I may be 52 years old now, still don't mean I growed up. *smirk*
Yep, I still shoot shoot slingshots made with wood from the fork of a branch of a tree.
Unless it is a wittle bitty twee...*giggle-snort*
I pass forward.
After I have had a kid on my shoulders use that wittle saw and cut "that one" and the rest of the branch comes crashing down upon us...
"What did you learn?"
"You were right that thing would fall down on us"
Pocket knives , just simple slip joints, and smaller hands in mine and we whittle that fork.
We make a slingshot together...
Often times make a second or third one...
Just in case a slingshot is "lost" and all.
<whispers> "Redundancy is a good thing, like if one is lost, needs repair, and..."
"Yeah good thing you shared about having spares off site too, mom is sorta suspicious about some hiding spots I have"
*ahem* "Just pretend to be dumb and when you not grounded anymore, you can use the one "lost" and oh, gimme that thing before we head back so mom won't see you with one"
[Hey I was a littler kid once, I understand how big folks just don't understand and all].
Persimmons.
"How do you know if one is ripe Uncle Steve?"
"Well, hard to explain really, trust me, if you ever bite into one that ain't, you will always be able to tell"
<bite>
<Puckered up mouth skewed face>
"&#@)8" [puckered translation : "yuck"]
So the unripe Persimmons are used for ammo, as are the rotten ones.
Life lessons that need to be passed forward.
"Okay, why are we going to fly a kite!" - kids
"So we can have fun shooting it down " me
"Yeah! Uncle Steve is so Neat!"
Get a open field, get that inexpensive kite w-a-y up there, and do dips, dives and shoot sling shots.
Fun, educational, challenging (both kite flying and sling-shottin') and quality time on a nice day, passing forward and stress just dripping off everyone, be they smaller kids or bigger kids.
Eye to hand coordination , lessons that translate to shotguns,...
Being a kid...no matter the size of kid...
Kite could be Aliens, UFOs, Global Warming, Martians, Ex husbands...Ex wives, ...witches, ...
Slingshots are just one of many things that needs to be passed forward, preserved and skill sets kept up.
Serious Responsibilities and all the timeless lessons can be done with a slingshot.
Just like one does with a pocket knife, kitchen match, single shot .22 rifle and such.
"If you can hit that target Uncle Steve, we don't get to go to Taco Bell as we voted we wanted to go to"
Target? What Target?
"There" <kids point>
Taco Bell was great, kids, parents, grandparents and myself.
I admit, I missed hitting a Playing card "umpteen bazillon yards" downrange.
I could not see it, much less hit it.
I only reach about 3/4 distance ...
"You need to aim higher and pull the thing all the way back!"
<miss>
"Aw man! We just knew you could do it - what a bummer...oh well , guess we have to go to Taco Bell now...
*giggle-snort*