Hi THOaken,
It'll be a tough nut to crack, engaging my teenage nephew with the outdoors is a real hard task at times & I can let him enjoy other freedoms of knife and gun that I wouldn't be comfortable extending to a strangers child especially in these modern/PC times.
Pimania was the first computer game I remember that got people out into the countryside, and that was only because of the £6k golden sundial prize.
Geocaching is a modern web / real life discovery game, I had some luck engaging him with.
Navigation/orienteering type chalenges are something else that can appeal to his "numbers brain"
He Likes shooting my air rifles and knows once he has demonstrated a level of trust / safety he will progress to trying a shotgun so this is another outing we can enjoy together.
We've enjoyed fishing, catch prep & cooking, trouble is if they don't bite fast enough he gets bored pretty quick
He also seems quite keen on trying out a hammock, maybe something for Christmas.
BUT, given the choice of all of the above, he'd still much prefer to be hard wired into Skype/minecraft/etc...
As you can see there's a lot of carrots dangling there & I'm still struggling with motivating/encouraging him.
Another friends child is mad keen on the outdoors but his parents can only extend so much time towards his passion due to other child/work/life commitments, he's the type of kid I'd have been ecstatic to have as a son had I ever had children.
I feel a bit sorry for him at times when he seems to be "missing out", I gave him a firesteel last time we were out & about with his parents, chuffed to bits he was and mad keen on my home made stoves and fire lighting by various means.
Best of luck, and I'm sorry I never got to have a chat with you at the Wooplaw meet.
Maybe next time..... Cheers
