Hike Like A Kid
To enjoy hiking with kids, you'll first have to adopt your child's perspective. Simply put, we must learn to hike on our kids' schedules - even though they may not know that's what we're doing.
Modify your goals
Compared to adults, kids can't walk as far, they can't walk as fast, and they will grow bored more quickly. Every step we take requires three for them. In addition, early walkers, up to 2 years of age, prefer to wander than to "hike." Pre-school kids will start to walk the trail, but at a rate of only about a mile per hour. With stops, that can turn a three-mile hike into a four-hour journey. Kids also won't be able to hike as steep of trails as you or handle as inclement of weather as you might.
This all may sound limiting, especially to long-time backpackers used to racking up miles or bagging peaks on their hikes, but it's really not. While you may have to put off some backcountry and mountain climbing trips for a while, it also opens up to you a number of great short trails and nature hikes with spectacular sights that you may have otherwise skipped because they weren't challenging enough.
So sure, you'll have to make some compromises... but the payout is high. You're not personally on the hike to get a workout but to spend quality time with your children. And they'll always get older and be able to go farther.
Be careful, though, what you wish for. With older teenagers, the problem becomes quite the opposite of toddlers - keeping up with their high metabolism.
Be flexible
When hiking with children, you may need to rest longer than you planned. You may need to eat lunch earlier or later than planned. You may find kids aren't interested in seeing what you think is exciting but instead are entirely taken in by something else that utterly bores you.
You may never reach the end of the trail. But that's all right; "bailing" is okay. When hiking with kids, the point is the journey, not the destination.
Be patient
Children will explore and touch everything on the way. In contrast, most adults hike with the goal of reaching a destination as quickly as they can, as accomplishment of a goal or seeing something spectacular at the endpoint shapes their perception of what a hike should be. To the child, the journey itself is exciting, and much of what is seen along the way is new and intriguing. What may be mundane to adults may mark the first time a child has ever encountered a bird pecking against a tree, a bug crossing a trail, or a frog sitting on a lily pad. Let them stand in the hollow tree or peak their head into a dark cave.
Kids will want to engage their senses. Let them get a little dirty and touch the squishy mud, rub their hands against the rough bark, or stick their nose into the wild-flower. Just make sure they don't touch dangerous plants, like poison ivy.
As Laurence K. of Boulder, Colo., advises:
"Don't turn the hike a death march. For younger children, the experience, not the accomplishment, is what matters. As children enter their teen years and close on adulthood, they'll start thinking more and more about achieving goals on the trail."
In addition, don't correct everything your kid does wrong, instead, praise. For every correction made, praise for three things done right; if kid connects hiking with parent criticism, they'll quickly come to dislike hiking.
While we're not doing an adult hike, anymore, we do remain parents, and as such we must remain alert at all times. Hiking can be dangerous, but only when we fail to be safe.
About The Author:Rob Bignell is an avid hiker, long-time editor, and former infantry grunt who's been taking his son on day hikes for nearly five years. Together they've scaled summits almost two miles high, crossed America's driest deserts, and walked beneath trees soaring 15 stories over their heads. Now he shares his knowledge and experience with you in "Hikes with Tykes" ( http://hikeswithtykes.com/home.html ) to ensure you and your children enjoy the perfect day hike.
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