Get Your Kids Out of the House

Hard-core outdoor enthusiasts have a choice to make when family and kids start chipping away at time previously budgeted for the outdoors. They can try to write outdoor trips into their prenuptial agreements, as I did (I’m kidding, sort of), or they can share their love of the outdoors with their families. The latter approach can pay off in a big way. If your family learns to love it like you do, finding time to spend outside will be much easier.

Scale It Down

Nothing will derail your attempts to get kids outside faster than plans that are too ambitious. In 2004 a buddy and I paddled the stretch of the Missouri River in Montana that is designated as part of the National Wild and Scenic River system. Over six days we paddled 150 miles, saw more animals than people and had in all aspects a glorious wilderness experience. Trying that with young kids would be a disaster. When planning initial outdoor experiences for kids, think first day, then weekend and never week. Put another way, nobody cares anymore that you used to hike twenty-five miles a day for weeks on end, all the while carrying a full pack. Hike a mere two miles, but stop for two hours to help your kid build a stick fort by the side of a stream, and guess which part of the outing she’ll remember the most fondly?

A day spent hiking in a nearby state park or nature center is a great starting point with kids. You need their memory of the experience to be of having fun, not of dad yelling at them to hike another mile or paddle sixty more minutes. Remember, the goal is for them to enjoy their time outdoors and to want to do it again. If you want junior to turn off the TV and put down the Kindle, time spent in the outdoors has to meet the fun test. Giving kids little challenges like counting the number of birds they see in an hour or collecting five different kinds of leaves also helps keep them engaged.

Cabins, Hike-In Opportunities Work

Helping kids enjoy truly wild places means eventually getting away from paved surfaces. Many parks feature hike-in cabins that are ideal for families with kids. Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, offers rustic cabins for $65 a night. Several years ago I took my nephew on a trip to the Porkies. We stayed two nights in the Lily Pond cabin. The cabin is located an easy mile-and-a-half hike from the parking area. It was perfect. We were very close to the car if things turned bad, but we felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. Starting with cabins, rather than tent camping, helps ease kids into the outdoors. Of course, I didn’t tell my nephew that the scurrying sounds at night were courtesy of the local mouse contingency, but I think he figured it out by himself. Judging by how he later raved about the experience to his mom, I don’t think the mice ruined his trip.

Give Them Their Own Gear

Let’s face it. Any outdoor enthusiast worth his or her salt is a certifiable gear junkie. Some would rather take a trip to REI than visit the actual outdoors. Your kids will be no different. Your son will see you wearing your backpack, and he will want one, too. Put a few packages of crackers and a bottle of water in his new pack and he’ll think he’s the coolest hiker in the woods. Keep it light so he doesn’t associate wearing a pack with sore shoulders. I bought my daughter her own CamelBak hydration backpack (in pink, no less), and she wore it around the house for a week. Help your kids start to collect their own outdoor equipment and they will further buy into the idea that being outside is a pretty cool way to have fun.

Let Them Be Kids

Kids want to interact with nature. They want to stomp through streams and creeks. They’ll get a kick out of yelling into the mouth of a cave to hear their own echoes. They love skipping rocks into ponds (but then, who doesn’t?). They’ll chase butterflies and giggle to feel a caterpillar as it tickles their arms. Smart parents will encourage these interactions. Apart from the obvious fact that they will be learning about the environment around them, this creates the association that being outside is fun.

Allowing and encouraging this, of course, takes planning and patience. If your son has a pair of shoes you’d rather he not destroy, don’t send him out hiking in them. Dress your kids in old clothes and hose them down at the end of the day. Crocs or Teva sandals make great footwear because they dry quickly and clean up easily. Leave your watch in the car and plan enough time for your kids to be able to explore to their hearts’ content. You’ll be helping them begin what will hopefully be a lifelong love affair with the outdoors.

Kids and family do not have to mean the end of time in first the outdoors, and eventually, the wilderness. Follow these tips, throw in a little common sense and soon your kids will look forward to days in the outdoors as much as you do.


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