Where to take the a 9yr and 7yr old

[Deliverance1985]

Mom spends there money on them I hope.  My dad wasn't around and my worked while I was at school and when I went to bed. So this whole divorced dad thing by myself is new to me.  So input good and you make valid point ms. Had to call my uncle he said take the 22 and go to the gun range with them. Sounds plausible .  The list sounds even a better idea now after talking to him. 

[Deliverance1985]

Everyone makes good points.  I just had to stop and put myself in Thier shoes .  Like my uncle suggested as long as your doing something with them . Thier learning and that's part of being a dad plus your already thier that's the biggest bonus .  I didn't get them a lot last yr cause if deployments so I'm sure we'll do something fun and yes I am on a low cost budget but it's all good it's about them not me. 😀

[M_ray]

  BTW I'm Divorced too and I had my girls by myself when they were 6&8 for almost 2 years so I am speaking from a bit of experience. I took them to the range also and they both still have ear muffs and range gear ... my youngest was shooting a 17hmr, 22's and a 223 by the age of 9. So don't count out the trip to the range. The other thing I did when they were about the ages of yours was I went to the toy store and bought a few of those old school handguns and rifles that shoot the suction cup darts. We would watch the hunting channel and I would teach them to wait till the deer turned sideways and then they would platser the screen!!! It worked surprisingly well and they did hit the kill zone quite a bit but a word of caution this was before the screens they have now and the TV was a flat screen glass front ... you would ruin a LCD today so be careful with that one     Funny thing is after their mom was back in the picture and I would stop by I would see the TV screen upstairs with several darts sticking to it!  Kinda made me real proud they were doing it on their own 

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

I take my kids out Geo-caching.
By selecting the larger boxes, they get to trade cool items.
All you need is some hiking gear and a GPS.
A few times we bring the bows along and stump shoot, (my kids have little longbows)
It actually got to be fun looking wherever we went, those things are everywhere.
I have 4 within a short walk of my own house!
you might also. 

[huntnfmly]

Jack I don't know you but omg chill .
Deliverance first off thank you for your service.and good on you for wanting to get them into the outdoors my daughters were  scouting with me when the youngest was three.bundle them up and do anything outdoors any time spent with them is time well spent.NW trek is fun been there few hundred times..22 at the gun range is a good call make sure their ears are protected good.like you said it's about them not you

[JackOfAllTrades]

I need to chill? Wow!

I read the original post. Said nothing about being on a tight budget.  I see that now, so the skiing is out. Maybe the ice skating.. And probably NW Trek. Oh and Greatlodge. None of that is cheap. But there a programs for youth in sports that don't cost an arm and a leg. -And hopefully they stay in a sports program while dad is away...

I'm not knocking shooting at those ages. But a 7yr old needs a BB gun. Not a 22. Don't get me wrong, I'm no prude. My sons shoot/shot at relatively early ages. But sitting calling yotes at 7yrs old takes a special kid. If you were that kid, if you have that kind of kid GREAT!  So, by all means test that water.

Youth under 15? don't need fishing licenses. That's still cool. I think that fishing is already on the mind.  I suggested the crabbing, That's even open right now down that way. Hopefully the base has ring traps to rent for cheap. You can shoot any time of the year, (Try to take a 7yr old shooting at a public gun range), and there are seasons for shellfish.  -Jus sayin.   

I like the geocache suggestions. There's something at the end of the trail.   

I guess a 9yr old can be in cubscouts? Learning map reading and to use a compass. If he's not, that's cool stuff to do with dad. That first pocket knife and learning how to sharpen it! Knots.. Teach'm how to tie knots. (learn yourself first!)

Yeah, a couple sledding disks and find some snow! Free stuff except the gas to get there.


Sorry, maybe it's been some 14yrs since I had a 7yr old in the house and I'm not qualified to be a dad anymore.

Carry on.

-Steve

[M_ray]

Jack,
He said he is on a tight budget...
I don't know what sports you are talking about but all of them are expensive these days, used to be something like soccer was a pair of shoes shin gaurds and team fee and a kid was in and out for 50 bucks! now its 8 grand a year and its a year round commitment not to mention traveling all over creation for tournaments with overnight stays. My girls ice skated and took lessons and that is expensive too it's not 3.95 including rental anymore like it was 17 years ago  but of all the other suggestions you have made its at least doable.

http://www.co.pierce.wa.us/index.aspx?NID=2367

He doesn't have a boat...
Not likely to go crabbing without a boat and gear, again an expensive option unless you already have the gear.

And he is in the military...
 so I'm pretty sure he know's how to tie a knot! 

[jackelope]

I take my kids out Geo-caching.
By selecting the larger boxes, they get to trade cool items.
All you need is some hiking gear and a GPS.
A few times we bring the bows along and stump shoot, (my kids have little longbows)
It actually got to be fun looking wherever we went, those things are everywhere.
I have 4 within a short walk of my own house!
you might also. 

My daughter and I have been geocaching off and on for a couple years now. Currently there are other small furry creatures occupying her time so we have not been, but it is great fun.

[jackelope]

Jack,
He said he is on a tight budget...
I don't know what sports you are talking about but all of them are expensive these days, used to be something like soccer was a pair of shoes shin gaurds and team fee and a kid was in and out for 50 bucks! now its 8 grand a year and its a year round commitment not to mention traveling all over creation for tournaments with overnight stays. My girls ice skated and took lessons and that is expensive too it's not 3.95 including rental anymore like it was 17 years ago  but of all the other suggestions you have made its at least doable.

http://www.co.pierce.wa.us/index.aspx?NID=2367

He doesn't have a boat...
Not likely to go crabbing without a boat and gear, again an expensive option unless you already have the gear.

And he is in the military...
 so I'm pretty sure he know's how to tie a knot! 

You can definitely do a lot of that stuff cheaper than select soccer costs. I have definitely taken my kid ice skating for about $20.00.
Just throwing that out there.  There are cheaper options.

[M_ray]

Jack,
He said he is on a tight budget...
I don't know what sports you are talking about but all of them are expensive these days, used to be something like soccer was a pair of shoes shin gaurds and team fee and a kid was in and out for 50 bucks! now its 8 grand a year and its a year round commitment not to mention traveling all over creation for tournaments with overnight stays. My girls ice skated and took lessons and that is expensive too it's not 3.95 including rental anymore like it was 17 years ago  but of all the other suggestions you have made its at least doable.

http://www.co.pierce.wa.us/index.aspx?NID=2367

He doesn't have a boat...
Not likely to go crabbing without a boat and gear, again an expensive option unless you already have the gear.

And he is in the military...
 so I'm pretty sure he know's how to tie a knot! 

You can definitely do a lot of that stuff cheaper than select soccer costs. I have definitely taken my kid ice skating for about $20.00.
Just throwing that out there.  There are cheaper options.

  Yep the fee's are there in the link and Sprinker is close to the base and probably run about 30$ bucks for dad and two kids ... I always figure the cost of the parent cause I'm not like most I see at the rink that pay for the kids and sit and read a book until they are done. I actually get out there and have fun with them   

[jackelope]

Me too. Although falling 50-60 times is not really my idea of a great time LOL.

[JDHasty]

Boats and travel trailers can be rented at JBLM and if you have a hitch on your vehicle you are in like Flynn, or you can camp right there in the Travel Camp on North Fort.

I spent $48 taking two kids to Olympic Game Farm two weeks ago, but that included ten loaves of bread.  Five would be plenty and that shaves the cost to $38.  plus gas.
http://olygamefarm.com/

There is Munn Lake in Tumwater, it used to be great for spiny ray fishing.  The bridge across Lake Steilacoom used to be great fishing. Check them out. 

Paul Bunyan used to have the Junior Bucks & Does, I don't know if it still does, and Tacoma Sportsman's Club has always been a 'family oriented" club  and has events that are geared to kids.

Northwest Trek Family Membership is ~$100+/year, we go monthly when nothing else is going on with the family.

Used tents are a dime a dozen and Sportsman's Park in Yak has a fish pond on site for kids, Scootney Reservoir has great dock fishing and tons of kids, Douglas Creek (Wenatchee area) has kinda' remote sites you can drive to in a passenger car from the Waterville side and it just costs gas.  The Oasis in Ephrata has an onsite kids fishing pond and costs us < a hundred bucks for a weekend and that includes paying the kids tab (Put Put Golf) on Sunday before pulling out.   I simply cannot bring the RV back to the west side after chuck season w/out taking it there for a weekend.  No how, no way! 

I am going to go out on a limb here and give you a little advice:  I have a good friend who pushed his kid too hard to "live to" fish and hunt (he works for WDFW and is an avid sport) and he says he ruined his kid for outdoor sports.  He likes my way of letting the kids opt in and opt out and my kids are not always up for what I had planned so.... you do the math on that one.  Buyer beware.   

What I can say is my six-year old was in her hunter orange and waiting when I got home from work and was with me when I shot a cow elk this year in a depredation hunt close to home. 

Together we pre-scouted one evening and she helped as WE all formulated a game plan (my hunting buddies and BOTH of us had an opinion that was EQUALLY valid) and then she sat with me in the other stand the next night with her binocular and her Hoochie Mama calling them in.  THIS WAS NOT the stand I wanted to be in, it was the stand she preferred, but we talked over our strategy and "she convinced us," but "WE all agreed" to have someone else man the other stand we had picked out.  Make certain that your buddies know what the objective is going in or it will not be her that "convinced" every body else that her plan is the best strategy.  Wink wink. 

My buddies were helping out and there is nothing like success, and we all wanted to "close the deal" before a six year old got bored.  One buddy was in the thick stuff gathering info on the herd movements that afternoon (just in case we needed to come back out tomorrow evening) and another buddy was in the stand that I was actually preferring to be on that night if we were to close the deal the first evening.  The bottom line is:  the call came in from the buddy in the stand I preferred as the best chance for success and we relocated to the second stand and got an elk and then she helped field dress it.  Great lesson in team work there. 

If we had not got the elk we got, it is no big deal because "she heard" elk coming in to her Hoochie Mama and we would have gotten one anyway.  "I think I heard them coming too," (wink wink) but since Pat had a herd already spotted WE talked it over and decided to go after those ones instead.  That is my story anyway, and I am sticking to it. 

If she heard elk coming...  she heard elk coming, and I did too, (wink wink) and after she said she heard them coming you better believe "I heard them coming" but WE made a decision together to go after the ones that were already spotted.  It is a good thing she was there or WE might not have not have made the decision that lead to the decision to relocate.  Make it all about her!  "We both heard the elk coming to her Hoochie Mama" but "she convinced me" and we both made the decision, after talking it over, to relocate.   BTW, these elk Pat had were feeding and we had all the time in the world to talk it over. 

She tells people about how OUR plan worked out.  Just a little strategy advice from one father to another on how to make a kid into a hunting partner.

You are getting a little bit of a late start, my daughter told people on the tram at NW Trek: yes the geese are beautiful, and if you pull out their feathers they have meat inside.  This is when she was four and understood that she is special, e.g. she knows a lot more about wildlife than most all of the rest of the people on the tram because she hunts and most people do not.  She is not at all shy about sharing what she knows with others and when it comes from a four year old whose face is all aglow as she tells them all about Canada geese, but includes information on hunting an animal that she has just told everyone mates for life, migrates to Canada in the spring, and is increasing in numbers around here it makes a father proud.

Here's another idea:  Buy a used compound bow for peanuts and get the kids a kids bow from the Cabela's or Bass Pro and AS BIG a rag bag target as you can afford AND THEN go to either Bass Pro or Cabela's and have the pro that is there make a few little adjustments to your bow and then have them "set up the kid's bow" and give them a few pointers.  Then when you are practicing, take turns, AND be fair.  Make sure that everyone gets the same number of shots every round before picking up arrows.  Let there be "do overs" if that means ten shots for every one "that counts."  It is not about you any longer once you are a father.   

Say what you will about the "pro staff" at either Bass Pro or Cabela's, but one thing for sure and for certain - treat them like they are the world champ and they will spend an hour with your kids teaching them and that is free and you can spend half a day with an OUTFITTER (give them respect) on Cabela's dime and neither Cabela's or Bass Pro management will object because this is Cabela's future. 

By the way, Cabela's pro staff, in the archery department, are 100% capable too to give your kids advice and pointers.  BUTT OUT. AND given this time of year they have the luxury of time to work with a kid and the other outfitters in the same dept will step up their game with other customers to make it happen for kids that are going nuts over a sport they are all about.   If you treat an OUTFITTER as an expert and treat them with respect, your kids will remember what they say and will give their friends pointers. 

When you are at Cabela's, go to the optics counter and have the kids ask for shootin' gallery tokens too.  Then go to the camping dept. and grab a comfy chair so you can be at their level and help them aim for an hour or more without ruining your back.   We stop weekly, on our way from Tacoma to Saint Martins for Sunday Mass just so my Kids can shoot in the shootin' gallery. 

Develop a relationship with the OUTFITTERS, and treat them like the EXPERTS that they are, who are working in the sporting goods store of your choice and take an interest in what they have to say and before long you will develop a relationship with those who are telling you about their kids or grand kids every time they recognize your face and then when your kids want to join the conversation SHUT UP and let them monopolize the conversation about hunting, shooting or how great their personal binocular is, or how they caught the such and such fish. 

The professionals at both are many times there doing what they love, not always, but often enough.  ESPECIALLY (hint, hint) the ones with a few years behind them.  IMHO if you warm up to those individuals and take an interest in them and reach out and chat them up you will find that they are very focused on family.  They love kids.

If you go to an archery pro shop, or a gun shop, this is not the dynamic.  In those venues you just get people who are too "one dimensional" to make this work.  They are there for YOU and their job is either making YOU an expert hunter or fisherman or selling you crap, and their focus is too directed on excellence or closing the sale as opposed to just having a great time hunting or fishing.  I was in the sporting goods industry and I do not make this generalization in a vacuum. 

Your kids may progress to where that level of expertise is what they want and if so they will be the ones driving the move to a real pro shop, but until that happens, if you want to become expert do not bore your kids by dragging them into an environment that is not "fun focused."  Stay in the Cabela's/Bass Pro environment with them. 

This should probably be a PM because it got so focused on my experiences, but it is maybe applicable to others who are following.  Buyer be ware, this is one man's advice and others MMV, but when I see a man who is interested in exploring this dynamic I am inclined share my experience and also stimulate conversation that I can learn from. 

Again, YMMV and if so weigh in!  Tell me what worked for you.  I was a child of a divorced mother, and as such I am walking a tight rope without a net but being myself and inviting the kids to come along has worked so far, maybe because when I meat up with a sport who is all about developing family traditions that stick with kids I try to chat them up and learn from them especially if they come from experience.   Besides the fact that when I meet an "outfitter" who is my age at BP or Cabela's, we generally have a lot in common.     
     

 

       

 

   

[rainshadow1]

Deliverance, you're getting some good input. Think about what you're reading and fit it into your own life.

Just a couple general ideas...

Don't just drag them along to do stuff you want to do. It's only every other weekend, sacrifice your interests, do their kind of stuff, and you do that stuff with them. Focus on them. Invest your time, it's FAR more valuable to them than your money. A fire pit and a bag a marshmallows. A movie and popcorn. If you're hanging with them, and talking with them, and focusing on them, that's far better than a high dollar adventure where you're just doing your thing while they sit behind you and play games on their DS. Yeah, there's a billion things you could do with them, and I'd encourage you to do some of them, but it's not as much what you do, as it is the time you're putting in focused on them. They'll remember that part.

It's also been mentioned, but I'll say it again for emphasis... put some planning in, make sure you're ready, BEFORE you take them to do anything new. Make sure they're comfortable, safe, warm, dry, etc. Gear them up however is necessary for whatever you're doing. Doesn't matter how awesome the activity is, if they're cold or scared or etc., you've lost them. You have to put some thought into it.

Keep them interested. Don't go fish winter steelhead, 3 bites per day. Go fish perch or bluegills or planted trout, 3 bites per minute! That idea. Don't take them shooting just to have them sit and watch you shoot your magnums. Leave your guns at home, and take the stuff they can learn and shoot and stay interested in the whole time. You're the guide, fish/hunt/play for yourself on your own time.

Speaking from experience. Quality time. Not stuff.     You'll thank me.

[JDHasty]

Deliverance, you're getting some good input. Think about what you're reading and fit it into your own life.

Just a couple general ideas...

Don't just drag them along to do stuff you want to do. It's only every other weekend, sacrifice your interests, do their kind of stuff, and you do that stuff with them. Focus on them. Invest your time, it's FAR more valuable to them than your money. A fire pit and a bag a marshmallows. A movie and popcorn. If you're hanging with them, and talking with them, and focusing on them, that's far better than a high dollar adventure where you're just doing your thing while they sit behind you and play games on their DS. Yeah, there's a billion things you could do with them, and I'd encourage you to do some of them, but it's not as much what you do, as it is the time you're putting in focused on them. They'll remember that part.

It's also been mentioned, but I'll say it again for emphasis... put some planning in, make sure you're ready, BEFORE you take them to do anything new. Make sure they're comfortable, safe, warm, dry, etc. Gear them up however is necessary for whatever you're doing. Doesn't matter how awesome the activity is, if they're cold or scared or etc., you've lost them. You have to put some thought into it.

Keep them interested. Don't go fish winter steelhead, 3 bites per day. Go fish perch or bluegills or planted trout, 3 bites per minute! That idea. Don't take them shooting just to have them sit and watch you shoot your magnums. Leave your guns at home, and take the stuff they can learn and shoot and stay interested in the whole time. You're the guide, fish/hunt/play for yourself on your own time.

Speaking from experience. Quality time. Not stuff.     You'll thank me.

Listen to this man!

[ICEMAN]

I'm good without a boat.  Tonight I'll fix ther zeco rods I got off a buddy who went to Korea . They saw them and wanted to go . So that's on the list for this weekend . I'm thinking Sunday after there party so sat night I'll pm ya.  Cause I'm gunna break down and find them a used rifle for hopefully 200 for yote. I appreciate the information this site is awesome

Deliverance, I will loan out my 12 boat to you this spring if you want. (If I am not out in it...   It is on a trailer, comes with trolling motor and battery. All you will owe me is a handshake.

I will also fill you in on some of the best fish holes in Lacey. Give me some advanced notice. We live near Maytown, officially Tenino here...