I went hunting Sunday afternoon with my 3 year old grandson. When we started walking out he took the lead, walking down the moon lit power right away. When we started to turn up into the pine timber I noticed he was walking so close to me that we were tripping over each other. After a bit I stopped and asked what the problem was. He had no comment. As we walked on he asked "T-Pa are we afraid?" I replied "Of what the dark woods?" He nodded. I told him WE weren't afraid of anything walking in this world and pointed out the fact that he had us covered with his trust BB gun. We walked another couple of hundred yards and I could tell he was still nervous, so I stopped and sat down against a big tree. After he plopped down next to me I told him" Grandpa loves the woods at night and we sat for a while just listening to the sounds. I went on to explain to him that city folks are often afraid of the dark because they watch too much TV but that we knew there was nothing in the woods at night that was not there in the day light. We sat for awhile as I explained that for us to be hunters we had to be able to move through the woods in the dark with the knowledge that we were the biggest badest predator in the woods. The rest of our hike out he took the lead taking great pride in finding the truck in the dark ( it was parked in the middle of the trail we walked in on)
 

GREAT NEWS  for one little tuff hunter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Got to Love being a GrandPa...........

What a Grandpa!  That boy is never going to forget that dark morning in the woods with grandpa.  Thanks for putting a smile on my face!    

Great story!

Well done.

Great Story.
That is one lucky grandson.

Good stuff!

That's really neat.  Thank you for sharing it.

Nice read...Woodie should read this...LOL

What a granpa! he shootin a "baby widder" there buff??

You joke Longstick BUT when a buddy of mine made him that Longbow I handed it to him and said it was just like grandpad's. He shook his head and said no... it doesnt have a piderman on it...Piderman??? my wife finally figured out it didn't have the Blackwidow logo ...Spiderman. So a quick fix with a sharpy and he was ready to go

That's cool, he won't forget that.

J

That's a great story...

Kind of reminds me when I was younger.

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for sharing.

Tuff little guy.

Good story.You did him a big favor gramps have fun together.

I wish you were my grandpa years ago.  I STILL do not like being in the woods at dark by myself.  I just cannot do it.  I tried and I break out into a serious sweat and have problems breathing, and I am 46.  Now isn't that the sadest thing you have heard.  Nyctephobia or something like that.

Man you did that one right. Way to go.

Marty,
That was so cool that you recognized his anxiety and that you stopped and talked it through. The explanations you gave were perfect and very honest/no hype or  stuff he would have to unlearn at a later age.
You have done a great service to your grandchild.

Way to go Grandpa.

Paul

Now that was just awesome...thanks for sharing!