Unwanted Observers

[Scenario84]

Man this whole thread sounds ridiculous. Kids are innocent and easily fascinated by things that are new or exciting to them. And if you expect them to be entertained by a slide or a frisbee while someone with a cool gadget searches for "buried treasure" your crazy! I think it's the best when a child in today's work with video games and tv gets pure excitement from seeing me detect. They don't care about coin values or dates or other bs we congratulate each other on finding. For them it's the purest form of why we do this. The thrill of the hunt. I love giving a little kid a few clad that I might find because it makes their day, and to them it's treasure. 20 years ago I was that kid at the park when an old gentleman with a detector pulled a mercury dime out of the ground and gave it to me. It was the coolest thing ever to me and right there started my fascination with the hobby. It wasn't a tv show or anything else. It was a man who understood why it was so amazing to me. I am much younger than most in this hobby, but my 1 year old son gets uncontrollably excited when I turn on my detector and drags my shovel around yelling "ma-bah" (his word for metal detector) all day long. I can't wait till he is old enough to go detecting with me and his piggy bank is full of coins I have found. So don't be so quick to be annoyed at children taking a genuine and non-judgemental interest in the hobby. After all, we are on public property digging stuff that never was ours to begin with. Ill get off my soapbox and wish everyone GL & HH

 

[5900_XL-1]

Man this whole thread sounds ridiculous. Kids are innocent and easily fascinated by things that are new or exciting to them. And if you expect them to be entertained by a slide or a frisbee while someone with a cool gadget searches for "buried treasure" your crazy! I think it's the best when a child in today's work with video games and tv gets pure excitement from seeing me detect. They don't care about coin values or dates or other bs we congratulate each other on finding. For them it's the purest form of why we do this. The thrill of the hunt. I love giving a little kid a few clad that I might find because it makes their day, and to them it's treasure. 20 years ago I was that kid at the park when an old gentleman with a detector pulled a mercury dime out of the ground and gave it to me. It was the coolest thing ever to me and right there started my fascination with the hobby. It wasn't a tv show or anything else. It was a man who understood why it was so amazing to me. I am much younger than most in this hobby, but my 1 year old son gets uncontrollably excited when I turn on my detector and drags my shovel around yelling "ma-bah" (his word for metal detector) all day long. I can't wait till he is old enough to go detecting with me and his piggy bank is full of coins I have found. So don't be so quick to be annoyed at children taking a genuine and non-judgemental interest in the hobby. After all, we are on public property digging stuff that never was ours to begin with. Ill get off my soapbox and wish everyone GL & HH

AMEN

 

[JB(MS)]

I don't mind kids, or grownups, talking to me when I'm detecting. I always stop and talk as long as they want to talk. Below is a true story about a father and son who I stopped to talk to.
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A couple of months ago I went to the elementary school down the street from my house to kill an hour while waiting on the Atlanta Braves baseball game to come on tv. A small, sad looking little boy, maybe 6 years old, was swinging on one of the playground tire swings and his father was pushing him. I walked around for a few minutes looking for coins and the boy and his dad came over to where I was and his dad asked if I was finding anything, so I stopped to talk to them. The boys dad asked several questions about detectors and detecting, the little boy listened for a few minutes and then asked if he could use my detector. The detector i was using was too heavy for him so I got the Golden

 

[Scenario84]

That's an amazing story. And very touching. There's a thousand people who have found MERCS and barbers ect on this site. But how many can tell a story about some good they have done to influence someone who was interested in what they were doing? Now I may be wrong but judging on the previous posts alot of folks are missing some great opportunities to connect with the public we hunt amongst. Could be more valuable then your next wheat penny. I'm just sayin'.......

 

[Treasurehunter1967]

Quote
Scenario84
Man this whole thread sounds ridiculous. Kids are innocent and easily fascinated by things that are new or exciting to them. And if you expect them to be entertained by a slide or a frisbee while someone with a cool gadget searches for "buried treasure" your crazy! I think it's the best when a child in today's work with video games and tv gets pure excitement from seeing me detect. They don't care about coin values or dates or other bs we congratulate each other on finding. For them it's the purest form of why we do this. The thrill of the hunt. I love giving a little kid a few clad that I might find because it makes their day, and to them it's treasure. 20 years ago I was that kid at the park when an old gentleman with a detector pulled a mercury dime out of the ground and gave it to me. It was the coolest thing ever to me and right there started my fascination with the hobby. It wasn't a tv show or anything else. It was a man who understood why it was so amazing to me. I am much younger than most in this hobby, but my 1 year old son gets uncontrollably excited when I turn on my detector and drags my shovel around yelling "ma-bah" (his word for metal detector) all day long. I can't wait till he is old enough to go detecting with me and his piggy bank is full of coins I have found. So don't be so quick to be annoyed at children taking a genuine and non-judgemental interest in the hobby. After all, we are on public property digging stuff that never was ours to begin with. Ill get off my soapbox and wish everyone GL & HH

I've been following this post and was quite put off by all the comments made about kids being annoying etc. but I can wholeheartedly say this was the BEST comment made, hands down. Thanks scenario84!

I can't help but think, when life is all said and done, the only thing one leaves behind are the lives you've touched, not the "treasure" you found in the ground and those touched lives are the "REAL TREASURE". Just my 2 cents.

 

[Scenario84]

Thanks Stephen, glad some people can appreciate what I see. We are all "social" on this forum; but apparently pretty anti-social when it comes to going out in public. It all sounds very elitist and high-brow to me and I think it should be the opposite! If it's so enjoyable that we all can enjoy it, why can't anyone else who hasn't been involved before they saw us??? Thanks for the support!!!!!! I don't usually sound off on topics and enjoy the finds and questions people post, but I felt we were steering in the wrong direction if we are going to change public opinion on our hobby. I think inclusion is a better answer than exile.

 

[ironsight]

OK, here my 'touching' story that happened a couple years ago.
Was detecting in a small village park. This 5 or 6 year old kid showed up out of nowhere. He followed me around and pulled the coins out before i could. Yeah i was friendly with the kid answering all his questions. This went on for 15 or 20 minutes and then a police car shows up and parks close to where me and the kid were. The cop just sat there watching us for a good 15 minutes. And then this woman shows up, grabs the kid by the hand not saying a word or even looking at me. She took her kid back to her house. The police left shortly after and i know he called in my license plate number as my car was the only one in the parking lot right before he parked and watched.

I have no doubt that mother called the police seeing her kid with a stranger yielding a digging knife.
This is not 1950 anymore. Times have changed and for the worse.

 

[vlad]

at some point they get bored, I mean kids in the first few grades. One evening I was in the back of an end zone and suddenly a team appeared.
Really BIG kids starting to practice and the coaches. Before I know it some of them and the coaches are interested, so I show them. I ask if I can watch from the bleechers..
"Yes." Worked out great-a two way street.

 

[HaroldILL.]

Thanks Stephen, glad some people can appreciate what I see. We are all "social" on this forum; but apparently pretty anti-social when it comes to going out in public. It all sounds very elitist and high-brow to me and I think it should be the opposite! If it's so enjoyable that we all can enjoy it, why can't anyone else who hasn't been involved before they saw us??? Thanks for the support!!!!!! I don't usually sound off on topics and enjoy the finds and questions people post, but I felt we were steering in the wrong direction if we are going to change public opinion on our hobby. I think inclusion is a better answer than exile.

ALL I'm saying is I wouldn't let my kid run up to a stranger on the otherside of the park nowadays. To many nuts out there today. Sure you had a few back in the 70's and 80's,But not like today. What you or anyone else let's your kid do is your own business,But I wouldn't myself. And the way it is going by the time your son is grown there won't be a hobby or public property to detect. JMHO.

 

[Robert2300]

Harold II
Yea I yea that. AND NOW there is this whole issue of gay rights
AND THE BOY scouts. Never in a million years would I let my
grand kids join that out fit. Fortunately there are other rendition
of the scouts sponsered by churches and others.. I google this
on Google and was amazed to how many alternative scout groups
there really are.

The kids coming over to ask me questions really isn't a problem.
I've been thinking about getting a second detector, an old beater
to carry around and let the kid try his/her hand at it. I get a few
adults asking too.

Show them the correct way to dig a hole while I'm at it.

Robt2300

 

[JimGilmore]

We have nuts today,same has we had nuts before. The problem is twofold. Since our population has fr the most art doubled and tripled so have the number of nuts. The other thing we forget is that we live in an information age. So now we hear about all the nuts and everything else.
Yes some parents are overwhelmed and in their busy life they let their kids wander farther than they should. Many whom did that before never got put into the papers but had been happening for a long time.

You a chikds parent.guardian....guard them..look out for them....but alas we live in an era of little personel responsibility. The first words out of their mouth will be that they had only turned away for a moment.

 

[MetalMiner]

I know how you feel, there are those days when we are short on time & don't really want to waste any time on the non stop questions of kids. If I'm not short on time I will talk to them & even give them some clad I dig. usually if I give them a quarter I pull out of the hole they will go running to show their parents to show them the coin & that's the end of them. One time I had a bunch of rugrats & one kept on stepping over my MDer I thought for sure he was going to fall on it & break it, I had to tell him several times please don't step on my MDer. he also had to have his head in the hole why I was trying to dig. I don't mind if they watch but this was very annoying when I can't dig because his head is in my way. Knowing how little kids love Dinosaurs sometimes when they ask what are you doing I will tell them looking for Dinosaur eggs. I don't mind stopping to chat with some adults as you can sometimes get a tip or two on a new spot, which I did recently or you can learn more about the location you are hunting.

 

[TrpnBils]

You should promote the hobby, like those stupid TV shows, create more competion, get more places off limits.

Which is exactly why I don't go out of my way to promote it and I generally "hype" the amount of garbage and "find nothing" time that I have....which generally isn't exaggerated too much!

 

[Hoosierdirt]

I recently spent about an hour hunting a local park. While I was there a small pack of teenagers (I'd say 16-18 years old) starting following me around the park at just enough distance to be bothersome but not directly in my face.

They didn't ask any of the usual questions or even try to speak to me, they we cutting up amongst each other. When I relocated to the opposite end of the park and this little pack of degenerates followed me, I called it a day.

Some days I don't mind an audience, but most of the time I'm trying to make the most of my 'tecting time and not answering questions or worried about what the 5 morons way too close to me are up to.

 

[Sven]

All depends upon the situation, kids are curious If they are not obnoxious and really interested, older and adults as well, it's a good way to fuel the hobby with new future participants.
I will either find some coins or find junk or a mixture of both. And hand out some coins, pulltabs or a toy if found.

Here in Canada, seems like everyone is more behaved, adults and teenagers too. Much different than when living in the US.

 

[ChicagoJohn]

ChicagoJohn...I'm curious, how do you detect being deaf? Do you swing a modified visual rig? You could be of great help here to some of us that are losing our hearing...It would be easier to hunt blind than deaf I imagine....and a lot of us are approaching both situations...
Mud

My deaf friends and I use Vibra-phone 280! We like look at target ID number and feeling vibration! No vibration is unwanted like junk nail, screw, etc. Set up same as you do like Coins only or Relic only, etc. You can read more is HOW DO YOU DETECT IF DEAF? in this Metal Detecting Forum!

 

[Metaldetective1975]

All depends upon the situation, kids are curious If they are not obnoxious and really interested, older and adults as well, it's a good way to fuel the hobby with new future participants.
I will either find some coins or find junk or a mixture of both. And hand out some coins, pulltabs or a toy if found.

Here in Canada, seems like everyone is more behaved, adults and teenagers too. Much different than when living in the US.

If we do not teach todays youths, and they in turn teach their youths, in 200 years who will find the stuff we are losing today? Who knows, zinc pennies and clad coins may be worth a fortune then......

 

[ironsight]

All depends upon the situation, kids are curious If they are not obnoxious and really interested, older and adults as well, it's a good way to fuel the hobby with new future participants.
I will either find some coins or find junk or a mixture of both. And hand out some coins, pulltabs or a toy if found.
Here in Canada, seems like everyone is more behaved, adults and teenagers too. Much different than when living in the US.

Don't know about up there but down here in the States we already have enough participants. Of which some/most of those new participants are tearing up park lawns causing [size=large]NO METAL DETECTING[/size] signs to appear over night.

Handing out coins to kids reminded me of when i tried that a couple years ago. Was detecting in a small ethnic neighborhood park when apparently school let out. Waves of kids all of a sudden. About 4 or 5 must of been 3rd or 4th grade boys came up to me and asked what i found. Showed them the handful of clad i dug up.

'Can i have one'? Sure! I gave them some of the penneys i found. 'Pennies!..I don't want pennies' They all gave em back and left.
Was about to offer em some nickels and dimes, but thought the heck with those kids now and i left as well.

Can't say i ever had a positive experience with metal detecting and kids. I avoid them at all cost these days.

 

[cladcanada]

If I am at a park alone and kids show up

I'm outta there

I have more problems with smart a$$ guys with stupid comments

Detect early, in light rain, avoid people

 

[Sven]

If I am at a park alone and kids show up

I'm outta there

I have more problems with smart a$$ guys with stupid comments

Detect early, in light rain, avoid people

I don't seem to have a problem, maybe because I really tall, look mean, and wield a big digging knife and a digger tool.