Of the many things in my kids' Easter baskets, the older three also had some simple slings and packs of tennis balls.  They took to it far quicker than I thought they would.  I showed them a simple underhand throw, but my 10yr old all on his own figured out the fig8 throw and is quite happy with himself.  My daughter, who is only 6yrs old, is having a little harder time at it, but I'm sure she'll get it down pretty quickly.  She's not the quitting type.

I intend to post some pics of the slings I made sometime soon.

Anyway, just thought I'd share...
BM

Good for you, b.m..  I wish I could get my kid interested in it.  She finds it strange.

Your son figured out fig. 8?!?! That took me forever! With the video! Watch out, your son could be the next slinging prodigy.

Knaight wrote on Apr 26^th, 2011 at 11:51pm:

Shame on him for making us look stupid!

Your kids liking slinging right away is very cool .... figuring out and learning slinging styles  not as big a suprise to me as for some of you . If you are going to teach a kid a language or skill they learn fastest when young and the learning curve slows as they get older . Also most kids are more in touch with what their bodys are doing so they learn motor skills quickly. A parent that encorages his kids in a skill like slinging is very cool too ....Well done

Any time we teach our kids primitive survival skills we improve the chances they will survive as adults . I used to play fight my daughter ( amid reams of giggles on her part) but as a young adult she was attacked by a would be rapist with a knife . out armed and out weighed she fought him off and got to a place of safety and called the police for help (he was caught too) I still cry a bit when i remember her saying "daddy the things you taught me when we were playing saved me" As parents we have obvious dutys , feed clothe and protect our kids , but the best protection can be what we teach them to do for theirselves Once again Well done to interest your kids in a skill that goes back to our beginings as men

Thabet, Glad your story ended well. As the father of four daughters that has been one of my greatest fears. I taught them all to sling BTW. I should get them thowing their fig 8 on video.

Not bad at all. It is a complex move that some can't seem to do.  My youngest introduced slinging to a friend just this week. He called me for some advice on how to make slings and I pointed him to slinging.org and your seatbelt sling tutorial. Just passing it on.