rogerj1 - 4-19-2005 at 09:54 PM
I've come to the realization that my long awaited trip to Baja would go down a lot easier with my wife if I take our 10 year old son with me. He's a
handful. She would like the break. I see two possible outcomes: We have a great time together and form memories for him that will last a lifetime or
he plays his game boy the whole time and let's me know every 10 minutes that he's bored. I could take a portable energy pack that would allow him to
play computer games to his heart's content on the long stretches of highway at the risk of him missing out on some fantastic scenery. Anyone else had
to make this decision?
Yes...
Mike Humfreville - 4-19-2005 at 10:25 PM
Either way, take the boy.
We always took the game boys and then sooner or later the kids would find other things that interested them. Over major extended vacations they found
books we had brought and toy trucks that we picked up along the way, and would go "sploring" on the beach and swim all day long. Their worlds changed
and we grew with them and became closer.
And even if your son doesn't, at least he won't blame you for ruining his vacation. While I hate the concept of letting my kids, back then, close
their eyes to difference, they opened up and now love Baja.
Good luck and let us know how it goes.
how right you are Mike...
Sharksbaja - 4-19-2005 at 10:31 PM
We also have many entertainment options but the kids always find a fun thing to do. Water is such a calmative for children. It wears them out so the
angels sleep all night long...... Take the boy, mom will be happy too.
greybaby - 4-19-2005 at 11:44 PM
The first time we came down here we "forced" our then 12-year-old to come with us. He really thought it was a dumb idea. Through the course of the
trip and many experiences along the way, he fell in love with the people, the culture, began learning Spanish and says today - at the age of almost 24
- it changed him forever. As a soldier in Iraq a little over a year ago, serving in Baghdad, one night their base was bombed and he came very close
to being hit. He said he went outside under the stars and was just so thankful for having had the experience of being in Mexico at such a young age
so he could really see what was important in life - and how much it helped him while at war. Surprised us to hear this from him as we hadn't realized
that it had that kind of an impact. Yes, take him along. You'll never regret it - nor will he.
Skipjack Joe - 4-20-2005 at 02:09 AM
Bringing your son along is the best thing you can do. I have a 9 year old that I have been taking to Baja since he was five year old. The bonding that
we have achieved during these trips, I believe, could not have been accomplished in any other way. It's not just the memories that he and you will
have. Through these trips you develop a relationship that isn't just parent-child. Those usually end as he enters adulthood and leaves home. You
develop something more like a best friend or partner. Someone you want to share in your adventures.
As far as bringing car toys to make him more manageable my feeling is as follows. If the drive is boring he has every right to be bored and no car
toys are going to make him like baja more.
I treat my baja trips as discovery and educational outings for him where he explores a new world. I never make trips for less than a month and I drive
slowly and have a very vague schedule. We stop frequently and explore anything that piques our interest during the drive, whether it's for hunting for
lizards with a noose, or climbing the boulders at Catavina, or hiking up some dry arroyo with binoculars and a bird guide, or examining the salt flats
near Guerrero Negro to see and taste the crystals. It's just endless. You just need time. Don't follow a regimented schedule. Just react to what you
encounter and your son's natural curiosity will take over. You will, of course, have to participate.
I read reports of trips where a journey is made to Mulege in a single drive and I am amazed. What a waste! These people are missing so much. I have
also flown to various airports on the peninsula on commercial airlines to stay at some resort and those kind of vacations are also much inferior to a
slow journey down that long highway.
I used to keep a travel diary of my trips but now I just construct a webpage which keeps the trips fresh in my mind. Here is my first trip with Alex
to when he was just 5 years old.
http://www.peninsulaflyfishers.org/Fishing_Tales/bajaAlexDoncov/baja_with_alex_1.html
son
lewm - 4-20-2005 at 06:40 AM
Don't forget the fishing pole. I'll never forget my son's first encounter with a yellowtail at the Bay of LA.
make him eat a fish taco!
yankeeirishman - 4-20-2005 at 07:14 AM
?Every 10 minutes that he's bored?. Hey?are you talking about my 10-year-old son? On the boredom of the road ?.I allow my kids (son and grandkids) to
play their hand held gamers while I am driving the city highways. Taking Route 5 or 99 as such?really is a drag to them, and to me! I pack the kids
goodies in an icebox, good books, and the gamers. Only when we reach the ?scenes? of the road, do the books and games get put away.
Yes?do indeed take the boy! You may want to ask him if he has a friend (or cousin) he would like to take along. It is always a little easy to have a
friend the child, they self entertain themselfs most of the time.
David K - 4-20-2005 at 08:28 AM
Your son is part of you... He will be the best reason for going to Baja... camping, fishing, etc.
Here is my son (he's now 16) on his first trip to Baja... to Nuevo Mazatlan.
Bruce R Leech - 4-20-2005 at 08:30 AM
the trick about children on vacation is to plan to do some things they want also not just what you want . when we travel with our kids we do some
thing that they want every day and then they don't complain so mush when we do something that doesn't interest them. also don't try to make it an
educational experience they will bolt every time the education will come naturally. buy a Pizza or hamburger every once in a while. give them some
pesos to budget through the vacation. lots of hiking and camping is good also for boys and shopping for girls.
David K - 4-20-2005 at 08:38 AM
Here he is at 13 1/2 at the onyx springs west of Gonzaga Bay...
bajalera - 4-20-2005 at 09:11 AM
By all means bring him along. And if you don't already have one, you might consider getting a copy of Greg Niemann's book Baja Legends, which includes
a great assortment of Baja lore--some of it way cool--that you could pass along to him. [Alibris.com currently has a copy at less than $10.]
The more you know about the peninsula, the more likely he'll be to find it interesting.
Lera
The Sculpin - 4-20-2005 at 09:23 AM
My gawd....this shouldn't even be a decision point! As you can see from the responses, this is a no brainer. Just make sure you get the notarized
consent form your wife to take him into another country.
We took our kids down at a very early age, and it was priceless. One Xmas, we were camping at Santispac, and my 3 year old was wading in the shallows.
The water was very clear, and he was enjoying chasing all the tiny bait fish. He left his bucket in about 6 inches of water and waded off. Several
minutes later, he returned to get the bucket, and started screaming about a "horrible, terrible thing" in his bucket!!! While he was gone, a baby
octopus had crawled in. To this day, we still laugh about that one!
El Jefe - 4-20-2005 at 09:31 AM
Our children's fondest memories of their youth are our family trips to Baja. We made the trip every spring all the way to the tip, as well as several
trips to closer spots during the rest of the year. I'm not a big fan of gameboys or videos since these tend to isolate the kids from their parent(s)
or the environment swinging by the window.
Some of the things we did to keep us all from going crazy were: Talk - you don't get enough of this in our busy day-to-day lives. Talk about what you
see on the road. Talk about what is going on in your lives. When you are almost forced to talk to your kids, amazing things come to light.
A favorite time passer of the boys was to pick up a bowl of pebbles at the side of the road and use them for ammo for pelting road signs. They would
sit shotgun and gently lob the pebble out the passenger side window when a sign came up, timing the lob to plink the sign. We had a whole scoring
system set up based on the type of sign. Careful...not allowed with on-coming traffic!
When they were 12-13 we would listen to books on tape. They will never forget listening to "Captain Blood" on a road trip to Puerto Villarta and
beyond. I would stop the tape now and then to help them understand what was going on, but they got the gist of it and enjoyed it greatly.
My boys were a handfull at around 10 years old too. And we did several father-son trips to far off surf spots without Mom and little sister. These
were exceptional bonding times for us, but a lot of work for dad. Looking back, sometimes I don't know where I got the energy to pull it off. Yet we
made memories that will last forever. Don't go without him.
[Edited on 4-20-2005 by El Jefe]
wilderone - 4-20-2005 at 09:54 AM
Kids need to be involved and doing something so they're not just an observer. Get him a cheap camera so he can take his own photos; let him read the
map and calculate times/distances for you; have him decide when and what you're having for lunch and have him prepare it; he can make the campfires;
cook the hot dogs, marshmellows; take some small gift items to be donated and let him do the giving; take a simple phrase book and let him practice
words with you in the car and encourage him to speak Spanish words; fishing, hiking, snorkeling; identifying rocks, flowers, cacti, lizards (bring the
ID books); visit small museums. He can go into small tiendas and buy sodas and chips himself with pesos. Of course take the comic books, game boys,
etc., but keeping him involved in what's going on would be far stimulating.
Golden
El Camote - 4-20-2005 at 10:53 AM
This advice from you older parents is golden! Keep it coming. We've got another 8 1/2 years until we have a 10 year old but I'm soaking up these
words of wisdom and experience like a parched desert traveler!
Just a thought on the gameboy: Don't bring along any more power for it than a fresh set of installed batteries. That way he's not being denied use
but will realize he has to budget the time he plays with it if the batts are going to last the trip.
My best memories with my old man involved camping/road trips and bet most others would agree. 
Amen to all of that
DanO - 4-20-2005 at 11:43 AM
Best thing my dad ever did for me was take me down to Baja for a couple of weeks, when I was nine years old. My two boys (seven and nine now) have
been going to Baja since they were infants, and they love it. Sculpin is right -- take your son, for sure, but don't forget the notarized consent. I
was asked to provide it the last time I got FMTs for my two boys in Ensenada when my wife had to stay home.
The long drives can be a drag, but books on tape are great, and we got a cheap VCR/TV-in-a-bag to play videos in the back seat. Mad libs books are
also good, although my guys have a tendency to favor one or two words I'd rather they not say at all, let alone dozens of times (but at least they
know how to spell, eh?).
As for Gameboys, my younger son broke his, so they have to share one, and the rule is that it can only be played when we're on the road, or after the
sun goes down. If it's light out, they have to be outside. Once they get over it, they end up occupying themselves with practically anything (some
ground rules are good here, like "never put your hand anywhere you can't see it" or "aim the slingshots away from the house and each other, please" or
"try to stay on the paths through the brush where the snakes are easier to spot").
I also recommend involving them in the work you're doing, especially anything involving power tools or anything physically exerting that'll wear 'em
out. Last time down it was hauling and stacking the firewood that I cut and split, and digging up, hauling and spreading dirt that slid near the
house because of heavy rains.
The sun goes down, we have dinner, and then we sit by the fire and read books to each other or make up silly stories for shadow plays or do puzzles or
play games ("ef" is not a word in Scrabble, by the way, no matter what the seven year old says). If you're looking for the whole point of existing,
those moments may very well be the answer.
David K - 4-20-2005 at 06:13 PM
You know what my parents gave me to do on our drive to the tip, in 1966? Reading from the Lower California Guidebook about the road ahead and what
interesting sites can be found... Look at what that did to me: I got into drawing maps of the places in Baja we went, I documented the roads we
traveled with milages, etc., I learned to drive on the dirt roads and beaches south of San Felipe, I wrote and self published my first guide at age
15...
Anyway, how bad is it to catch Baja Fever as a child?
Here are my two in our 4WD on the beach at Bahia Santa Maria, about 1992...
Neal Johns - 4-20-2005 at 06:54 PM
This is one of the best topics and posts I have seen in a long time! And my "kid" is in her mid forties!
If you don't you will both lose.
PacO - 4-20-2005 at 07:00 PM
My older kids( now 19 and 16) have been going since I started camping down south in 1991-2 and my new twins have gone twice in utero and twice between
8 and 10 months old. Those times are like gold nuggets in my memory.
David K - 4-20-2005 at 08:13 PM
Yes, kids and Baja just go together! It will be great!
Hey, that's me (8 1/2) catching my first dorado in 1966... You can see Cabo San Lucas in the distance... We drove there in our Jeep, took 2
weeks...
[Edited on 4-21-2005 by David K]
[Edited on 4-21-2005 by David K]
rogerj1 - 4-20-2005 at 10:49 PM
I'm so glad I posted this question! Thanks everyone for the great ideas. I'm touched and inspired. Of course part of the education will be seeing Baja
Nomads in their natural setting.
Debra - 4-21-2005 at 07:20 AM
OH YEAH! Bring him, I too loved everything said here.
I've been bringing my son since he was 4 (he's 11 now) usually it's just he and I (last summer we brought along my 5yrs. old g-daughter the "foo-foo
girl" ("miss-priss", you know the type) well, we "Bajaed" the foo-foo right out of that girl! The girl that cried getting her face wet while
washing her hair was snorkeling the first day! We spent 5wks. on our trip and her mother didn't know her when she came home.
We drive all the way from Seattle and do it ALOT! so you can imagine just how boring that gets. I do bring the car toys, but once in Baja my son
rarely thinks of them (too much "cool" stuff to do) last summer the game boy did come out in the eveing a few times (which surprized me) Then I
thought about it, and figured that it must be like that cervesa or vino after a "hard" days fishing, snorkeling, running, digging, collecting "stuff",
hauling wood, washing dishes, hauling garbage, chasing lizards, then of course he has to find things to feed them (we put them back after one days
"catch") , diving for dinner (he's the diver in the family, we have to eat somehow, Mom's too old )
Good advice on the books, the reptile book is especially a favorite. One thing I would add to the others advice, get him some good snorkel gear (not
the baby stuff that will leak on him) and of course a life vest (even if you don't have a boat, it never fails that someone invites your kid along on
a fishing trip or just sight seeing outing (Brendan caught 2 20# yellowtail on a trip with Mike Humfreville 2 summers ago BOY WAS HE PROUD! and
tired) (both Mike and boy)
The best thing in the world is making the top of the hill and getting the first glimpse of Bahia de Los Angeles and Brendan screams from the back seat
"MOM! WE'RE HOME!
The hardest part of your trip is going to be listening to the nagging and groans when it's time to go home and he doesn't want to leave.
rogerj1 - 4-21-2005 at 10:37 PM
I printed out all the responses to show to me wife. You've all made an impact. Thanks again.
Debra - 4-22-2005 at 05:44 AM
Roger.....check you U2
Drat! I deleted and I still can't send any U2's.....URRRRRGGG!
I can read them, so Roger please U2 me your phone number, or email (I just realized, again who you are...we're neighbors) maybe we can get together
with your wife and son. Brendan would I'm sure love to share his Baja adventures with your son and I'm sure I can put your wife at ease.
[Edited on 4-22-2005 by Debra]
Holy rocks, batman!
Skipjack Joe - 4-23-2005 at 12:46 AM
These rocks are adjacent to Rancho Santa Ynez, right off the highway. Spend a morning at the campground and see what mischief he can get into. Just
cross the dry riverbed after your morning breakfast.
[Edited on 4-23-2005 by Skipjack Joe]
making new friends...
eetdrt88 - 4-23-2005 at 08:27 AM
in baja is pretty easy,even for the kids....heres a pic of my daughter at punta chivato with one of the neighbors kids...right away they were baja
buddies
whoops,here it is
eetdrt88 - 4-23-2005 at 08:28 AM
wish we were goin' too
Sharksbaja - 4-23-2005 at 01:43 PM
Debra knows, it is true that our children change after visiting Baja. The benefits many and the value from experience is great. Our son constantly
makes references and /or comparisons you can't get at home. We feel fortunate to live in the NW but it is also a tradew off. Long dreary winters and
routines. Our children fell in love immediately in Baja and led to us buying a home. Since that first visit for them 2 yrs ago we have made the trip
many times since. I do go alone sometimes as school prohibits that too much. Sometimes I bring one or both or all of us. I/we always have a wonderful
time. Just follow the advice above but don't stress it. You have options, even small things like a Mexican soda at a super mercado will open his eyes.
Watch for rattlesnakes when exploring and most importantly.... bring lots of sunblock and USE IT! I am sick of seeing these pale NW people and their
kids getting burned and getting sick from it. Stay well hydrated and have the time of your life.
rogerj1 - 4-24-2005 at 10:43 PM
Debra: U2U has been sent. Plans are in the making!