Cameron And The Worm

Father and son fishing, to me it’s like peanut butter and jelly, it just goes together. Mind numbing hours spent sitting in a boat or on a dock, what more could a father (or kid) ask for?

Seriously though, I think Bill has been looking for something that would be just for him and the boys to do together, and the recent access we’ve gained to a beautiful condo right on the Chesapeake was going to give him just that. He carefully selected all the things he would need to take the boys down to the dock to fish. Cameron and Logan seemed excited about the idea too.

Our first visit to Crisfield, Maryland, our first trip to the dock to fish and something happened.

Bill grabbed a blood worm and his knife and cut the worm in half to bait the line.

Cameron lost it!

At first we thought he was just kidding but as the tears started streaming down his face it became clear that he wasn’t. He started sobbing and saying things like, “What did he do to you?!?” “He was innocent!” “How could you do that?!?” I was stuck somewhere between, suck it up and stop being such a wuss and feeling sorry that he was upset. It really was heartbreaking to see him get so upset, especially when this was something I thought he’d enjoy with his father for years to come.

My son is traumatized!

As I walked him back to the condo he kept telling me that he was never going to go fishing (or crabbing) again. I heard more about how they were just minding their business and we come along and kill them. The best was when he mentioned the fish, “They’re just swimmin’ along, minding their own business…”

Cameron still isn’t really interested in fishing and he said if he goes fishing they have to throw everything back and no cutting worms in half. I guess the kid is destine to be like his non fish eating mother…Just for a different reason.

I am happy to report that as the weekend progressed Cameron did go back out to the dock and had some fun. Thankfully enough Logan has no aversion to killing the worms and was more than happy to fish with his dad.

How have you traumatized your kids?