Hand her deck of cards and tell her to play solitaire, if she doesn't like that tell her you will leave her at home the next time. She will have either accept it or she will adjust to just to get to go. There is no point in letting her make you her entertainment director. Ours want to go, they go out of their way to be able to go, if they whine, they get the "We are here to work and hunt, if you want to complain, next time you can stay at home" speech, cooperation starts immediately.

Yup ... girls are different.
Girls love 'pretty' ... girls love busy

So try an art project that explores deer habitat.

a) 4 yr old find things you think a deer would eat and use it to make a picture using poster board
b) 4 yr old find things a deer would eat, make a dinner plate for a deer to come visit you
c) 4 yr old find a good spot for a deer to rest and make a home: bed, living room etc.

13 yr old is a little bit tricky - paint a picture using words to describe a deer and the things they do when nobody is watching - hand write the letter / poem and hide it where only God can see.
13 yr old - before you go, make a list of bible verses about deer, birds, nature
13 yr old - describe different animals/plants in a letter - how do these animals remind you about God (example: bird soft gentle, buck powerful protective)

girls are rarely short on words - the idea is to get them to connect God (Creator) with Nature (His Creation)

Have them hunt Rattlesnakes.

Greatness! I took this approach with shed antlers. We had quite the stash in the barn so I would strategically place them in and around camp. My girls would spend hours looking for them. A couple of times one of the guys in camp would come around the corner and say look what I found right in camp. Dude I hid that for the kids go put it back. lol. They are 15 and 20 now and think it's funny I was hiding them the whole time but I told them some of the ones they found may have not been hid by me. Can't wait till my surprise little boy of 2 years old gets to go

No matter what you get them interested in doing, enjoy it with them. It won't be too long before they are grown and gone making their own way through life.

See if they can bring a friend or friends?


I do understand though nowadays everybody is worried about responsibility/liability.

Lots of good ideas. Definitely do what you can to get them outdoors.

Amen Brother. As an "empty nester" I can second this. Time flys. Make time to spend with your kids while they are still there!

On the young ones, get them one of those fly shooters that shoot salt.

JR

I do not have kids to take to the lease. So last year I played wiffle ball with a 8 year old named hunter. He beat the tar out of me.