+Halden Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 I went for my first hunt with Kids this weekend. Correction I have taken my son but he is only 8 months old so he hasn't had much input. This weekend I went out with a couple of younger cousins, 10 and 12, and it was a great experience. They had a great time walking the trails and playing with the GPS (the 10 year old was VERY impressed that it could tell him how fast he was walking). They loved the hunt. I had a fantawstic time introducing them to the game. We went 2 for 3 and all they had to said about the DNF was that we will have to return once the snow melts and get this one. I can't wait to take them out again. Quote Link to comment
+Ed Rad Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 I love to take the kids. It was the reason why I started this activity. They lost their enthusiasm and mine just grew. I do the majority of my caching by myself or with other cachers but I do take the kids with whenever they want to go. Those days are the most fun. It's great to see them walk and enjoy the outdoors. I tend to take alot more pictures when they are with me. I wish they would and could be apart of every find. Quote Link to comment
+DRCRNP Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 I've cached with my 7 year old son and a few of his cousins and it been great. Granted I'm rather new at this, but the fact that they had no complaints, and that the finds were difficult under the snow is an indication of how motivating the sport is. For two 7 year olds to snowshoe 4km without complaint is amazing. It's one of the few "family" activities we can do all year, and anywhere. I'm also a Scouter, and plan to get our groups youth involved. Quote Link to comment
+rusty_tlc Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 I thought it said hunting for kids. I really like going out with my sister and her kids. When we are over at here house both kids and the dogs perk thier ears when they hear the word geocache. It's amazing how far kids who whined about a short walk before will hike when there is a mystery box at the end of the trail. Quote Link to comment
+jmq Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 There's nothing better then caching with family. My oldest son has his own GPS which was given to him as a gift for Xmas & my other boy uses our GPS. They're having fun and learning at the same time. You can't beat that. Quote Link to comment
McKenzie Clan Posted March 9, 2004 Share Posted March 9, 2004 (edited) What caches did you try for??? Scott EDIT: Forgot I could check your stats Duh... ;-) Edited March 9, 2004 by McKenzie Clan Quote Link to comment
+Halden Posted March 9, 2004 Author Share Posted March 9, 2004 What caches did you try for??? Scott EDIT: Forgot I could check your stats Duh... ;-) I'll Reply anyway. Aladdin's Talking Lettuce Dexter's Trail Camper's Delight DNF Quote Link to comment
+Geo Ho Posted March 16, 2004 Share Posted March 16, 2004 I would love to take my seven year old son out caching. I would just love it! However, if a cache involves more than a .10 mile walk on a 1-star terrain and 1-star difficulty then he's not interested. And, the closest 1-1 caches are about 30 miles away because we've already done all the caches nearby. And, no, virtuals don't cut it for him because he wants the booty-nuggets. And, then he wants them all and doesn't want to trade his loot to get the stuff he wants. And, then when we get to a cache he screams at the top of his lungs (no exaggeration) "WE FOUND IT!! WE FOUND THE TREASURE! HEY MOM!! HERE IT IS!!! IT'S RIGHT HERE!! LOOK MOM!! IT'S THE TREASURE!!" And, if that wasn't bad enough, I practically have to drag him out of the house kicking and screaming because Sponge Bob is on or Scooby Doo is on or there's a cool Internet game he wants to play or an XBox game he wants to play. The kid is a couch potato. If I didn't know for certain, I'd swear the kid isn't mine. Of course, his Dad is a lazy SOB, but that's something else entirely. Anyhoo . . . the only time in recent memory I can can recall him actually asking to go caching is when he was refusing to do his work at school and coming home with stacks and stacks of work that needed to be complete and we took away all of his toys. Literally, stripped his room of all things but books and a couple stuffed animals. And . . . no TV, no computer, no XBOX Oh! Then he asked . . . oh yes indeedy . . . anything was better than nothing at all. HA! And, then he was dragging his feet . . . "carry me" "my feet are tired" "my legs hurt" Arrrgggghhhhh!!! Anyway, my point is this . . . taking my little kid out caching is just a cotton-pickin' nightmare. Ask Mopar . . . he can confirm this in great detail. (SIGH!!) Anyhoo . . . Happy caching and stuff, I guess. Quote Link to comment
+Gazza&Girls Posted March 16, 2004 Share Posted March 16, 2004 Our "big girl" of the team was a downer to take geocaching for quite a while. Anything beyond a quarter mile round as the crow flies meant carrying her most of the way. There really aren't many less than that locally. The two girls would fight over who got first pick. We stayed firm and tried to enjoy the hunt despite the struggles. We made deals like if she walked to the cache I would carry her most of the way out. Holding hands helped keep her moving. Hunting with other kids made a huge difference. She was distracted and wanted to keep up with them (compete against her sister - "bigger girl"), and most importantly show them how to do it. There is hope. She's 6 and a half now. Starting this fall, she has not complained on even the one mile treks. She'll only want carried for the fun of it or if the hill is really long or steep. But I'd want carried at that point also. The past couple weeks we've been working on The Journal (5/5). She's easily done 6 miles or so on her own feet over two days. I did carry her for the creek wading though. They are a blast to have along. All kinds of things to discover with them. And they are handy too for looking into the holes low and high. Quote Link to comment
+CTgeocacher (CTg) Posted March 16, 2004 Share Posted March 16, 2004 I usually cache with my 14 month old son in the pack, he likes it just fine...no complaints from him. Although, I'm limited to trail when I have him. My four year old likes it as well. We can usually do a two mile round trip cache without any complaints, ofcourse we move slower and have to stop and climb every rock in sight but that's fine with me. Then there's the times I get to go solo! Woohoo! This is usually a "move right along and get as many as I can" kinda day. I do enjoy caching whoever's with me. I'm real lucky to have "outdoor" kids! Rich Quote Link to comment
_mo_ Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 I tried caching about 2 years ago with my kids who were about 2 and 4 at the time. They got freaked out by the trees, shadows, etc. Had zero success and it was a miserable experience as they did nothing but whine and cry. Decided to try again this past week. We've logged our first two finds on our first two trips and this is with their new little brother in tow - but he was riding in the backpack. I went with another stay-at-home dad on one of them, so in all, we had 5 kids, ranging in ages from 23 months to 6 years. Both dads had kids on their backs, and the other 3 kids, ages 3, 4 and 6 all walked 2.9 miles with some bushwhacking involved. There was only about 5 minutes of whining and crying and that was when the 3 year old got hit in the face with a treebranch. We're hooked. Quote Link to comment
+GeckoGeek Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 I tried caching about 2 years ago with my kids who were about 2 and 4 at the time. They got freaked out by the trees, shadows, etc. My first reaction to reading that was "Either these kids need to get outside more, or you really shouldn't be taking them out for midnight caching." Seriously, what was the deal? Quote Link to comment
_mo_ Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 you're going to laugh, but the deal is that we had been reading books about animals. So they were afraid of bears and cheetahs that were hiding behind trees in northern Ohio. Oh, and the aligators. We've since moved to Maine and I've pretty much convinced them that bears don't live this close to the city. Quote Link to comment
morcache Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 I'm just starting out, but have done about half my caching with a four year old in tow. He loves it. It's special Dad time, plus he usually winds up with a bit of a treasure to bring home. He doesn't seem to mind the walking, but we did have to turn back once when a climb got too steep for us to manage together. The virtual caches or microcaches don't do anything for him, though. Quote Link to comment
+The Northwood Goonies Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 I try to take out my neice and nephew 8 and 10 years old adny time I have a chance. They are getting lazy and if I didn't take them out, they would sit in front of the tv and watch SpongeBob or play Playstation2 all the time and never get outside and exercise. Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 When visiting my brother's family in Vt, I planted a cache (not listed here) on back of their property, stocked it with some new toys and told the kids (age 3 1/2 and 5) we were going geocaching. They had a blast. The next time we visited they were begging me to go geocaching, so we went and found a few easy 1/1 caches. Luckily they were well stocked with plenty of stuff for kidss, so again they had a great time. A few days later, we took them on a 2/3 hunt that involved a walk of about 2 miles and the cache contents were pretty lame, so they were disappointed with the "treasure" (the sad look on their faces is one of the reasons I try to keep my caches well stocked). On the way back to the car they started complaining about the walk. The usual tears, etc... I guess we bit off a bit more than we should have. Still, when we arrived home the youngest tells me "Uncle Brian, I want to be a geocacher when I grow up". I told him he'd better find a rich wife. Quote Link to comment
+RoyalRed Posted March 18, 2004 Share Posted March 18, 2004 (edited) My friends at work and I had been hunting for a micro cache stashed near a local mall. Five trips with six different people ended up with no find and all us figuring this cache was lost. On a last ditch effort I took my nine-old daughter to the site. I explained to her that the best of my friends (all engineers, high-powered financers, etc) could not locate this cache. As I was plotting our stragegy with her I said she should begin by looking under bridge on a concealed I-Bar. She replied "Why should do that...its right there!". Looking where she pointed there was the cache. I must of over looked its location at least 20 times in prior searches. I now take her with me anytime I can since she seems not to be affected by my biased opions of where caches should be located! We have only been Geocaching since this past Feb. To date I estimate that this sport has suplanted at least 100 hours of TV! We are now totally into getting "beat up" on the trails, trading and starting travel bugs and setting up our our caches. Not sure who is more fanatical about this me or my daughter. Great bonding sessions! Edited March 18, 2004 by RoyalRed Quote Link to comment
+hathor Posted March 18, 2004 Share Posted March 18, 2004 My first time on a forum!!! Another first for the newbie cacher! A friend told me about geocaching last fall. I thought...what a great way to re-bond with my newly teenaged daughter! We have always loved the outdoors...and it was time to get her back out there! We tried it and got hooked! Problem... daughter still wants time with her friends...soooo...we now take them with us! BONUS all around...we get quality time...we get the great outdoors...she gets time with friends...they all learn something new! Now they're hooked! I just love this sport...wish I had more time! Perhaps I could win a lottery and do this all the time! Quote Link to comment
+4leafclover Posted March 18, 2004 Share Posted March 18, 2004 I have drug my family into the madness that is geocaching, but mostly, it is me and my two girls who do it, while dad is working. They are 12 and 3. A few months ago, when the 3 year old was still relatively newly potty trained we were in a park that had it's restrooms locked. Luckily, she will make a good camper one day, cause she was willing to drop tou on a nearby tree...with a police officer about 50 yards away. OOOPPS. Then there's the 12 year olds lizard capture from at a cache location. the lizard later escaped in the house, only to die a few days later from dehydration. Quote Link to comment
+Red Clover Posted March 19, 2004 Share Posted March 19, 2004 Im a single mom that has never watched much TV.. nor do I let my son watch much TV. He's 7. We've always done lots of stuff togehter instead, boardgames, reading, hiking etc. So now we get to hick for treasure! Boy he's thrilled to death about that. I can usually sneak in a virtural if its something to do w/ military, indians, animals, you know boy stuff. He's a camera freak .. loves to take pix or be in them.. so it helps that he has his own camera now. Though we are always going fairly slowly so he can look for cool bugs! At least after the treasure has been found! Quote Link to comment
+Cache Viking Posted March 20, 2004 Share Posted March 20, 2004 I love taking my kids. My daughter (age 5) is not ready for the hikes over a quarter mile if even and complains if the landscape gets higher than herself. My son (age 8) is now after going on his first hike up to the Wind Cave wanting to go on some longer hike involved hunts and wants to do a maintenance run to my Firefighter Cross. It has only had one logged visit since its establishment January 15, 2004 but his desires are a good enough reason to go and check on it anyway. Looking forward to taking him soon. Quote Link to comment
+The Leprechauns Posted March 20, 2004 Share Posted March 20, 2004 Hunting with kids? My best advice is to put them out about 100 yards in front of you. That way the bear doesn't catch your scent as it moves towards the bait. Quote Link to comment
+Cache Viking Posted March 20, 2004 Share Posted March 20, 2004 Hunting with kids? My best advice is to put them out about 100 yards in front of you. That way the bear doesn't catch your scent as it moves towards the bait. Don't have to put them out 100 yards. They are either lagging behind picking up small treasures or way out front do the same. In any case they are in the snatching zone. Not Good. No No Not Good. Quote Link to comment
scoutsout Posted March 23, 2004 Share Posted March 23, 2004 I just started, and so far my 5 year old son has gone with all 3 times, I'm sure he will be my fulltime assistant based on his enthusiasm so far. Last weekend we were at our second cache of the day and found a very well hidden cache in a very open public area crawling with muggles... after finding it my son wanted the hang around and play for a while, so I let him. I pulled the GPS back out of my pocket to quickly delete the just found site and get the next one ready to Goto. I noticed a young couple nearby who I think saw what I was doing, and I recall hearing them say something to each other about my activity - but I didn't even think about it at the moment. A couple minutes later I noticed the same couple a few feet away, trying to be discreet about the GPS in hand, we looked at each other and broke into huge smiles. I said that I'd already "found it" and the said it was their first cache ever. A little small talk about the hide encouraged them to keep looking without giving too much away, and my son continued to play. I talked to him for a second, pointing out the others that were in on the game, I also said to be sure to keep it a secret from them too. A couple minutes later I hear "DADDY DADDY - THEY"RE ABOUT TO FIND IT!" as he comes running to me. He was playing in the area of the cache, caught up in being a kid anf completely forgetting where he was and who the grownups were that were nearby... but it quickly dawned on him, and he couldn't control his excitement! The fellow cachers laughed and concentrated in that area, finding it a little bit quicker thanks to my kid. I had to remind him of the rules of the game, keeping our activities a secret... we go with a few different scenarios that we play out, and I explained that if he wants to be a good spy he has to keep quiet about the mission. Having a kid along can make the whole experience so much more fun, things will happen that would never happen without them. If it weren't for my son I would have been on my way to the next cache already, and I never would have met those other new local cachers... and they might have gotten discouraged on their first cache and given up on a pretty difficult hide. I just hope we can both stay safe, because we've run into 2 different poisonous snakes in our walks through the woods before we started caching, the second time a rattlesnake could have easily bitten my son if I hadn't reacted quickly enough. It's a great learning opportunity for both of us, many lessons can be learned when you are out and about in the wild. Quote Link to comment
+Red Clover Posted April 1, 2004 Share Posted April 1, 2004 I went out of town on my birthday weekend and went caching w/ my boyfriend. We left my son w/ family for the weekend. When I got back and he saw the new pins, buttons, and odds and ends he was so upset that I'd gone treasure hunting w/out him. So I packed back up and drove him out to one that he could do. I love having him along. I always see the view thru his eyes.. hey momma look at this cool bug, leaf, cloud shape, rock.. things I might have missed on my own. Quote Link to comment
+Team GPSaxophone Posted April 1, 2004 Share Posted April 1, 2004 Hunting with kids? My best advice is to put them out about 100 yards in front of you. That way the bear doesn't catch your scent as it moves towards the bait. Don't have to put them out 100 yards. They are either lagging behind picking up small treasures or way out front do the same. In any case they are in the snatching zone. Not Good. No No Not Good. I try and take my kids on all of my cache hunts. If we're going out into the forest, I keep them close to me. We don't do many hikes over 1 mile roundtrip since our youngest is only 3. He did do a 4 mile roundtrip hike when he was 2 and actually walked for 75% or it. I was quite impressed with him. I tend to do micros by myself since the kids enjoy looking through regular caches and don't care about just signing a log. I do use the kids to retrieve many caches, however. Muggles don't seem to notice kids doing strange things in urban planters and parks. NM Quote Link to comment
+New England n00b Posted April 1, 2004 Share Posted April 1, 2004 I took my niece and nephews out recently. My 4 year old nephew hiked all the way in, then back out, with only minor complaints! According to the gps, it was .55 ONE WAY as the crow flies to the cache. My other nephew had been with me on one the day before, and my niece used the opportunity to hone her photographic skills. Very cool, all the way around. I received permission to post their pics in the logs, so you should see them there soon. Quote Link to comment
+Team Flashncache Posted April 1, 2004 Share Posted April 1, 2004 My nearly-five-year-old daughter always goes with me and she LOVES geocaching. Sometimes the wife comes along and we make a day of it. One thing about the wife, though: she won't go NEAR a graveyard, so a lot of nearby caches are right out. Nevertheless, it's great family fun! Quote Link to comment
+New England n00b Posted April 1, 2004 Share Posted April 1, 2004 Pics are up. See my logs these caches: Pond Parish Marsh Upper Falls at Purgatory Quote Link to comment
4EVRGLAD Posted April 1, 2004 Share Posted April 1, 2004 I have been trying to get my boys, 11 & 13 to "hike" (i.e. ramble around on clearly defined paths near our house) forever but the whining ..... When I heard about geocaching it sounded like a great way to get them motivated to join me. We bought our first GPS on Tuesday, found our first cache Wednesday (today) and have already plugged in the coordinates for the next trip. Of course, I now need to get another GPS for them to share Quote Link to comment
+Delta-S Posted April 1, 2004 Share Posted April 1, 2004 (edited) My four-year-old is my caching companion. She never says NO to a treasure hunt. She can do about 1.5 miles now without whining. is learning to follow the compass pointer on the GPS to decide which fork in the trail. It's a great time to teach her about wilderness survival, how to find her way back to the car, what to do if she gets lost, all about bugs and snakes. She of course wants booty when we get to the cache, so we don't often do micros and never virtuals. She used to want to take something from every cache and I'd trade for her. Now she's willing to trade items back and forth from her own collection. Oh yeah. That's her in the photo to the left. Edited April 1, 2004 by Delta-S Quote Link to comment
Pat_in_Utah Posted April 3, 2004 Share Posted April 3, 2004 Great thread - thanks! My 4 and 6 year olds have had a blast. We have tossed many a ton of rocks in the river! Enjoyed the wild life and plants. Found 3 caches so far. We are still trying to hit the 1/1 caches to build our confidence. Glad the long winter has let up Quote Link to comment
+TFTC Posted April 3, 2004 Share Posted April 3, 2004 Hey, Bill has the same GPSr as Bob! Quote Link to comment
+UncleRMC Posted April 3, 2004 Share Posted April 3, 2004 My 7 yo daughter just loves to geocache with me. She get's disappointed when I am going on a 3 or higher terrain and she can't go with me. She has hiked on 2.5's and 3 mile round trips. She has actually kicked my @ss into gear on occasions when I was starting to poop out. The best part of caching with her has come when we are visiting some cool place that neither of us has been to before. She likes it when *I* learn something new. Quote Link to comment
+Team JASS Posted April 3, 2004 Share Posted April 3, 2004 (edited) We're new to caching (only 10 finds)... I take both of my kids with me (6 1/2 and 4), they love it (we've made it a weekend "ritual")! Not to sound like a broken record here, but we used to spend the weekends watching the "tube". We have been out and seen more in the past month then we have in the past year! Geocaching is an awesome family sport, we love doing it! I couldn't think of a better way to spend the weekend: out enjoying nature, and at the same time, enjoying time with my children! Steve And when the weather warms up, we may even be able to get Mom out as well! Edited April 3, 2004 by Team JASS Quote Link to comment
+TheThunderbirds Posted April 3, 2004 Share Posted April 3, 2004 We go by "ShaneP and the Geokids" My kids are girl 5 and boy 8. We have 466 finds. Since my kids were born, we go out for Donuts on Saturday mornings. This is daddy time since mommy shuffled them around all week while daddy worked. Anyway, once we got going on Geocaching, they LOVE it!!! We go most every Saturday after donuts and just did some on our vacation to California. We even have our own outfits. We all got orange shirts with our geocaching name on them. That way Geodaddy can see them in the woods. I have really enjoyed this time with my kids. We usually do 2.5 or less caches. Daddy sometimes does a cache day for himself to get the 3-5 ranges or longer walks. I was surprised that they really like virtuals. Surprisingly interested in the history or people we find. They even created and layed out their own multi-stage. GeoKids Treasure (http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=d9959e28-e1ab-4cb8-a5e1-a004a1d5c8f3) Wonderful times... ShaneP and the GeoKids. Quote Link to comment
+Boot Group Posted April 20, 2004 Share Posted April 20, 2004 We always have the kids with us. In fact, our 7 year old son finds about 1/2 of them once we have told him we are within 50-100 feet. We avoid caches that have high terrain difficulty ratings. Sometimes on caches that require a lot of walking, the four year suddenly loses her legs. She will all of a sudden put the breaks on, and say she doesn't have two feet, and that she's not moving! After taking a rest, she ends up trudging right along, though. This is why we can only log a few caches per weekend. We love logging them in though. It's a visual proof that this caching family is spending lots of time together. This coming weekend (weather permitting) we are going to head out on a camping/caching weekend. We wanted to get some early Spring caming in, and found a cache-rich area to go to. Hopefully the four year old's feet will hold out so we can get 5 or more done in one weekend! Quote Link to comment
+devaleo Posted April 21, 2004 Share Posted April 21, 2004 I just got started GeoCaching about a mont ago...solo. I found a few my first day out and came home and explained it to my wife. She mentioned it to her mother who said something to my wife's brother. He kindly gave my wife his GPSr. We went out with the family...and now they are all hooked! I have two boys (5 and 1) and a daughter (3). My youngest is carried in a back pack...every time we sort through the cache, he is trying to climb out and get into it My oldest, used to whine about walking long distances...not any more. My daughter ends up on my shoulders every now and then...but for the most part doesn't complain much. We just spent the past weekend traveling around KY and OH and found 17 caches. The kids loved it. Oh yeah, my oldest always wants to be the first to find it...hard to keep him close sometimes. I still will go solo...but the best times is when I have the entire family. I also found that treking poles are very useful with the kids. I will plant it down and they will use it as hand holds to assist in climbing steep hills, rocks, etc. Quote Link to comment
Taxman003 Posted May 5, 2004 Share Posted May 5, 2004 I've only been on one cache without my boys (currently 6 and 4). It's just not the same without them. So much so, that the only cache I've hid so far is Kids Kache (Windsor) and I will be hiding a Kids Kache (Ayr) sometime in the future along with an Uncie Norms (in Windsor) as well. I love watching their face when we find the cache. Plus I haven't found a trade item that I would like yet. They always do. We've seen rabbits, deer, frog and snakes. They hike over 3 kms without complaining. It's a great way to get your kids from in front of the TV and out in the bush actually learning something! Mike Quote Link to comment
+the4Grays Posted May 6, 2004 Share Posted May 6, 2004 We always go caching with our 9 year old girls. They rarely complain about the terrain. In fact we went out last weekend and did a geo-cache that was 15 miles round trip and it took us just about 7 hours. They did have their down moments but we always have our backpacks filled with water, lunch, and other goodies. We also sing songs and play word games along the way which helps keep them interested. They also love seeing all the different wildlife. It's great seeing things from a child's perspective. The TV is now almost never on during the weekends because we're out hiking and we don't allow them to watch during school nights. We've seen a dramatic change in their school work (for the better). I think geo-caching is a great form of excercise for them (and their parents!). It just wouldn't be as fun caching if they weren't with us. Quote Link to comment
scoutsout Posted May 6, 2004 Share Posted May 6, 2004 One new thing I learned last weekend about having kids along - the younger they are the more you get to see on a longer hike. My wife & 2 year-old daughter went along for the first time, and moving at the pace the youngest one set sure did mean we spent a long time on the trail! I know that if I was alone I'd have been in & out in a matter of minutes, but it took us over an hour. Besides finding things to keep my slightly faster son occupied with while we were waiting for the little one to catch up (this happens every 2 minutes or so) we were treated to her sharing her own finds with us along the way. I know I would have never noticed most of the details we stopped to talk about along the way if it weren't for the kids. Sometimes I like to get things done fast, but there is definitely something exciting about taking the time appreciate all the little things along the way. I guess that's something that we forget as we get older. Quote Link to comment
JohnX Posted May 16, 2004 Share Posted May 16, 2004 Here is today's post (slightly edited) from the first cache I ever placed. It made me smile. "We found it! Our first ever found cache!!! Thank you for making a simple one for us newbies, esp ones with kids in tow and a husband who is a magnet for mosquitoes! The coordinates got us right to an area ripe with many great looking spots so all three kids and 2 adults were busy hunting high and low, then I turned around for just a second and said to myself "oh, now it's got to be there!" Thank you for helping my kids and I find our first treasure!" Quote Link to comment
+Team Fegel Posted May 17, 2004 Share Posted May 17, 2004 Lately I have spent more time caching with my 3-yr old daughter then with my wife. She really gets into finding the "boxes", and has invented two songs we sing while hiking in and out. The first is: Hee, Hi, Ho Were gonna find a box over and over again, then once we find it, the song becomes: Hee , Hi, Ho We found a box. The other song is sung to the tune of "Lets go fly a kite" and is basically: Let's go find a box again: over and over. She has a minature backpack where she carries her own trading items. She is able to hike for longer and longer distances, but I don't mind carrying her. Just recently we tried for a cache that was close to 5 miles round trip. Took us 6 hours to do it, but she easily did at least 2 miles on her own. Every insect she sees needs to be ushered off the trail, and bid farewell, and told to go home to their mommy and daddy. If she continues to enjoy caching for at least a few more years, I'll be happy. Quote Link to comment
+Anne Bonney Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 My kids are my two terriers, Lego and Maxx. But, to broaden horizons, I have taken on a protoge in the form of a 13 year old, home schooled male who is the son of a friend of mine. While my friend frenetically tries to complete her Bachelors' degree, I get her son away from the computer, Gameboy, XBox, et. al., and have gotten him pretty hooked on caching. He's proficient with the GPSr, is getting better about logging his finds, and has as many toys to trade as toys that he takes. It's all good. He's getting smarter about finding caches and better at reading maps, but once the cache is found he does tend to focus on the toy more than picking up trash or something productive. That will change, I can assure you. We brought his mom along with us last week and we've both decided that she can't come anymore. Too much of a mom, ya know? She has told me that he'll be getting his own GPSr in the next few months so I can cut him loose. I don't think I will. He has developed his own geotokens and, being a shy kid, he's opening up much more. He has too much fear of critters, ticks and spiders, for my tastes, though. Maybe I'll subject him to virtuals in and around the city and no more of this bushwhacking for better swag! I'm glad to have him around with me. It'll give him something to show his friends and he be top dog at something; which, as we all know, is crucial at his age. I guess I'll keep going and picking him up. I guess. He does laugh at my jokes more often than not....Yea. He can keep caching. Quote Link to comment
+GeoGryffindor Posted May 21, 2004 Share Posted May 21, 2004 OH, it is such a joy to take our two daughters out caching - ages 9 3/4 and 3 1/2 years. It is so much fun to send our oldest out with the gps and let her go find the cache. She has her own idea of where it is located - then, if all else fails, she will look at the gps. They are a blast and are good cachers. GeoGryffindor Quote Link to comment
+All4OfUs Posted May 21, 2004 Share Posted May 21, 2004 We always go as a family - our kids are almost 11 and almost 9 and they're pretty good sports. My 11 yo son doesn't really like the drives to get to some of the caches, but he loves hunting for them and does a great job at finding them. We have occasional times of tiredness, whining & complaining, but it helps that we have a new family tradition - Slurpees if we find a cache! Quote Link to comment
+GentleWhisper Posted May 22, 2004 Share Posted May 22, 2004 (edited) My kids love geocaching. They just learned how to talk, but they can definitely say "Geocaching". My son is 3 and my daughter is 20 months. Sure it makes the trips a little longer, [a recent multi should have taken 50 minutes, but with kids and double stroller in tow, it took 2 hours.] But they're loving it. I recently took my son to the dentist for the first time. After his checkup he got to pick a toy out of a basket. He was so excited. He yelled, "It's a GEOCACHE!" The only time those two complain about caching is when it's time to go home. Edited May 22, 2004 by GentleWhisper Quote Link to comment
+Finding Fraggle Rock Posted May 25, 2004 Share Posted May 25, 2004 The very first cache we did, not even havign a team name yet, was a cache in teh midle of winter 2002 and in teh middle of the night. SerenityNow called up and said, "hey, there is this night cache in Rittman Ohio. You wanna go along" Well, Dale had his 6 year old son and said Sure thing. Off we go at 10 PM to drive about an hour south to hunt this night cache. Ever since we found that night cache, Cree, now 6 yrs old, loves to cache. We have taken him on many caching trips and not once has he been carried. Thank goodness. There have been times when we want to quit for teh day, but he is ready to keep going. He has cached from 6 am until midnight at times. He really loves it and it sure does add something more the hunt. Findign Fraggle Rock Quote Link to comment
+Team Gieselman Posted August 6, 2004 Share Posted August 6, 2004 We have taken the kids on almost all of our hunts. They are 10, 8, and 6. We find that bribery works well. Although we call it an incentive plan. For every 25 caches we find that means a trip to get ice cream. We just got number 100 and that meant that they get to pick a prize from geocaching.com (ie shirt, hat, patch, micro to hide, TB of their own, etc.) We just had a record day with them yesterday. We found 17 on our rush to get to 100. I was most worried about the 8 year old princess, but she is now some sort of weird combination of a ballerina and an entomologist. This is an awesome way to build family value and get exercise at the same time. We frequenly race to the cache. That whole "On your mark, get set, go" thing is an amazing motivator, especially for the 6 year old. Quote Link to comment
+DavisFamily Posted August 14, 2004 Share Posted August 14, 2004 We take the kids on all the hunts, though not always ALL of our 4 kids ages 10, 8, 6 and 3. However, recently while visiting family the whole tribe went out together when a new cache popped up that hadn't been found yet. That meant it was my mom, me, my sister, and the kids ages: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 3, 2 and 9 months! There was some whining and crying, but then the adults got a hold of themselves. Recently on a record-setting caching outing (for us, that is) I had brought along the 8 yr old neighbor boy. While returning home after finding 4 caches I just had to ask if anyone wanted to stop and do "just one more cache?" The 8 yr old neighbor boy was done but my 3 yr old yelled, "YEA! Let's go!" Quote Link to comment
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