There’s no better way to be present with your children while traveling than by hiking. Hiking with with our children, now 6, 9, and 11 used to be a huge battle. But something switched when we decided to turn the trails into a playground. We knew we had an uphill battle, literally, with a tough five or six mile hike and while completing it as a family was important to the parents-the younger kids, especially, could care less. This is when we decided to turn the trails into a place of joy for the children and really make a day out of it.
The first change we made was to allow the kids to take the lead. We started letting them pick the trail or small mountain to hike. We also started to let them lead the discussions. Sometimes they’d talk about movies for hours, and during other hikes they would be designing their dream bedrooms in their minds! All of this led to distracting them and the complaints started to disappear.
Next, we started to offer bribes (no shame there) by way of treats. We do the trail marker system. We ask the kids, as a group, to count the painted trail markers on the trees we passed. Once they hit 20-30 they get a piece of small candy from our pack. We also started breaking for snacks every mile. This was a reward for them they knew was coming and the question, “how much further” started to vanish as they started to know how much further until it was time for a treat or snack.
We started to let go of our own expectations and let them climb any rock, tree, or hill they wanted to (as long as it was on trail and safe). This gave them control, a sense of accomplishment while completing a long hike, and just made it plain fun. All three children’s grumpy faces turned into smiles when they were given freedom to explore what they wanted to explore.
Possibly the biggest change we made was playing games most of the hikes. We play rocks and roots (think the floor is lava and you cant touch the ground), 20 questions, would you rather question games, and other guessing games. Our then five year old once created a squirrel feed activity where he collected acorns and set up food stations along the 4 mile hike. My personal favorite is when our 9 and 5 year old picked rocks to give to other hikers on the trails. Last, we’ve packed dog treats to offer to hikers with dogs passing by.
Some of my favorite travel memories have been hikes with my children. I truly believe there’s no better way to be present with your kids than by hiking with them.
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Beyond The Usual Trail 