Get Them Back in the Game. The Outdoor Game!
I can remember as a child complaining every school day that 6am was just too early. I needed to sleep in, but when my dad would plan fishing trips, I was begging to wake up at 4am to go! To this day fishing, with my dad is one of my favorite memories I have. It didn’t even bother me that my siblings would come too. Back then it wasn’t uncommon for kids going out with dad hunting, fishing, or trapping. I am sure if you think back yourself, you have stories upon stories of you in the outdoors as a kid. Memories that mean the world to you.
Today, the number of women in the outdoors is growing, which is fantastic. The “man’s role” in the outdoors is no longer gender specific, but the number of children involved is falling. Why? I can only assume it has something to do with electronics. Why go outside when you can have so much excitement at your finger tips? I am pretty sure a lot of us could come up with a ton of answers to that question. So why does it seem to be such a struggle? Well, if you ask me, I will say it is because for far to long the outdoor world was not including kids in their events, look how long it took for them to include women. It’s not a knock on them, times where just different!
So, how I see it is that technology has changed, slowly over time, dad would let mom and the kids stay home while he went to the outdoor shows and games took it place. Then when season would come, the kids were not excited to get in the woods so again they would stay home playing video games or watching television. It’s only my opinion that is how we got here. I am sure there are a lot of other theories.
The real question is though, Is it too late?
With the help of parents, I don’t think so. Right now, you will see more and more conventions and rendezvous incorporate “kids caves” or kids geared actives in their events. Things to help them get excited about the outdoors and all the fun you can have during season. They have stations like laser shooting, cage building, casting, and so on at these events, and each time the child participating has a huge smile on their face. They are even going as far as youth-to-youth demos, meaning youth teaching youth. Without our youth many of our outdoor sports will be threatened with extinction sooner than later, and no one wants to see that happen.
Parents, I beg you, bring the whole family to theses events. Make outdoor actives family time. You might be shocked once you get them out there how much they have forgotten about the video games and are truly excited to make memories with you!
ReelCamo Girl ProStaff Linda White