As a parent a few times over, I have been surprised many times over at how quickly kids can pick up skills, especially if they are taught in a supportive environment. I feel it is better to overreach than to dumb down.

It has been just over fifty years since a group of six boy scouts, endeavoring to summit a mountain near Tucson, hiked right into the teeth of a ferocious winter storm. Three turned back and three didn't. Their corpses were finally found after an exhaustive, two week search.

They made numerous rather elementary mistakes. Their troop had scheduled survival training for the next month. It is never too soon to start learning the basics.