Geocaching Cures Runaway Kid

Earlier this summer, Eric 13 ran away from home. He went to Toronto, spent his savings in four days, and then caught a Greyhound bus back to his family's residence. Eric I suppose the whole experience was a real eye-opener for the boy, but it was definitely a wake up call for his Dad.

Eric is not alone

According to the National Runaway Switchboard, over two million young people run away from home each year. This organization takes calls and helps kids who have run away, or who are thinking of running away, (one in seven kids between the ages of 10 and 18 will run away from home at some point). Right now, even as you read this, there are 1 to 3 million runaway and or homeless kids living on the streets in the United States. This discussion on WonderCafe is full of heart wrenching stories from parents who feel responsible.

Why do kids run away from home?

There are many reasons kids run away from home, but the most common include, abuse (violence in the family), separating parents (and divorce), or the arrival of a new stepparent, a death in the family, and or the birth of a new baby. Sometimes the financial worries of the parents can impact the child, as can alcohol abuse, or drug abuse. A teenager with problems at school, including excessive peer pressure, or poor academic performance will sometimes chose to run away from that situation.

Choices become more and more limited

When runaways are interviewed by professional counselors most will admit that leaving home was a desperate last option - they simply ran out of choices. Every child has issues, but most evolve ways to overcome their problems. Kids who think that running away is the answer, may not know how to solve tough problems, or they don't have any adults in their life they can trust to help them. Sometimes a really big problem can make it seem like running away from home is the only choice.

Unfortunately, the problems kids hope to escape by running away are replaced by other problems, namely the reality of life on the streets.

Geocaching unites families

Eric's father is a smart guy. Instead of working harder to buy his children unnecessary luxuries, he works less and spends more time with his family. And they do have fun! The unit now travels all over the country and enjoys skiing and snowmobiling in the winter time, and fishing, hiking and biking in the summer months. Above all else, Eric's father attributes the brand new sport of geocaching to his son and daughter's new happiness. The kids love sharing a quest with their parents ��"šï¿½" and its competitive.

Hold on a minute��"šï¿½ï¿½ What is Geocaching anyway?
American military technology has transformed treasure hunting into a thrilling 21st century sport, but instead of using an X to mark a spot on a paper map, we can now use GPS to pinpoint our quarry.

Unless you've lived in a convent for the last ten years, you probably already know that GPS stands for Global Positioning System. This technology first appeared as the invisible hand that guided those smart bombs into Iraqi equipment sheds in Operation Desert Storm of the early 1990's. Now it can be used by the public to glean the position of anything anywhere on the planet. Armed with a love of exploration and a decent system, participants use alpha numeric coordinates to search and rescue cached goodies.

320,000 new caches were planted last week alone

The international geocaching website binds this community together with remarkable unity. On this one site, ALL geocaches in ALL countries are listed, along with their coordinates and any hints you may need to find the booty. What is the treasure? It's usually just trinkets, key chains, stickers for the kids and small toys.

In order to start finding caches, Eric's Dad had to first create an account at the site (it's free), and then he did a local search for the nearest quest. You'll take something out of the cache and leave something of your own, sign the log book and log your find on the web site when you get home. It's that easy, in theory. In practice however, these caches can be very well-hidden and very cleverly camouflaged.

So how does Geocaching heal dysfunctional families?

Young people love technology ��"šï¿½" iPods, Xboxes and ultra slim cell phones with email browsers almost always top your child's Xmas wish list. GPS devices are no exception. This little gadget lets you find and record the exact location of caches ��"šï¿½" and it's cool. Families need to get a couple of these toys ��"šï¿½" one for the parents and one for the kids. They should be the exact same model. When Mom and Dad go looking, the kids should be looking too, and it becomes ��"šï¿½ï¿½Å"an amazing race' as to which team will find the cache first. On the next hunt it could be Mom and Daughter versus Dad and Son and so on ��"šï¿½" break up the teams frequently. There is something magical about a family uniting and driving together into the wild, and there is something equally compelling about the competition that arises from a good old fashioned treasure hunt. When parents and children work together they unite against a common enemy, the unknown. And isn't that what life is all about?