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Age your kids began Geocaching??


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Hi everyone,

 

I have been Geocaching on my own here and there for a few years and enjoy it very much. One thing I have always looked forward to is Geocaching with my daughter one day. One of my flaws is I am a relatively impatient person at times, so I am constantly wondering "Should I start now?" in terms of Geocaching with her. She enjoys going on a hike in the woods with me already, but they usually do need to be relatively short.

 

In any case, she will turn 5 in June and I am thinking maybe now is a good age to start her Geocaching adventure... being well aware it will take years to "run out of" local caches we could hunt for... and she seems old enough to get the general idea. But then I hate the idea of starting her up, then losing interest, and trying to start again later. Indecisiveness... another flaw. lol

 

So, as I debate this, I am curious about the experience others have had Geocaching with children. What age did you start them Geocaching with you? Did they love it? Did they lose interest? I know all kids are different, but thought hearing some experiences and advice would help. Thanks so much!

 

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My 5 year old is interested because he knows I like it. He has once or twice found a cache before me, even. He’s very interested in swag.

 

My eight year old enjoys being the one to find the cache. She’s actually pretty good at it. She also likes to navigate to the geozone. She also likes swag.

 

My eleven year old bought his own premium account with his own $. He doesn’t even have his own GPS-enabled device, just borrows Mom or Dad phone.

 

My advice with the young kids would be:

The five year old can probably be in “tag along” mode.

An older kid you could let run the show, just be conscious of what kind of cache you’re going for, maybe stick to easier ones, and don’t plan long excursions only dedicated to geocaching because they’ll likely tire of it before you do.

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I have the same basic advice as Korichnovui.

 

4 minutes ago, Korichnovui said:

My advice with the young kids would be:

The five year old can probably be in “tag along” mode.

An older kid you could let run the show, just be conscious of what kind of cache you’re going for, maybe stick to easier ones, and don’t plan long excursions only dedicated to geocaching because they’ll likely tire of it before you do.

 

Watch the attention span, and go for larger containers with swag.

 

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I've known geocaching parents who have taken their kids geocaching pretty much from birth, or at least, as soon as they were ready to carry/push the baby while going for a hike. Obviously, the baby was just along for the ride, but they created a geocaching.com account for the child (managed by the parents, of course, per the TOU).

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My best advice:

When you take the kids somewhere to cache and they want to stay and play, let them! I regret rushing around and not putting my kid's enjoyment first. They'll have fonder memories if you let them enjoy the places you take them to. 

Mine were under 10 when they started geocaching.

Edited by Max and 99
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53 minutes ago, Wet Pancake Touring Club said:

Watch the attention span, and go for larger containers with swag.

 

Yep.  Kids and swag a hit.

I'd like to add to be observant with caches, contents not always "kid friendly" though meant to be, and possible that "toy" she has in her hands isn't the trackable that others are saying is missing when accessing after you.  :)

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1 hour ago, Max and 99 said:

My best advice:

When you take the kids somewhere to cache and they want to stay and play, let them! I regret rushing around and not putting my kid's enjoyment first. They'll have fonder memories if you let them enjoy the places you take them to. 

Mine were under 10 when they started geocaching.

 

Agreed.

Most the families we know that started their kids young and took their time (it's a family outing, not a numbers run), now have older kids still playing.

When we used to head out with a couple,  we'd bring lunch and snacks with us for breaks, to make it a fun day.  :)

 

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My kids have some really great memories of some difficult caches we found or caches we found with other families. We all laugh when we look back at all the pictures I took. "That was the worst geocache ever, Mom! Haha! " 

So many fun memories!

 

You'll enjoy all the memories you make with your kids while taking them geocaching. Just have fun!

 

 

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I started in 2003 which means my daughters were 9 and 7 at the time. They've continued to cache with me/us and have even sometimes done it on their own when traveling. They don't find it odd but their boyfriends might have a different view. 

 

They had other plans during the Giga weekend or they might have considered coming along.

Edited by Team DEMP
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Mine was five when we started in 2012. She was a tag along who tended to spot the caches before I was even out of the vehicle. Then concentrating on obtaining all A's in school happened, and I stopped geocaching as a regular past time. She's ten now, and recently I got her, her own premium account. She's way more into all of the different aspects of the game now; and is even in the process of planning her own first cache. If I told her there was a forum for geocaching, she'd be along shortly to tell me how wrong I am. lol

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2 minutes ago, *GeoPunx* said:

Mine was five when we started in 2012. She was a tag along who tended to spot the caches before I was even out of the vehicle. Then concentrating on obtaining all A's in school happened, and I stopped geocaching as a regular past time. She's ten now, and recently I got her, her own premium account. She's way more into all of the different aspects of the game now; and is even in the process of planning her own first cache. If I told her there was a forum for geocaching, she'd be along shortly to tell me how wrong I am. lol

 

Technically she can only ready the forums. The first guideline in the Forum Guidelines is:

1. To post in the Geocaching Forums, you must be 18 years or older, or under the supervision of your parent or legal guardian.

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On 5/15/2018 at 2:40 PM, J Grouchy said:

Mine always moan and groan whenever I even suggest grabbing a geocache.  

They sure do take an interest when I find one big enough to have toys in it, though.  Other than the swag, they have no interest.  :(

 

Mine is the same way. She's interested if i tell her the cache is regular in size and big enough to hold stuff. Otherwise, she doesn't wanna go. Some of the blame for this rebellion :P is on me because i started her so young. She was less than a month old on her first long hike (front chest carrier that she slept in through most of it). I was the stay at home dad so i had her on most all my caching trips, many of them day long events with friends. She had fun finding and looking through caches but that fun went away when the amount of regular sized caches diminished.

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My boys are 8 and 3.  We use this as a family exercise activity, and an excuse to get them outside more frequently.  We make a day of it one the weekends when there is nothing else happening.  The last trip we had we logged 4 finds, and 9 miles of hiking.  We packed a lunch and ate after one of the finds that we knew would not have any muggles near by.  

 

We are lucky enough here that the small and micro caches are not all just bison tubes, but often a fun something hidden that pertains to the cache name.  

 

I made an account for my oldest so he can log his finds, and I had a couple stamps made of his user name for "signing" logs because his handwriting is terrible.  I found a use handheld on craigslist for dirt cheap, so I program that before going out as well, so he has his own device.  This way he can be the finder with a little support, and not my new phone. 

 

My kids are also into the swag side of it, so I tell them they have to swap, not just take.  I try to monitor what they take though to keep with the equal or lesser idea.  

I made the mistake of introducing my oldest to a trackable, that has turned into a new part of the game for him.  

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