing adults and copying them and is really interesting from a Parent/educator's point of view. There is also tons of stuff on the Internet about child centred learning that you can look at.
 
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Dannytsg

Native
Oct 18, 2008
1,825
6
England
My daughter is 19 months old. She is old enough to understand certain things and is learning everyday so every time I go out I always bring her along and encourage her to be around me and be outdoors.

I know that she isn;t old enough to actively practice any bush-craft, but I want to get her acclimatised to being outdoors and in the outdoors environment. Hopefully by doing so she will pick up some good habits (or is it bad) from being outdoors with me and as she grows older will want to be outdoors.

The best thing you can do is involve your daughter from an early age so that they understand that this is what daddy (and mummy) do and it's fun to be outside and have "adventures".

Just for the point here a picture of me and my daughter out hunting on our permission with catapult yesterday:

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John Fenna

Lifetime Member & Maker
Oct 7, 2006
23,152
2,898
66
Pembrokeshire
Speaking as a childless adult with no personal experience.....
Get them out with you right from the start!
Let them absorb the outdoors by osmosis - just as our ancestors did and some primitive peoples still do. As long as you observe the safety aspects of looking after them then they will grow up with the outdoors as "normal" not that wet, dirty place that is scary!
OK - it will take a lot of your time to ensure they come to as little harm as is acceptable, win you no friends when they scream the camp down at 2am - but they will grow up healthier and happier for it :)
 
Jun 27, 2013
5
1
Uk
Some great advice there, thank you very much.

I think we will start off with a family camping trip to the garden a few times with the tent and barbeque, luckily we have an enclosed garden that is rather large which she absolutely loves!
Her mother has already told me that she is the deciding factor on age for any sharp tools i.e knives,saw etc which is totally understandable as it needs to be enjoyable for all including her, also safety is paramount with me =)

That picture is great Dannytsg, i saw it and thought of an African tribe person going hunting with their child haha.
 

Dannytsg

Native
Oct 18, 2008
1,825
6
England
Some great advice there, thank you very much.

I think we will start off with a family camping trip to the garden a few times with the tent and barbeque, luckily we have an enclosed garden that is rather large which she absolutely loves!
Her mother has already told me that she is the deciding factor on age for any sharp tools i.e knives,saw etc which is totally understandable as it needs to be enjoyable for all including her, also safety is paramount with me =)

That picture is great Dannytsg, i saw it and thought of an African tribe person going hunting with their child haha.

It's great! I have managed to get her to understand that when we see something to keep deadly quiet and let daddy do his work. I'll be the first to admit though that when I take her out, I understand I don't have much of a chance in getting as close as I normally would when I am clad in camo and stalking on my own but it's all part of the experience.

I love just having her there and letting her experience the outdoors and the wildlife.
 

Clouston98

Woodsman & Beekeeper
Aug 19, 2013
4,364
2
26
Cumbria
Start early that's the way i was brought up have been in the outdoors for as long as I can remember.

All the best.

Cameron.
 

salad

Full Member
Sep 24, 2008
1,779
134
51
In the Mountains
I say just bring her straight out mate, kids love the outdoors right from when they are small

this is just after my daughter just turned two, we had a cup of tea in the woods togeather



and the next photo was when she was about 4-5 months old and we took her for a walk in snowy woods so she could see and feel what it was like
 
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Swallow

Native
May 27, 2011
1,545
4
London
That's a very UK question. I'm told (by a native) the first thing learnt in school in Finland is the names of the trees.
 
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