My son now "pretends" to go geocaching

[+admo1972]

Last weekend I took my soon-to-be 3 year old out to find two caches. The first one had some toys in it (which is why I took him), and the second one was more traditional (some bugs, golf balls, etc). That was the only time I took him. Just yesterday, in our kitchen, he emptied out a domino tin, put some toy trains in it, brought it over to his mom, and said, "I'm geocaching" and proceeded to open the tin and act excited and surprised at what he "found".

 

Just thought I'd share...

[+Miragee]

The "addiction" starts early, doesn't it. Nice story.

[+Renegade Knight]

My mom was suprised to find a bunch of sticks sitting in her ash tray. Then she saw one of my kids "puffing away" on a stick. Guess what Habit my mom was having a hard time kicking?

 

Kids sure do learn what you teach them though not always what you wanted them to learn.

 

Good job on yours.

[+egami]

I take my girls when I can. We are going to try and go once a month this summer. They are 4 and 2 (and 7 months hehe, but she doesn't obviously understand what being a part of Team Signal is about!) and they absolutely love finding geocaches. Not many finds yet, but we are extremely casual and just enjoy the time outside.

[+geomann1]

My son (7) is really into geocaching. Always coming up with ideas for caches (generally not very practical). I am trying to help him come up with a workable idea for a cache of his own design.

 

He has also developed a habit of lifting up every LP skirt he comes upon.

[+Totem Clan]

Mine are 10, 8 and 6. The oldest just started her own account. In fact she wants to hide her first cache this summer and is already looking for a good location.

The other two want to hide one as well, so I'll help them and hide them in their name on my account.

 

They all three love to CITO also. Anytime we are out, they try to clean up what they can. I makes me proud.

[+moongecko]

That's AWESOME! My son is 4 and my daughter is 2. After a few outings with me they wanted to hide some caches in the house. I took one of my wife's disposable Glad plastic containers and wrapped it in ammo tape. I then put a few of the kids toys in the container along with a crayon and some paper. Almost daily, I hide the container in the house and the kids use their pretend GPS devices to go find it. I give them HOT and COLD hints until they find it! They open up the cache, cheer, and sign the log... well, more like scribble... but you get the idea!

 

I think one of the reasons they enjoy it so much is because they know I enjoy it and it makes me happy, which is very cool. Those memories are just as precious as the real caches out in the woods... and no ticks.

 

Moonie

[+BlueDeuce]

Last weekend I took my soon-to-be 3 year old out to find two caches. The first one had some toys in it (which is why I took him), and the second one was more traditional (some bugs, golf balls, etc). That was the only time I took him. Just yesterday, in our kitchen, he emptied out a domino tin, put some toy trains in it, brought it over to his mom, and said, "I'm geocaching" and proceeded to open the tin and act excited and surprised at what he "found".

 

Just thought I'd share...

 

That sounds like a cry for help. He's trying to find a substitute due to a lack of the real thing.

 

It seems like you aren't providing him with enough of an opportunity to go caching.

 

 

[+Sequoia_2]

I started caching with my daughter when she was 3. She will now be 6 in 2 months. We have in our house, a large plastic jar with pony tail holders, small toys and other "essentials". She likes to "geocache" in the house and I have to hide it for her and she will seek it out. Then she hides it for me. She uses the remote for her GPSr in the house because she knows she can't get a signal with the real one. LOL

[+halffast]

My grandson started caching with me when he was 2.He is 5 now and he gets the GPS when we get out of the truck.He follows the arrow until we get to ground Zero and the he finds the container.All I need to do is teach him how to drive and I can stay home and watch TV while he goes out and logs the finds for me.

Edited May 8, 2007 by halffast

[Dinoprophet]

So far, my 6-year old hasn't been impressed, and I've been trying since she was one. She likes hiking, and she loves hide-and-seek and Easter egg hunts, but she recently got mad and started crying when I was looking for the treasure instead of doing what she wanted. So I better not force it. That one was taking a while to find and she may just not have the patience for anything above one star. And frankly, the lake was more interesting than the rock piles I was digging through.

 

Haven't tried with my two-year old son yet.

[BRTango]

Over Thanksgiving the family went on a Disney Cruise with Princesses, and Mice, and Pirates, and all kinds of fun things to do. When we were at Castaway Cay, I decided to go find a cache. My Sister-in-law her husband and two children 18 months and 4 years came along.

 

My niece, the 4 year old... found the cache and we went back to the beach. A month later when we were visiting for Christmas my SIL asked her what she liked the most about the cruise... she replied "Treasure hunting with Uncle 'BRTango'."

[+Sixpack-o-Stephens]

I have four sons. 11, 8, 4 and 3.

 

Man... They all love it!

 

The 11 and 8 year olds compete to see who can find it and the 4 and 3 year olds just want to pick what treasure we are going to take.

 

The 8 year old BEGS me not to go without him and gets frustrated when I find one with out him.

 

This really is the best family activity we have found in a LONG time. It gets us up and out of the house nd active.

[+Wander Lost]

A few years back our oldest asked for his own gps for christmas. It was so sweet that we found one on sale that year. A year or two later our youngest was looking at the table after we had laid out all our caching gear. He started pointing and identifying objects "Daddy's GPS, Mommy's GPS, Bubba's GPS.....Where's my GPS??" There was no way I was giving a gps to a 3 year old. We found some cheap walkie-talkies at a local big-box store and made him one. He loved it!!! He is starting to figure out that something might be up since the arrow doesn't move.

 

[+Dowbiggin]

Last weekend I took my soon-to-be 3 year old out to find two caches. The first one had some toys in it (which is why I took him), and the second one was more traditional (some bugs, golf balls, etc). That was the only time I took him. Just yesterday, in our kitchen, he emptied out a domino tin, put some toy trains in it, brought it over to his mom, and said, "I'm geocaching" and proceeded to open the tin and act excited and surprised at what he "found".

 

Just thought I'd share...

 

My son is three (turned three in January). I take him with me sometimes. Sometimes he stays in the car while I hop out to sign logs. Sometimes, we spend more time with him playing on the swingpark than me looking for the cache. This past Sunday, I took him with me. At one park, we had to walk over to one end, along the fend. I DNF'd, but not for lack of his trying. He stood there and shook the fence. No prompting from me at all.

 

Cuter than his behaviors is the way he says geocaching: "Giyocahshin"

 

He still has a little jeep-like car he got from a cache when one of my work pals "bought" it for him with some foreign coins she had brought along. He can still tell you that Aunt Jager (her last name) got it for him from a giyocahsh.

[+Lefty Writer]

A few years back our oldest asked for his own gps for christmas. <snip>

 

Can you just imagine it when he sits on Santa's lap in the mall?

 

Santa: Hello, little boy. What would you like Santa to bring you for Christmas?

Child: I want a Garmin 60CSX

Santa: (shocked) My, my! Only bad little boys want something like that! Wouldn't you rather have what good little boys use? A Magellan SporTrak Pro?

Child: But that's so OLLLLLD (starts to cry)

Santa: Lady, your child needs serious help! Next kid!