Marakopa dad; possible motive

[Lilith7]

On the face of it:

He's a resourceful and well versed man in matters of living in the wild.

He wants his children to be the same and understand how he sees the world.

He doesn't want them to be overprotected and coddled by the modern day world.

That's likely true to a degree. 

But I strongly suspect that his motivation is also to some extent, vindictiveness towards his former partner which may be overshadowing the welfare of the children with regard to their education, health & relationships with their other family members.