February 28, 2010Great Adventures For Your Kids

What a feeling!

So many of us enjoy a “great adventure”, but we also have children who want to “adventure” with us. How in the heck do you climb Mount Everest or hike the jungles of India with a 5, 3, and 2-year old? Well, I haven’t done any of THOSE things with my kids, but we do have great adventures.

Hi, I go by “The General” and my 3 kids and I LOVE hiking and adventuring outdoors. Sometimes having your adventures with your kids isn’t as intense, but the wonderment on their faces is enough to make it fun.

Plus, if you keep adventuring with them they’ll grow up to be “big adventurers” one day. These are chronicles of places we’ve been, adventures we’ve had, things we do, and how we make it fun.

Since this is our first time together I’ll give you just a couple pointers on how to include your kids and what they can do that is fun. After today we’ll get into more specific things that will be cool for you AND your kids.

Let’s get trekking…

How Young Is Too Young?

My 5-year old daughter went on her first hike, albeit a short one, when she was 2. Her little brother stayed home and we hit the trails of our local national park.

Actually, we went hiking because she said she liked rocks. There are plenty of rocks on the trail you know!

I told my wife that our son could hike when he learned how to walk. So, that’s what we did until #3 came along.

In order to keep #3 from feeling left out we found a backpack carrier for the baby. Now, if you don’t hike regularly with a child on your back you don’t know how much fun this can be.

The baby will want to grab your eyes and turn your head to see every cool thing they’ve found. When we first started my kid just liked to turn my head and tell me “Hi”. Nowadays she walks by herself and picks up her own rocks.

What’s the moral of this story? You can’t be too young to go on Mom or Dad’s “great adventure”.

What Do You Take With You?

My kids love a snack. Actually, my kids love food period. However, we don’t take “Protein-rich/ultra/hiking-food” on hikes. We call it a snack.

What constitutes a snack for a hike with your kids? The same things you would take with you on an all-day trek. However, go cheap. Bring them some chips and pretzels. Bring a piece of fruit to cut up. Bring your Swiss army knife to cut it with—they’ll dig that!

The trick here is to have something to do when you stop. Kids might think that being in the middle of the woods or hiking a foothill is boring. However, if you find a special place to stop and have a snack they’ll think it’s the coolest thing ever.

It doesn’t take much to entertain them sometimes.

How Far Do You Go?

How far do you hike with your kids? As far as you can!

If you’re hiking loop trails then just start the loop and tell the kids you’re going to finish this “big trail”. If the trail doesn’t loop or intersect with something then just stop, have a snack, and turn around.

This is where you have to control yourself. As an adult we could hike for miles and miles and not feel it. Heck, we could read your favorite website all day (Genxxl.com, altitude-blog.com,) and not feel it. However, you might be carrying a baby and walking with other kids. You know how much they can take.

If you are willing to hike deep enough into wooded areas you’re bound to see local wildlife and even spot some birds. This is a good time to decide if your kid wants to be an Ornithologist or Zoologist. They’ll go just for the birds!

When you’re looking for animals just keep track of how long you’ve been on the trail so you don’t go too far. The last you need is to repeat “Deliverance”.

Don’t be afraid to push them a little bit. It won’t hurt them to feel a little “burn” in their little legs. I promise that when you get home they won’t stop talking about your “cool adventure”.

What Do I Do?

We have a couple national parks near the house with lots of trail-space. We just drive over into the park and pick a place to stop. We hop out of the car and get going.

Some spots have names and others don’t. I tell my kids the names of trails and places we go: They make up the rest on their own.
We know a couple spots where people bring their horses—it’s like being at the zoo! Plus, there are places where people bring their dogs and your kids will LOVE meeting everyone’s dogs—mine do!

Anything that makes it fun for them will have them wanting more, and that’s what you want. You want to share a passion of yours with your kids.

It’s certainly better than leaving them at home!