In a world filled with all the latest gadgets, 86 TV channels, Netflix and expensive gaming consoles – which keep kids arses firmly planted on the couch, with a bag of Smiths chips and a can of coke, and no physical interaction, sometimes it takes some old school thinking to break the cycle.

I remember when I was thinking about a list of things for an upcoming camping trip with my son, and I tried to think back to what I liked to take camping as a kid. The bike was one of them, and then I remembered the two way radio. I’d been given a set that came from Tandy, or Dick Smith for Christmas, and absolutely loved them.

At the time, I had a couple of step sisters, and we had all got one. We were outside, running around, playing detective games, team games, acting out our favourite movie scenes. We all came up with our own call signs. I was Eagle, there was also Rosebud and…. I can’t remember the other.

We pretty much wore them out, and they went everywhere with us. As I told my Dad in later years “We would sneakily talk to each other after bed time, from under the covers in our beds, and you never even knew!”

He replied “Yes, that’s exactly why I gave them to you….. and you never even knew!”

Holy Shit. Sneaky bastard had tricked us into getting along with each other. Bloody brilliant!

While these were super cool in the 80’s, how would they go now? The formula is pretty simple, and a quick scout around on eBay can find them quite cheap, so I picked up a few. They had limited range, which was ok. We could talk between rooms after bedtime, take them on road trips and talk car to car, and take them camping as well. Done.

We did have some fun with them, and I wont kid you, it’s not the holy grail of ideas, and they will get bored of them quicker than we did, but it’s been well worth us having them. It’s a Dad oriented type of gift, and something we can get involved with too.

Now, here’s The Aussie Dad tip. Get an extra handset for yourself, so you can listen in on the convo, or join in the fun. I remember Brandon and three of his mates were out running around in teams of two, playing a cat and mouse game. With my own handset, I waited until I was sure they were all just in range, and put on my deepest detective voice.

“ATTENTION: This is a secure channel, please advise your location….. Unit 51 to base, I’m picking up an unauthorised broadcast on this frequency, I’m activating a trace now, and will notify you when I have the offenders in custody”

Next minute, kids come screaming through the door, like greased lightning, eyes ablaze, hearts racing, with some wild stories to tell.

I could hardly believe it….