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Fishing is something my husband loves to do. And while I’m not a huge fishing fan, I love being outside, soaking up some rays, and getting a little family time in.
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This summer fishing has been especially fun because our son is old enough to go out with us. We bought him his own fishing pole and net, and he loves being out near the water using them.
All this fishing fun over the summer has caused me to learn a a few lessons from our little guy. 🙂
Lessons Learned While Fishing with a One-Year-Old
1. It’s ok to get dirty.
My son has loved every part of fishing. Whether he is running up and down the shoreline, teetering a bit too close to the water (in mom’s opinion), playing in the mud, or simply sitting in the grass taking a break – he always seems to come home a bit dirtier than when we left. But, you know what? That’s ok?
Life is messy. We’re going to get dirty at times. That’s part of the fun!
2. If something’s not working, go a different direction.
The first time we took our son out fishing this summer, he just randomly got up off the shore after about an hour and started walking toward the vehicle motioning “all done” in sign language as he went. That was it – game over. He was done, and he let us know.
At first I couldn’t believe our one-year-old had just signaled that our afternoon of fishing fun was over, but then it dawned on me – we tell him what to do all the time. This was his way of politely telling us he was done. He waited patiently by the car while we carried everything up to him, and he was smiling the entire time.
He had fun that afternoon, but fishing was no longer working for him. He wanted to do something else, and that’s ok. How often as adults do we realize something is no longer working and go the other direction?
3. Get Help.
The first time our son tried using his brand new fishing pole, he had no idea what he was doing. (Pretty typical for a 14-month-old, I suppose…) He kept bringing it over to me and was fascinated as I would cast it over and over into the water. He knew he needed help, and that first time out on the water he was perfectly content to watch me 100 times over.
This reminded me that it’s ok to not know what you’re doing. At some point we all need to reach out and ask for help. And it’s ok to sit back and watch someone else for awhile until we are comfortable.
4. You don’t always have to listen to others.
When daddy caught the first fish of the day, we tried to get our little man to touch it. He wanted nothing to do with that fish! At first I was a bit frustrated by this, but then I realized it’s ok to not always listen to others. Sometimes people have a different point of view or agenda, but that doesn’t always mean it’s the right one for us. It’s ok to sometimes get advice or direction and go the other way. That’s another important life lesson.
This was just one of many fishing trips our family will take together, and I’m sure there will be many more lessons learned along the way. In the meantime, I’m grateful for all the things my one-year-old is teaching me each day.
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