caminowilts
DG
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Camino Frances, August 2016
Camino Portuguese, April 2017
Camino Ingles, May 2018
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So I caught the Camino bug, after walking the Frances last August and September. I'm now thinking about doing the Camino Ingles from Ferrol to Santiago and then on to Finisterre over the Easter holidays. This time I am thinking of taking my 14 year old son? He is your normal teenager who plays on his xbox, with friends, most of the time. I am worried that he will hate it and neither of us will end up enjoying the time together. I'm interested to hear from anyone who has walked the camino with a teenager and what it was like? Also, I want him to socialise and mix with others (as do I) so I am not sure if the Ingles will be too quiet at the beginning of April? Finally, I'd really welcome some feedback as to what weather to expect during April.
So I caught the Camino bug, after walking the Frances last August and September. I'm now thinking about doing the Camino Ingles from Ferrol to Santiago and then on to Finisterre over the Easter holidays. This time I am thinking of taking my 14 year old son? He is your normal teenager who plays on his xbox, with friends, most of the time. I am worried that he will hate it and neither of us will end up enjoying the time together. I'm interested to hear from anyone who has walked the camino with a teenager and what it was like? Also, I want him to socialise and mix with others (as do I) so I am not sure if the Ingles will be too quiet at the beginning of April? Finally, I'd really welcome some feedback as to what weather to expect during April.
So I caught the Camino bug, after walking the Frances last August and September. I'm now thinking about doing the Camino Ingles from Ferrol to Santiago and then on to Finisterre over the Easter holidays. This time I am thinking of taking my 14 year old son? He is your normal teenager who plays on his xbox, with friends, most of the time. I am worried that he will hate it and neither of us will end up enjoying the time together. I'm interested to hear from anyone who has walked the camino with a teenager and what it was like? Also, I want him to socialise and mix with others (as do I) so I am not sure if the Ingles will be too quiet at the beginning of April? Finally, I'd really welcome some feedback as to what weather to expect during A
Hello again, I was thinking about giving or not-giving your son a choice. Ideally he would buy into the camino enthusiastically. But, if he is hyper connected to his peer group, and is worried about disconnecting with them, he may not be enthusiastic-- especially around said peer group. I think that is alright, and it would be good for him to reestablish connection with you (his father) and have memories to talk about and remember. I would expect him to grumpy and panicky about not having connection with his peers every few minutes, but he should get over that in a few days... You may like to take a look at a book called "Hold onto your kids: why parents need to matter more than peers" by Neufeld. (I have two teen boys and also work with more "mainstream" boys in boy scouts.)
When I saw this topic I was going to answer "Sure, but how much does he weigh and is your pack big enough?"Camino Ingles in April, should I take my 14 year old?
What a cool kid! You are lucky the way you raised him gave him the opportunity to be with you on such a journeyI first heard of the camino when my boys were little (5 and 2) in 2003, and was so excited to walk. My husband though, couldn't understand why, and so time went on. And on. -- Then my mother died on the Solstice in 2014 and I decided that I was going to walk, no matter what. I asked each of my boys (then 17 and 14). My oldest's response was (and I quote) "Why don't you just rent a car?" Right. So, that left him out. Ciaran, my younger one wanted to know if we could get roast lamb in Spain-- So he and I walked together in March/April 2015 from Leon to Santiago de Compostela. We argued regularly--- usually around 3pm, until I began making sure we stopped more often to eat (he was growing like a weed and needed to consume a lot more than I could). Chocolate and more motrin for me at noon helped us get along too. Ciaran can out walk me, and I often let him go ahead. I have a lot of photos of his back on the path far ahead of me. (Thank goodness for the zoom on my camera.) Ciaran can walk for 10 hours and still have energy to swing his walking stick and knock of dandelion heads for fun. (This was one of our on-going arguments, as I like dandelions...) --- We did not meet other teenager pilgrims on the camino. Other adults talked with him-- he was shy but tried to respond. Other adults were surprised to see him there, and would ask me how I got him to come. -- I think part of it is that our family is a bit different from the mainstream. We don't have video/computer games in the house, we don't watch much television at all, we see few movies. Ciaran attended a waldorf school where his friends were also not connected to media, and also where the projects take weeks to finish (knitting socks, working on pastel drawing), and so was not accustomed to immediate gratification in the way many/most teens are now. He also owns and cares for a horse and helps at the farm with haying and other chores. And we go wilderness camping and backpacking regularly. -- Ciaran came to me in the Fall of 2015 asking to return to the Camino, but to start this time from SJPP. I wrestled with this for a bit, as we are short of money and I would have to take him out of school again, but then I realized how incredibly lucky I was that my 15 year old was asking to walk with me, him mom, on the Camino. In April of 2016 we walked from SJPP to Burgos. We still have from Burgos to Leon to walk.
I haven't been able to stop thinking about this. I've never been a father nor an uncle so please feel free to disregard my thoughts but the thoughts are running along like this:
"Hey pal. I'm doing another camino with your uncle (if he isn't run into the ground) and we want you to come along. You're the tech wiz and we want you to be the photographer, navigator, comms expert and blogger. Say you'll help."
So, it isn't a father/son thing; it's being one of the guys. Your son will have responsibility and he has some competition (an uncle or elder to do better than). The invite is worded a bit more positively than just asking if he wants to go.
I say uncle with actually a brother-in-law of yours in mind. You say you adults are into a bonding between yourselves (assuming you already have stronger bonds with your brothers) and your son gets drawn into conversations between men rather than dragged into one with his dad. Your son may feel "safer" with that kind of talk than a more private and deeper father/son one-on-one.
As for his making the whole trip, play up the "Aren't you tougher than 6 year olds and 80 year olds?" angle.
If he still won't go let your adult helper off the hook by letting him withdrwal after reading Jeff's post above.
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