Our son Kiyomi made the choice a while back to sell his hand held gaming system (which he had bought himself after saving and saving and saving). He used the money to buy a BB gun. For me, it was a little like the choice of the lesser evils. I am not a proponent of children walking aimlessly around, numbing out with a portable video game. I am also a little bit of a scaredy cat when it comes to the gun issue. I am not against them per say. I just understand the immense responsibility that comes along with the introduction of guns.
When I watch our 10 year old boy walking down our path, riffle in hand, looking not unlike little Peter from “Peter and the Wolf”, I can’t help but wonder where the fascination to shoot things comes from.
On Saturday, Stephen, our wwoofers and our kids were outside clearing trails and burning brush piles.
Kiyomi decided to go out in the woods to shoot at some targets. After a while he returned and asked his dad if he could he kill something with his gun. Which Stephen thought about and cautiously replied, "Only if you eat it."
Now, living out in the country, we have begun living a different sort of life. We are raising a lot of our own meat, and we are trying to live off of the land a little more. So, I suppose that hunting is a natural step in that process as well. I am not sure I could do it, but I understand the interest in hunting.
We have always made it clear to our son that killing for killings sake is wrong- and that if we are to take an animals life, it should not be for sport. That being said, Stephen’s reluctant response was yes.
With a great big smile, Kioymi headed back out into the woods… and less that 4 minutes later brought back a squirrel and proudly showed is dad. “Okay” said Kiyomi, “Got one!”
I wish I would have seen the look on Stephen’s face when he looked up and saw Kiyomi holding a dead squirrel with the encouraging look of what next on his face.
After getting over the initial shock, Stephen bled, cleaned and skinned the squirrel while Kiyomi looked on. He then turned on the BBQ and came in the house to hide out while it warmed up. I offered Stephen a few spices, but his response was: maybe if we don’t flavour it at all it will taste worse and he will think it is so disgusting that he won’t want to ever do anything like this ever again.
Hmm. It didn’t work. Kiyomi ATE his squirrel. All of it. He dipped the meat in a little BBQ sauce and said it tasted like a mix between turkey and deer. He liked it. And the look of satisfaction and pride in his face was something that our somewhat shy, insecure boy rarely has. He came through with his promise, and didn’t whine about it once.
I have to admit, I did do a little research on the eating of squirrels. Just to make sure there were no health risks involved. And it turns out that there are many websites, cook books and culinary feasts based on the consumption of squirrel. Who knew?
I do know that in my mind, eating a cute furry woodland creature was something that had never occured to me. But that was just my frame of mind and my upbringing clouding my view. It turns out that many people around the world eat squirrel on a regular basis. It is a lean, easily accesible meat. So there we have it!
I have always assumed that the lessons I am going to learn from my children are going to be difficult. My relationship with them is emotional, deep and filled with the patterns of my childhood and the bonds of my present. The path of learning for us is one built on differences, peppered with the occasional glimpse of similarity.
I am still trying to work out the lesson from this one to tell you the truth. I know that there will be times that my children do things that I don’t necessarily agree with, but that I will need to accept their choices. This is one of those times. Acceptance is a hard thing. We rear our children with a handful of values and ideas that we think will be used, but it isn’t always the way. Our lessons are merely guidelines, and it is up to them to make up their own minds.
Now Kiyomi is quite certain that he would like to hunt a rabbit. And boy, that boy is a good shot. He has a real talent. Though I was hoping he would stick with pop cans and other inanimate objects.
When I watch our 10 year old boy walking down our path, riffle in hand, looking not unlike little Peter from “Peter and the Wolf”, I can’t help but wonder where the fascination to shoot things comes from.
On Saturday, Stephen, our wwoofers and our kids were outside clearing trails and burning brush piles.
Kiyomi decided to go out in the woods to shoot at some targets. After a while he returned and asked his dad if he could he kill something with his gun. Which Stephen thought about and cautiously replied, "Only if you eat it."
Now, living out in the country, we have begun living a different sort of life. We are raising a lot of our own meat, and we are trying to live off of the land a little more. So, I suppose that hunting is a natural step in that process as well. I am not sure I could do it, but I understand the interest in hunting.
We have always made it clear to our son that killing for killings sake is wrong- and that if we are to take an animals life, it should not be for sport. That being said, Stephen’s reluctant response was yes.
With a great big smile, Kioymi headed back out into the woods… and less that 4 minutes later brought back a squirrel and proudly showed is dad. “Okay” said Kiyomi, “Got one!”
I wish I would have seen the look on Stephen’s face when he looked up and saw Kiyomi holding a dead squirrel with the encouraging look of what next on his face.
After getting over the initial shock, Stephen bled, cleaned and skinned the squirrel while Kiyomi looked on. He then turned on the BBQ and came in the house to hide out while it warmed up. I offered Stephen a few spices, but his response was: maybe if we don’t flavour it at all it will taste worse and he will think it is so disgusting that he won’t want to ever do anything like this ever again.
Hmm. It didn’t work. Kiyomi ATE his squirrel. All of it. He dipped the meat in a little BBQ sauce and said it tasted like a mix between turkey and deer. He liked it. And the look of satisfaction and pride in his face was something that our somewhat shy, insecure boy rarely has. He came through with his promise, and didn’t whine about it once.
I have to admit, I did do a little research on the eating of squirrels. Just to make sure there were no health risks involved. And it turns out that there are many websites, cook books and culinary feasts based on the consumption of squirrel. Who knew?
I do know that in my mind, eating a cute furry woodland creature was something that had never occured to me. But that was just my frame of mind and my upbringing clouding my view. It turns out that many people around the world eat squirrel on a regular basis. It is a lean, easily accesible meat. So there we have it!
I have always assumed that the lessons I am going to learn from my children are going to be difficult. My relationship with them is emotional, deep and filled with the patterns of my childhood and the bonds of my present. The path of learning for us is one built on differences, peppered with the occasional glimpse of similarity.
I am still trying to work out the lesson from this one to tell you the truth. I know that there will be times that my children do things that I don’t necessarily agree with, but that I will need to accept their choices. This is one of those times. Acceptance is a hard thing. We rear our children with a handful of values and ideas that we think will be used, but it isn’t always the way. Our lessons are merely guidelines, and it is up to them to make up their own minds.
Now Kiyomi is quite certain that he would like to hunt a rabbit. And boy, that boy is a good shot. He has a real talent. Though I was hoping he would stick with pop cans and other inanimate objects.
photo from asktheexterminator.com
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