daveu_at_sptddog.com writes: << Biggest problem for my 3 year old is boredom. Last couple of times I took out in the kayak (necky "pungo") about a hundred yards from shore the "I wanna get out" starts up. ... she's a fairly reasonable passenger, not the best though, sort of in the the way trying to get a good paddle stroke in. She's getting too big for sharing even the pungo cockpit with me (she's already over 40 pounds), but not heavy enough for reasonable trim in a double. Not sure I'm ready to let her have a paddle and try to help paddle a double yet either... Its just easier to plunk her on a larger petro powered boat with a few toys and space to run around. So, the choice is either go on really short kayak trips, or burn dinos. Any suggestions on how to deal with this difficult age, or at what age its reasonable to attempt kayaking with kids again? >> Dave, We've had our rugrats in folding doubles and triples. In the latter case trim is a bit of a problem, but not overly so (and you can always add a few empty plastic milk containers filled with water in the bow). The huge, long open cockpit and the inheren stability of the boats allow the kids to move pretty freely, hang over the side, crawl under the forward deck, sit behind me, lie on the "floor boards" and nap or watch the sky go by. We do tend to paddle to "destinations" and take exploatory shore breaks every 20 minutes or half hour or so. We also keep them busy watching for rocks under the surface, checking where cormorants come back up after diving, reporting whether they caught anything ... I built my son a short "Aleut style" paddle. It's short enough for him to handle (with a sort of sliding stroke) and not long enough to bother the rest of the crew. He's no strong enough to slow the boat down hugely when he just sticks the paddle in the water ... seems ideal: He's "helping" and busy until he gets tired or his attention span slips away. Our son went overboard (wearing his PFD with large grab loop) accidentally although I have to admit that we allowed it to happen on purpose when he absolutely would not listen to our instructions to stay off the side decks. The rest of that trip was VERY quiet and he's been very reasonable about listening to instructions since. I got into kayaking in exactly the same way. We used to paddle mostly on rivers and the constant change in the scenery was enough to kep me interested ... and then there were the shore breaks ... and the mud fights and the swamp and the monster around the next curve ... Don't give up on those kids in the boat!!! Ralph C. Hoehn Ralph_at_PouchBoats.com www.PouchBoats.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed Dec 13 2000 - 09:50:48 PST
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