He turned 6 in June and we've been on the grills almost everyday this summer and he's starting to show a keen interest in this thing of ours and it got me thinking....
I know this is a different time than the late 70's and early 80's in which I have as raised, but I got my first .22 rifle and Official Boy Scouts of America rod and reel for my 5th birthday and bagged my first pheasant that year and had taken down my first boar(with a .38 Special; Dad, uncles and their friends were police) at the age of 6 and half(that half was important!).
One of my fondest memories is bringing our kills/catches home and cleaning and dressing them in the backyard. I don't much remember the taste of that first pheasant, but I distinctly remember telling my dad that the grilled boar tasted just like pork chips only better.
I don't have the money for a garage full of Harleys or safe full of fancy guns like my dad and ready access to a free range to practice shooting as we did, but I picked up an 18.5-in kettle for $30 and I can certainly teach my son to barbecue and maybe give him a sip of a cold one when my wife isn't looking, just like Dad used to do.