Becoming A Man

Recently, I was asked at what age did my children start hunting.  This mother said her son was interested in getting a BB gun but that she was feeling unsure about it.  This post is in reply to that question, in addition to a few more of my thoughts on boys becoming men. 

I in no way feel like I have all the answers but since my husband and I have 4 boys these are things we think about.  We live in a society where women try to dominate and men are becoming more effeminate. 

Have you heard of the term the metrosexual man?  This is a man who "wears designer clothes, investing in pricey lotions and potions to keep his skin buttery soft.  He likes the city because that’s where all the best shops, clubs, gyms and hairdressers are."

Isn’t this a perversion of what God intended man to be like!

A man is supposed to be a ladies protector, her defender.  So, of course he’s going to be of a different nature than a woman.  Our boys need to be encouraged in manly pursuits.  They get enough of the other influence. 

Let me move along here.

Where we live it is legal to hunt at age 10 and that’s the age all my boys started hunting big game.

My husband was never that interested in our boys having a BB gun, although at one time they did.  He felt that kids think of them as toys and therefore sometimes treat them too casually.  He would rather they have an actual rifle that they treat with respect.

There are hunter safety classes kids and adults can take.  My husband is a very relaxed, adventurous type person, so my boys know that if dad is concerned about something it must be pretty important.  When it comes to gun safety he’s very strict on it, so this causes my boys to really pay attention.

It is in the heart of most boys to do manly things and I think boys sometimes express that by wanting a BB gun.  It doesn’t seem like in today’s world boys get much opportunity to do things that will develop that burly side of them.  The city is all around us and sometimes it is hard to provide manly pursuits for our growing boys.  I would rather my son have a BB gun, doing boyish pursuits than to be playing video games or to be indoors all the time.

I like what R.M. Ballantyne had to say.

Boys [should be] inured from childhood to trifling risks and slight dangers of every possible description, such as tumbling into ponds and off of trees, etc., in order to strengthen their nervous system…. They ought to practice leaping off heights into deep water. They ought never to hesitate to cross a stream over a narrow unsafe plank for fear of a ducking. They ought never to decline to climb up a tree, to pull fruit merely because there is a possibility of their falling off and breaking their necks. I firmly believe that boys were intended to encounter all kinds of risks, in order to prepare them to meet and grapple with risks and dangers incident to man’s career with cool, cautious self-possession…. —R.M. Ballantyne, The Gorilla Hunters

Following is a list of things parents could do with their son(s).

• Hunting
• Archery
• Tanning Leather for various useful items like a knife sheath or moccasins
• Hiking
• Woodworking
• Mechanics – buy an old motorbike that needs repairs 
• Survival skills – we did a unit study on this – the boys loved it
• Camping – not in a campground, if possible
• Hard Manual Work

Some resources that could be useful are:

Books:

Backyard Ballistics by William Gurstelle

The Art of the Catapult by William Gurstelle

Books by Tom Brown, Jr. (He has books on wilderness survival – how to build shelters, make snares, stalk like an Indian, etc.  His friend’s grandfather taught him and his friend many things about nature.  They would have lessons on observation and would have to stare at a patch of grass for hours.  In this way he learned there was so much more to see then what he thought was there.  These books were a big hit for my boys.  There is a bit of Indian mysticism (I guess you would call it that.) in the books but not too much.

Videos:

Little Bear Wheeler  – a set of 3 DVD’s called "Frontier Skills"  (In one of the videos it shows a 10 year old boy skinning a deer while Little Bear gives directions.)

There’s probably other resources I’ve neglected to mention, but these are the ones we own and have used.