ckmanning Posted October 10, 2009 Share Posted October 10, 2009 My kids - ages 10, 9 and 7 - and I went on our first geocaching adventure today. We found 1 of the 2 caches we were seeking, enjoyed the beautiful autumn day, and saw lots of wildlife. However, at the one cache we found my son pocketed some items without my knowledge, and now I don't know what to do with them. The first is a small, wooden "coin" with a geocacher's name (I assume) and the date he started geocaching on the front. The back has a pic of our state and the geocaching slogan. No instructions or tracking numbers I see. Is this meant to just be moved without being logged? Also he swiped "The Hermit" card. This one does say we can move it to another cache, but are we supposed to log this somewhere? The Travel bug we took, with my hesitant approval, and, I believe, I have logged that one correctly. We will relocate that one ASAP. We left a ton of goodies behind, but this was quite a haul for us "newbies" and now we are perplexed. Please help! Quote Link to comment
+Gitchee-Gummee Posted October 10, 2009 Share Posted October 10, 2009 (edited) Congratulations on your first find . As far as the DNF, it happens to the best of us! Now, about your son.................................................. Did you explain to him what geocaching was about? I mean about sharing? The fact that one is "supposed" to trade even or trade up? It isn't there simply to "take" from (but you already know that), the question is.... does he? Enough on that subject. It sounds to me that what he took are "signature" items. Things that others leave behind, fairly unique, indicating simply that they were there (Kilroy was Here -- WWII signature game. more or less). I am not sure what "The Hermit" card is, but it too is probably a sig item. I have taken sig items, but only to place in a cache that the sig item owner has never been to. Boy, does that raise questions and eyebrows when they do get to it. A game of sorts. Taking the travel bug was perfectly correct, and your logging it! Your job now, is to check it's mission either on attached card (if there is one) and/or online at that TBs' webpage. If there is no specific mission, simply take it and place it in your next available cache. If there is a mission, attempt to assist it towards that goal. If, as you say, you left a ton of goodies (I hope you don't mean candy or foodstuff), you did well. There is no expectation that you have to leave a pile of stuff (SWAG). Trading is not at all necessary, it's all up to the individual cacher. There is no need to trade anything to take/move the TB as it is not a trade item (SWAG). All-in-all, I would say you did fine. Your son just needs to learn "fair play" is all. Welcome to the addiction, and have fun. EDIT INFO: TB looks to be a well-traveled item. Posting photos of it's travels is also fun. It wants to visit historic sites (should be plenty around your neck of the woods). Edited October 10, 2009 by Gitchee-Gummee Quote Link to comment
+The Blorenges Posted October 10, 2009 Share Posted October 10, 2009 Well done on your first find - It sounds like you had a really good geocaching experience together. The wooden 'coin' and the Hermit card sound as though they were both signature items dropped by previous cachers. Some cachers like to collect such items and trade them from the cache, others will leave them in there for others to see. The Hummer TB is showing as being 'in your hands' so you've correctly logged it out of the cache. Although your son took some items without your knowledge you say you've left some good swag too - I'm sure you'll take this opportunity to explain to the children all about the importance of "trading up, or even" from caches that you visit. (Just in case you didn't realise: You do not have to trade for any activated trackable items (travel bugs and/or geocoins) that you find in caches - they are treated differently from all the other swag - You may just take them to move onwards to help them with their missions.) Seeing all the autumn scenery and wildlife was a great bonus for you... Happy caching in the future! MrsB Quote Link to comment
+Gitchee-Gummee Posted October 10, 2009 Share Posted October 10, 2009 There you go.......... two similar responses! Quote Link to comment
+msrubble Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 If you're bothered by the idea that you may have taken more than you left, because your son took some things without your knowledge, then maybe the next time you find a cache that's low on swag, you could drop in one or two "extra" goodies. Quote Link to comment
kiwiowl Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Wow, you found a TB on your first cache! I've very new to this too. Thanks for sharing your story. My sons are 8 and 11. We did our first 2 caches last Saturday and then 4 more yesterday (Sunday) - I think we're hooked. My boys also quizzed about 'taking more' items. It was a good opportunity to talk about respect, integrity and just basically keeping to the rules of the game - although I'm no expert. I'm sure your son will soon be happy to abide by the rules. Ask him how interested he would be if there was nothing but empty containers to find each time. Best of luck, I'm quite envious of you finding the TB. One of ours was supposed to have one but it wasn't there. Of course someone else may have moved it and not managed to log their find yet. Quote Link to comment
ckmanning Posted October 16, 2009 Author Share Posted October 16, 2009 Many thanks for your responses. I will move the signature items along, since I have no reason to keep them. Planned on moving the TB this weekend, but we have rain, rain and more rain here! So hopefully when it dries out some. My son FULLY understands the concept of even trade now. I think my aghast expression upon discovering the items he took was enough for him to grasp that it was not something he should have done. But just in case we had a talk, too! Thankfully, as I said, we had left plenty of other swag (and no, not food of any kind ) so we didn't have to feel guilty about that. We are definitely looking forward to our next adventure. Hopefully this will something the kids can continue to enjoy for years to come. Quote Link to comment
+Gitchee-Gummee Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 Now, go out and I fun! We hear you about the rain........ but we aren't draggin' young'uns, so we go and get soaked anyway (sometimes). Quote Link to comment
+coffee/wired Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 Now, go out and I fun! We hear you about the rain........ but we aren't draggin' young'uns, so we go and get soaked anyway (sometimes). We love caching in the rain. You're almost guaranteed to not run into any muggles that way! Quote Link to comment
+BlueMoth Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 Hey, its great that you are caching with your kids and having a good time. Don't be too hard on your son. Geocaching has a steep learning curve and figuring out the swag trade thing right off the bat is a good thing. My advice is to get your kids their own swag bags. You can pick up canvas bags cheap if you have access to an army surplus store. If not, try the goodwill or salvation army for canvas or denim bags. No luck there, if you are handy with sewing, you can make some. Let your kids personalize them with patches, pins and buttons. Either give them swag to trade or make them spend a few bucks of their allowance buying a few trinkets, stickers or toys to trade. Or have them raid the toybox for things they don't play with anymore. If you don't have much money, you can make swag or signature items. Print out pics from your computer and laminate them, punch out a hole, voila, you have a keychain or luggage tag. Kids are sharp when it comes to the concept of trading fair or up and I'm pretty sure would love to rummage around in their own bags rather than trade what mom hands out from hers. A friend of mine has an 11 year old son who I made a swag bag for. I took an old army ammo belt pouch, filled it with stuff like marbles, lightsticks, toy army soldiers, a couple of whistles and matchbox cars and such and he was good to go. The last time I saw him he had personalized the bag with some pins and buttons. He showed me the swag he had traded for with great satisfaction, and when I saw what he had traded for, I saw that he grasped the concept better than most adults. So have fun, don't worry, and good luck geocaching. Quote Link to comment
ckmanning Posted October 21, 2009 Author Share Posted October 21, 2009 I did have my kids do a room search for swag items. It's an added bonus of caching for those of us with kids - we get to them to clear out some of their clutter! I did, of course, explain the difference between a trade and giving someone garbage I'm trying to pre-scout a few of the easier caches so when I bring the kids back they will have success and want to continue. However, my hubbie has our only GPS for 6 days of the week while he works, so that doesn't allow the rest of us too much time. I think another GPS might be in order for the holidays. We'll see if we can scrape together the funds. And here I thought geocaching would be a good, INEXPENSIVE way of doing something together as a family! I guess after the initial expense it will be Quote Link to comment
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