When my kids are bigger, I can imagine they’ll have something to say about the distinct lack of normal childhood activities in our household.
I’ve been taking my daughter hiking since she was about a year old. It started as a way to lose weight and become a little more active after pregnancy. There was a whole summer where I did nothing but go on three-hour hikes with her. It was also a great way to calm her down, as she mostly just slept in the carrier.
Later, she became too heavy to carry, so we began to “train” her to finish trails by bribing her with junk food. It’s arguably counterproductive to the whole idea of teaching her how to be healthy, but my daughter can be incredibly stubborn and it was the only way to motivate her. We would reward her every few steps or so with a KitKat or some Smarties. I figured that since she normally doesn’t get sugary snacks, everything would even out in the end.
We did progressively more and more difficult hikes. In the summer of 2014, my daughter, at the age of 5, was able to finish the Marriott Basin trail–a 16 km hike–as an overnighter. I would not call this one a family-friendly hike, by any means, but she dealt with it much better than we did.
It is kind of amazing to see her transformation since then. In 2015, we completed the 13 km Small Lake (via Needle Peak) as another overnighter. The first 2 km of this trail was quite steep. Her only concern? Eating her cakes and getting Five Guys Burger at the end of it all. In fact, she happily told everyone she met of her plans during the return trip which had us covered in mist and rain, while encouraging them that “the top isn’t too far”.
Seeing your kid through these experiences is always nerve-wracking. But it is also heartening to see her absorb life-lessons that many adults don’t even get the chance to–like dealing with hardship and challenges and taking responsibility for yourself. She knows that if she doesn’t wear the proper socks, she’ll get blisters, and have accepted (if grudgingly) that when this happens, she just has to deal with it and remember the next time. Even though she still has her stubborn streak, she has also become more patient.
On a similar vein, I’ve been carrying my son for the past few years and he is now at the stage where he is starting to get some interest in hiking on his own. This will be interesting, as he has a completely different personality from his sister. During our last hike, he insisted on getting off the carrier and doing much of it himself…
…although what he really thought of the whole situation still remains to be discovered.
Do you like sarcasm, drama, and lots of talking before sword fights? Do you sometimes wish your epic fantasy had more feelings? Then please support my hungry brood and give The Agartes Epilogues a try!
