And I squirmed as he lustily downed a refreshing draught of his own urine.
But it was not until I was standing on a rope five storeys up I thought he was really taking the mickey.
We were at The Bear Grylls Adventure at Birmingham's NEC, "home of Earth's greatest challenges", with the promise we would be taken out of our comfort zones.
Now. I have jumped off cliffs and thrown myself out of an aeroplane … but I was a long way out of MY comfort zone here.
About 80ft out of it, in fact. It was a long way down.
A woman up there with me on "Europe's most extreme high ropes course" let forth a few expletives. And even with a child in tow, I was tempted to join in.
Hoods over our heads plunged us into darkness My 11-year-old son, on the other hand, couldn't see what all the fuss was about.
Leif, at the minimum age permitted, was putting his dad to shame.
He moved effortlessly across the obstacles showing no sign of fear, even when he got tangled up and wobbled, threatening to slip off the rope.
I am not sure his mum would have wanted to see that. Still, no harm was done. And it certainly didn't stop him giving me advice on how to bridge the gaps.
How things change. Not so long ago, I would have been doing the coaxing.
I was earlier made to wonder if I had done the right thing in taking him.
Leif was ridiculously excited ahead of our visit to Bear's new venture, being a huge fan of the Chief Scout and telly survivor.
The first thing he said on arrival was: "This place is amazing."
But at the beginning of our opening challenge on Basecamp, hoods were put over our heads, plunging us into total darkness … and frightening the living daylights out of my poor boy.
When that ordeal was over, his confidence increased – especially once he realised he had an advantage squeezing through small spaces.
And eating mealworms gave him no trouble, either (they taste like out-of-date crisps, seeing as you asked).
Next up was a demanding assault course and Basecamp – costing £20 for 90 minutes – was brought to an end with archery.
You never know when you might need to hunt for food in the wild.
I was already worn out and we still had two big activities to go.
The high ropes course began with a zipwire from the back of a "helicopter" – a fun and painless jaunt that gave me a false sense all would be well.
It got more difficult … but we still had the indoor skydiving to look forward to. And we both loved it.
The sensation of freefalling in a vertical wind tunnel is not quite like the real thing (for one thing, the view is less impressive) but is is as close as you are going to get without leaving the ground.
There is also the option to dive with sharks and to climb routes inspired by famous summits.
With everything so extreme, I half expected the canteen to grill bears. Still, the pizza was top-notch and we didn't even have to kill it first.
No wonder we left on such a high.
The Bear Grylls Adventure is from £20pp including four Basecamp Activities. Add high ropes or a climb for £10pp more, iFly for £45pp more and shark diving for £80pp more. See beargryllsadventure.com.
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