It’s been a few days now and yet I am still mystified by the meaning of a bumper sticker I saw while driving through the middle of nowhere to get home. It was on the back of a large white Ford-ish pickup truck. A red sticker with white letters, it was hard to miss. It commanded me to “Hunt with your kids, not for them.”
Huh?
First, it wouldn’t occur to me to take my kids hunting. Granted, it wouldn’t occur to me to go hunting in the first place…and I don’t have kids…but if those two conditions were met, I still can’t imagine taking my beloved offspring into the wilderness with wild animals and weaponry. Yeah, I know. Total suburbanite.
But what’s with the prepositional emphasis? Don’t hunt for them? Like, don’t provide for them? Don’t do it for them when they should really be doing the hard work of sighting-in themselves? To put it in terms I do understand, is it like telling me to “Fetch the toy with my kittens, not for them”?
Or does it mean, avoid having to go out hunting for your kids when they get lost? If that’s the intended message, that suggests people are letting their kids go out into the wilderness with wild animals and weaponry…and no supervision?! That’s even more mind boggling. But then I recall Tyson, the neighboring high schooler down the hill with whom we’ve come to an understanding that he can hunt deer on our property as long as he stays out of sight and shoots away from the house. I’ve never seen his parents hunting with him. But I’ve never seen them looking for him either.
Anyone care to take a shot at this?
3 comments:
Families that are into hunting generally regard it as a family activity (or at least the male half of the family), and sons join in at a very early age. And frankly, if a kid is going to grow up in a house with guns, it's probably good that they learn how to use them properly sooner rather than later. All of the hunting families I know are *heavily* into gun safety. So "hunt with your kids" makes total sense to me.
As for the second half, I think it's referring to trying to track down kids that are out making trouble, maybe in gangs. Hunting for them because you don't know where they are, but not because they got lost; rather because they're in trouble.
So the message, in generic form, is "involve your kids in family activities rather than have them invent their own recreations and get in trouble."
That's my guess, anyway....
I agree with Steve. My take on it is, "Do stuff WITH your kids, so that you know where they are and what they are doing." It's sort of a delicate blend of NRA and "Family Values".
Steve and Tony, that is fascinating. Rob mentioned something similar. Never even occurred to me but you all must be right. Thank you for your insights!!
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