When it comes to hiking my husband and I differ in our perspectives. He is very much a carry everything on your back, hike for days through pristine wilderness sort of guy. I’m more a short day hike, return to our nice accommodation sort of girl. Despite these differences we are united in our plan to get our kids enthused about hiking, and after a difficult pregnancy I am raring to go. Keeping the kids happy, and, most importantly moving, even on short hikes can be tricky though. Obviously, depending on the ages of your kids different approaches are useful, and with a baby, pre-schooler and five year old we use lots. With these ages, most of what we do would not even be called hikes by the purists. Rather, we focus on nature walks, with the plan being to move them up to genuine hikes when they are older. The main goal being, as well as to enjoy ourselves, to give the kids a positive experience, and love of nature through immersing them in it.
(1) Choose walks that are an an appropriate length, duration and difficulty for the age of your kids. Carrying an over-tired, or worse, tantruming toddler over branches and rocks for even half and hour is tough going. You want them to make the distance on their own steam (if you aren’t using a carrier or stroller) This means doing your research beforehand.
(2) If you are hiking with a baby, invest in a good carrier and do hikes that are stroller friendly (once again research is necessary). We put the carrier in the bottom of our stroller, and in the case that the baby is fussing in the stroller, the carrier will usually keep them happy for the rest of the hike. Nature boardwalks are great for walking with young kids.
(3) Don’t hike with over-tired kids. Mornings are best.
(4) Dress for the weather. Make sure the entire family is dressed appropriately for the weather, including wet weather gear – Cotswold Outdoor is a supplier of outdoor clothing for families. Pay particular attention to your kids footwear.
(5) Let your children choose the hike you are going to go on – give them a couple of options, even let them look at pictures of them on the internet beforehand to guide their choice.
(6) Get your kids talking about what wildlife may be hiding, and encourage them to look out for it.
(7) Take along a kid’s camera and let them take photos as they go.
(8) Always take adequate water and snacks.
(9) If it is permitted, encourage school aged kids to collect an object or two for show and tell.
(10) Give kids a chance to stop and play along the way. This can be frustrating from adults who like to get from A to B but giving the kids the opportunity to climb a tree, look for bugs, or, like my three year old, just sit in the grass/dirt/rocks for a while makes them happy.
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Bubs on the Move provides tips and advice for parents traveling with small children including attraction and accommodation reviews. You can join us on Facebook or Twitter to receive updates to your news feed.
Definitely good tips – especially the food and drink. Forget snacks at your own peril! That’s a sure-fire way to end up carrying a 25kg preschooler all the way back home, whining all the way.
I know Bron. Wish they would carry me if I got hungry!
I appreciate your opinion. Great post for influencing kids on hiking.
Really nice tips you have mentioned.. very informative..
It seems as if you are discussing my family 🙂 My wife has a similar concern like you and we differ with our respective perspectives for hiking. I don’t really know what my kids have to say about it, they are young 😀
Well thanks for sharing this post, feels good after reading. Glad reading those tips!
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