One of my all time favorite stories from my youth was Jack London’s To Build A Fire (read it now on Google Books!). A gripping tale of a Yukon man attempting to survive in -50F temps. And lately I’ve been on this bend to expose Nathan to “life skills and new adventures”. A couple years ago I watched a TED talk by Gever Tulley, “5 Dangerous Things to Let Your Kids Do“. Fairly benign things from my youth, but seemingly controversial nowadays. (Use a jackknife, drive a car, build a fire…).
So last year we jumped off the house roof. An incredible thrill for a 9 year old. He received his first jackknife when he was seven (Cub Scouts). Last month, a firearm (no, not to be used without adult supervision). Next, I thought he should strike a match and build a fire. A life skill if I ever knew one. Not as easy as you’d hope. Funny how a stray cigarette butt will start a forest fire but it takes forty matches and white gas to start a campfire!
Okay, so no accelerant was used for this fire. It took five matches and a little help from Dad. But he was able to build a small fire to warm his hands by. What’s next? Not sure, but Gever has a new book 50 Dangerous Things – I think I can get some ideas from there.
Breathing life into the fire.
3 comments
Mom Waite says:
February 19, 2010 at 9:11 pm (UTC -4)
quite a unique picture!! loved it!!
Ken Worster says:
February 20, 2010 at 2:06 pm (UTC -4)
I watched the same TED video a while back and loved the concept. We survived our childhood – why not teach the skills needed to do the fun things of our youth safely? I want to get Caleb started on some “dangerous” things in the next year.
Josiah says:
February 26, 2010 at 9:39 pm (UTC -4)
Some of my best memories as a kid come from doing “dangerous” things. We found out last week we’re having a boy. I’m looking forward to introducing him to things like this.