A Reason(s) to Celebrate
Joining fathers across the fruited plain, this Father’s Day She Who Must Be Obeyed and I have been celebrating three fold.
Perhaps most importantly, it’s SWMBO’s birthday today (by the way also known as Emancipation Proclamation Day); it worked out to start celebrating early with a delightful French breakfast after a sunrise drive in the country.
Secondly, we’ve added a daughter to the family this past week with Jake’s marriage to Kaitlyn; we realize what a rarity it is to add a new family member who loves the outdoors as much as we do. And all without the joys of pregnancy, labor and delivery, and travails of childhood either – with what seems like a snap of the fingers a witty, hard-working, intelligent, funny, beautiful, marathon-running, fly fishing nurse has been ‘adopted’ into the clan. Win.
And finally, SWMBO and I have been relishing the reality that we have two pretty-well-adjusted, industrious, outdoor loving, damn sharp kids of our own, making their own way now in a world that’s far more challenging that the one we faced only a few years prior. Lord knows raising kids ain’t easy, and we’ve made more mistakes than most, but somehow things appear to be working out just fine so far.
A Call to Fathers
Being part of a family that has spent (very likely) far more time recreationally and professionally involved with fly fishing than we should have, it’s hard not to look back and think about how important the time spent with our own kids in the great outdoors has been.
As life becomes more urbanized, citified, technologically driven, sanitized and over-scheduled, even for kids quite young, it’s more and more incumbent upon fathers to teach your kids the joys of embracing life outdoors, using your head and your hands to touch, learn and even task.
Kids need to get their hands dirty.
They need to play in the mud along the river and creek bank, throw rocks, crunch stonefly husks, build dams in side-channels, skin their knees and reel in fish you’ve hooked before they can cast. They need to chase butterflies in the meadows, pick handfuls of wildflowers and huckleberries, look for animal prints and scat and listen to the meadowbirds sing.
Kids (of course) need to know how to cast a fly rod (and spinning gear), handle fish respectfully and even clean the odd fish or two. You’d be amazed at how young kids can be interested in rowing a drift boat or raft with the right encouragement and coaching…
They need to plant, tend and harvest a garden, learn how to make jams and bread and butter pickles, make a camp, build a fire, pack a cooler and fire up the campstove.
They need to know how to hike and truly pay attention to the world unfolding around them, appreciating wildlife, weather and learn to read a map (a real-life paper map).
Critically, kids need to understand the history and the incredible value of public lands in our country, and that some things are worth fighting for, even if considered politically incorrect or inexpedient by some effete bureaucrat ensconced in an ivory tower far away.
Kids need to know the value of honest work and contributing to a team (and not modeled by some psycho win-at-all-costs parent coaching the neighborhood softball team). Some of those earliest lessons for ours came in setting up camp, gathering firewood, and prepping meals in some out of the way forest service campground (everybody works or you don’t eat…).
Kids even need to know how to ‘work on’ things – how to paint a room (or a driftboat above), mow a yard, change a lock, lay tile, build a simple bookcase, even refinish a piece of furniture. Lost abilities for some adults, no doubt, but essential, hands-on skills to round out the real world education of your flock.
Kids do need to get their hands dirty.
And they need you, Dad, to show them how to do it. Put the phone and tablet away, turn off the TV, round up the gear and get out there.
You’ve got a lot of teaching to do.
