The time has finally come; your kids are out of diapers, they can speak in semi-complete, nearly drool-free sentences, and they have stopped asking "why?" to every statement you make. Congratulations, they are now old enough to be introduced to the great sport of fishing. But you want to make sure that you do it in such a way as to get them hooked for life. Failing that, you at least hope to not scar them for life. But how can you successfully instill in them your passion for angling? Here are several ways you can try to get them involved.

Make Them or Break Them
One of the more traditional methods of indoctrination is the old "throw them in the pool and see if they can swim" regimen, which is a variant of the "pass or fail" grading system. Now, for some kids, getting up at four o'clock in the morning, driving two hours to the lake, and spending all day on the boat in the rain with Mom and Dad is a dream come true. But for others, this type of activity may be comparable to punishment for painting the cat green on St. Patrick's Day. One advantage of this method is that it's a real timesaver, because after only one day, you will know whether or not your child will be a angler like you or will hate fishing as much as broccoli without Cheez Whiz.

The Payola Scheme
To get their kids fishing, some parents resort to a level of bribery that would make a third world Minister of Defense  Procurement blush. You can promise that if your kids go fishing, you will: A) Take them to Disney, B) Buy them a bike, C) Do their homework for a semester, D) All of the above. You can also allow your children to bring along the Game Boy, a selection of toys resembling Santa's sack and a portable TV for when their game thumbs need a break. However, fishing may become so far down the list of priorities that you may deem the outing a rousing success if your kids merely glance up from their games for a nanosecond to see why Dad gets so excited when his pole bends over.

The 1,000-Minute Micromanager
Kids need a little instruction in order to learn to fish properly, so some parents make sure they know everything by spewing a steady stream of orders like machine gunfire. An easy way to tell if you subscribe to this method is if you can transcribe what you're saying without needing to use punctuation marks or a spacebar. For example,"Keepyourrodtipupwatchyour-bobberyouhaveabitesetthehookwhatareyoudoingpayattention." If you think you might unknowingly be giving junior too much guidance, try this test: Each time before you speak, bite your tongue lightly. At the end of the day, if you're missing half of your tongue, then you need to ease up a little.  

Watch This
Kids, for better or worse, tend to learn best through imitation, and it's this trait that is most often used by parents to get their kids into fishing. While this is a powerful tool, it can have a downside. For example, if you decide to act exactly like you do when your best fishin' buddy is on board, don't be surprised if you get a note from your child's principal saying that your little darling is frequently telling off-color jokes, spitting a lot or making politically incorrect statements. But on the other hand, if you always show your child patience, don't correct their lax angling techniques and never get frustrated or mad, then you're just making the rest of us look bad.