Alexandrite Posted September 30, 2014 Report Share Posted September 30, 2014 Any of you have good tips and ideas for hiking with small ones? I've stuck to stroller paths a lot but my son is 3 and I feel a little more brave lately in taking him out on trails. My daughter is 15mo so I would be carrying her on my back in an Ergo (extra 26lbs, unf!). I wasn't sure if I hound post here or in the Hiking/Walking thread... - Mobile communication granted. Quote Brain-Building Assassin, a.k.a Radical Domestic Jill-of-All-Trades Battle Log | Challenges: Current |18 |17 |16 |15 |14 |13 |12 |11 |10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 Isaiah 40:30-31 Link to comment
Archer Posted October 17, 2014 Report Share Posted October 17, 2014 My kids get bored just walking a trail, so I bring stuff like binos and books on local plants and birds to make it more of an adventure. If you go an hour after sunrise, or an hour before sunset, you'll see a lot more critters. 1 Quote Jesse Mattson - Philomath, OR - Rangers Lead The Way!my website my blog Link to comment
Alexandrite Posted October 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2014 Thank you! My kids ages make it hard to really interact with them when it comes to books, but I bet there are good nature ones out there. Thank you! - Mobile communication granted. Quote Brain-Building Assassin, a.k.a Radical Domestic Jill-of-All-Trades Battle Log | Challenges: Current |18 |17 |16 |15 |14 |13 |12 |11 |10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 Isaiah 40:30-31 Link to comment
Elastigirl Posted October 18, 2014 Report Share Posted October 18, 2014 Have you heard of geocaching? Online game where people have hidden treasure (mostly kid trinkets) along hiking trails and you search for them with your GPS (if you have a GPS on your phone you can use that) Having a treasure at the end of the hike would be fun with kids https://www.geocaching.com/ When my son was little there was a book for our area called trail hikes for kids that I bought. See if they have something for your area, or maybe just online. It listed the steepness and difficulty. It also listed one that were fun for kids, with things like waterfalls or giant trees or streams to play in. I always bribed my son with food. We took snacks with us, and when he was super little like your son, it seemed like every bench we had to stop and have a snack We didn't get far that way, but he had fun and learned to like hiking 1 Quote Wisdom 22.5 Dexterity 13 Charisma 15 Strength 21 Constitution-13 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind' Luke 10; 27 Link to comment
Alexandrite Posted October 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 Yes!! The food bribing. I feel like I probably pack half my kids' weight in food with me everywhere I go to keep up with their favorite motivation right now. Both of them are crazy about eating! Guess they need to fuel that growth though.I'll check out the geocaching! I'm usually one for low-tech outdoor stuff (being a past Girl Scout and all) but it would be fun to "find" something with them too!- Mobile communication granted. Quote Brain-Building Assassin, a.k.a Radical Domestic Jill-of-All-Trades Battle Log | Challenges: Current |18 |17 |16 |15 |14 |13 |12 |11 |10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 Isaiah 40:30-31 Link to comment
Eleanorsbee Posted October 27, 2014 Report Share Posted October 27, 2014 A bit late in on this one, but the only thing I have discovered that helps with Hiking and my 3y/o daughter is carrying heavy stuff. I have one of those child rucksacks that you kid can sit in and you carry them .... but 3y/os are heavy and as much as I can tollerate the pain for a couple of hours there is no way my wife could lift er up there for anything more than 15 mintures Add this to carrying her mode of transport of choice ... either a ballance bike, scooter or scuttle bug ... they strap to the rucksack so you dont notice them and she loves to use it on the easier sections. so she walks a bit, rides the scooter for a bit and gets carried for a bit ...... and only doing 5km isnt really an issue for me seeing that by the time I am carryng all that stuff, 5km feels like 15km 1 Quote Human | Ranger Level 3 | STR: 8 | DEX: 2 | STA: 8 | CON: 5 | WIS: 0 | CHA: 7 Current Challenge / Second Challenge, / My First Challenge Link to comment
xoek Posted January 30, 2015 Report Share Posted January 30, 2015 I took my kids hiking all over oahu from a young age. When my son was really young, we used to leave him home, so when we finally started taking him, he was so stoked, and kept wanting to go.I was really adamant that my kids could do any trail given enough time, and that's a huge factor. Whatever trail we chose, whatever the time was given for a trail, I always doubled it, and of it was especially challenging, I would add more Quote Link to comment
vinoex Posted February 20, 2015 Report Share Posted February 20, 2015 With our young ones (now 2 and 4) we actually give them a small back pack to carry thier own snacks and water. If we are on a long hike, (over one mile) we plan on carrying the kids for most of the trip. The biggest piece of advice I can give is do not get in any type of hurry, slow down, and let the kids explore as much as possible. Quote Battle Log Vinoex vanquishes his voluminous visage Current Challenge Vinoex prepares to Hunt, 1st Challenge Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.