Toboggans for Costumes

January 3rd, 2007 |

Granny (Kathy’s mom) has a new crop of grandchildren thanks to her younger brother, Spence, and her older brother, Randy. Spence, himself, was a second crop for Kathy’s parents. Randy was 18 when Spence was born. So it was no surprise when a new group of grandchildren arrived from Spence and his wife after the first group, including our two, were already grown up. What was a surprise was the fact that Randy and his wife gave us a new addition to the family after his two older children had already left the nest.

Her name is Savannah and she is now 6 years old. Savannah is a woodsman, or should I say woods-person, thanks to her dad. Randy is an avid outdoorsman and has passed his love of the great outdoors on to his daughter. She is NO tomboy – far from it. However, she has grown up around deer hunters and deer camps and deer facts and deer conservation. She bagged her first deer last year while still a kindergartner, and knows her way around such things. This became clear to me during the holidays. The younger ones, under the direction of Aunt Kathy, were preparing to put on a show for us. They needed two toboggans for costumes. Granny could only find one, so Savannah and Sarah Beth (Spence’s daughter) were off to find another. We were all sitting around talking when Savannah came back into the room and made a loud announcement with all the articulation of a 21 year old.

“Could someone please help me? I know there is a toboggan in my daddy’s hunting bag, but I am not allowed to go into that bag. Could someone please help me?”

It struck me, as someone headed out to the truck to retrieve the head gear, how well Randy had taught his daughter about not only the pleasure, but the dangers associated with hunting. She wanted that toboggan badly, but she knew breaking the rules to get it was a bad idea. Randy started early and so Savannah is way ahead of the game of understanding some do’s and don’ts of life. Teaching our children “the rules” takes time, patience and persistence; but, the benefit of all of this is that maybe they will stay out of some stuff they should not be into, even if you’re not monitoring their every move.

A Fellow Student,