Going backwards let me start off with "bonding." Just remember that we can't give up everything we'd like to do in life just to concentrate on "bonding" with a child or grand-child or friend. Now, don't take me wrong because I certainly believe we should do all we can to try and bond or get close to our children, but I can assure you that too often there are many outside factors that can influence how a child/children grow up that we just can't seem to control. Also, as exciting and fun this great outdoor sport is, it just doesn't seem to catch the interest of all kids.
To reflect, I have been an avid detectorists since I built my first "metal/mineral locator" from a kit when I was in high school. Six-and-a-half years later my ex-wife and I had our first child, my oldest son, Monte Jr. We had 6 children, and my current wife had 3. Between our 9 children we now have 19 grand-children, and they range in age from 6 months to about 17 or 18 years old. Of my 6 they ALL had a taste of the hobby and got to experience a little detecting on a few occasions. I had 4 boys and 2 girls (B-G-B-G-B-B) and Monte Jr. and his sister were both equipped with a metal detector when he was about 5. It was not a light unit, but he managed to figure it out for some simple hunting with me.
My second daughter enjoyed the opportunities to go out hunting with me while her older sister and my 2nd son didn't show much interest. There was a local newspaper article about me that came out in early December, 1982, and at that time they did the writ-up the second daughter was only 4