We just spent the past few days family gillnetting, which is always a blast. I'm not much of a sport fisherman (except for ice fishing), but I just love picking wads of fish out of a quarter-mile long net! The gnarly 'gater teeth ripped a hole in my rain pants at the knee, the brailer bag hook ripped a hole at the back thigh, and my jacket zipper, corroded from our trip a few weeks ago, gave way. Luckily, I was having so much fun I didn't care that I was constantly wet!
My son is amazing. We've raised him in a completely reality-based environment, and his understanding of the world is astounding. We've taught him through example and through outright discussion. He reasons with remarkable power and is able to construct logical solutions to problems. We include him in our daily adult lives and always explain things without "dumbing them down." When he asks why buoys float, I tell him it's because they are less dense than water. When he asks why it's not dark at night, we get the globe and a lamp out. He's seen one cartoon in his whole life, (and that was the doing of an unknowing uncle), and I think that has had the biggest impact on his world view. His brain is full of the world, not of other people's imaginative drawings and conversations. I realize that I am a complete radical on this, but I truly believe that television is a giant obstacle for children. It may not actually harm them, but it certainly isn't doing any good. At the very least it takes up valuable time that could be used for an actual experience, like taking a walk, observing worms, or erupting a sand volcano. It's always been apparent on the school playground Huck's perception of a game is quite different than the other children's. One day he came home and said he played Batman. I asked how to play and he said, "One person pretends to be a bat and chases the other kids." He was imagining an actual bat, while others were imagining a man in a costume. Things like this happen with him all the time. My favorite one is when his friend said she was going to be a fairy for Halloween he responded that he was going to be a skiff. Clearly he was picturing her in a
ferry costume. Anyway, enough of my neurotic parenting ideals..... We've been mostly fishing, eating lots of fresh and homemade food, picking berries and playing outside. It's been a fun couple of weeks!
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| Running the hydraulics to haul the net |
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| Watching the bouy as he drives |
Atlin verbally coached Huck through his first jog up to the bouy. Huck was stoked on getting use the clutch without help!
Dog
salmon are the bulk of our gillnetting catch. 'Gaters are spawned out
Dogs. They are the meanest looking salmon you'll ever see!
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| I love 'gaters! |
After three full days of fishing on the boat, we came home and crashed hard. In the morning, Huck wanted to......go fishing in the canoe! After the majority of a month on a boat, Atlin wasn't too keen, but Huck's enthusiasm won. We trolled around a bit with no luck, then hiked up a creek and landed a cut throat trout. Atlin set the hook and Huck reeled her in! It was a great (and sunny!) day.
And since fishing is the lively hood of our family, I couldn't pass up this t-shirt at Salvation Army. I combined it with a plaid cotton shirt tail to make a cute just-above-the-knee flared skirt. It's destined for the Haines Fair next week. I wish I could keep every skirt I made!
We just spent the past few days family gillnetting, which is always a blast. I'm not much of a sport fisherman (except for ice fishing), but I just love picking wads of fish out of a quarter-mile long net! The gnarly 'gater teeth ripped a hole in my rain pants at the knee, the brailer bag hook ripped a hole at the back thigh, and my jacket zipper, corroded from our trip a few weeks ago, gave way. Luckily, I was having so much fun I didn't care that I was constantly wet!
My son is amazing. We've raised him in a completely reality-based environment, and his understanding of the world is astounding. We've taught him through example and through outright discussion. He reasons with remarkable power and is able to construct logical solutions to problems. We include him in our daily adult lives and always explain things without "dumbing them down." When he asks why buoys float, I tell him it's because they are less dense than water. When he asks why it's not dark at night, we get the globe and a lamp out. He's seen one cartoon in his whole life, (and that was the doing of an unknowing uncle), and I think that has had the biggest impact on his world view. His brain is full of the world, not of other people's imaginative drawings and conversations. I realize that I am a complete radical on this, but I truly believe that television is a giant obstacle for children. It may not actually harm them, but it certainly isn't doing any good. At the very least it takes up valuable time that could be used for an actual experience, like taking a walk, observing worms, or erupting a sand volcano. It's always been apparent on the school playground Huck's perception of a game is quite different than the other children's. One day he came home and said he played Batman. I asked how to play and he said, "One person pretends to be a bat and chases the other kids." He was imagining an actual bat, while others were imagining a man in a costume. Things like this happen with him all the time. My favorite one is when his friend said she was going to be a fairy for Halloween he responded that he was going to be a skiff. Clearly he was picturing her in a ferry costume. Anyway, enough of my neurotic parenting ideals..... We've been mostly fishing, eating lots of fresh and homemade food, picking berries and playing outside. It's been a fun couple of weeks!
After three full days of fishing on the boat, we came home and crashed hard. In the morning, Huck wanted to......go fishing in the canoe! After the majority of a month on a boat, Atlin wasn't too keen, but Huck's enthusiasm won. We trolled around a bit with no luck, then hiked up a creek and landed a cut throat trout. Atlin set the hook and Huck reeled her in! It was a great (and sunny!) day.
