I
grew up on the edge of the “Tech Boom” finishing high school in 1993 at the smallest public school in the State of Colorado. Needless to say, I wasn’t the most tech savvy guy around. Fast forward to 2016 and I had three teenage kids, one serving in the U.S. Navy and two more going to a small country school in North Dakota, and let me tell you, they were plugged in. It seems they had always had cell phones, at first more out of Mom and Dad’s convenience, trying to schedule 3 active kids to 3 different activities, usually at the same time and never in the same place. Now it’s Google, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and YouTube. Skip to 2022 and I have a 4-year-old fisherman in my life who can run most electronics better than I can (although he did delete a bunch of waypoints out of my Humminbird this summer) but that’s another story... You may ask, “how do I unplug my kids these days?” Simple,
be a parent, take them fishing, and set some simple ground rules.
video game, heck they will probably be better at it than you are.
No kid phones in the boat (now you have a captive audience). In the winter, no kid phones in the ice shelter.
Being a Mom or Dad and teaching life lessons can be a little tougher these days with so many answers at your children’s fingertips, but don’t get discouraged, your kids are absolutely worth unplugging from time to time.
Trust me, your kids will talk to you, they might grumble at first, but then nature and simple conversation take over. Use this time to talk to them about life, tell them stories about grandparents they may not have known, ask them about friends, school, or sports. Reconnect with them, show them some fishing secrets, teach them to tie knots, and teach them how to run the boat or why you drill holes in the ice where you do. Now I’m definitely not saying all technology is bad, just think where we would be without our flashers, GPS maps, underwater cameras and fish finders. Use this time to show your kids how to use this technology, treat it like a
30 >> iceteam.com >> Ice Digital November 2022 Issue
I remember the first time I took all three of the kids pheasant hunting, we got home with some beautiful birds and I told them to take the pheasant out back while I put the guns away, then I would be out to show them how to clean them. Fifteen minutes later I walked out to have a “Dad Life Lesson” and find 3 proud kids and a bowl full of perfectly breasted pheasant. My oldest boy piped up and said, “Dad, we got tired of waiting, so we YouTube’d how to clean a pheasant”. I wonder what their Great Grandpas would have thought about that…
