But How Do you Get your Kids to Do That??
Ever since my kids were little, people have asked me how I get my kids to enthusiastically go along with our adventures.
How do you get them to camp with you? My kids would never do that.
How do you get them to hike? My kids complain the whole time.
Your kids like museums? I can’t get mine to be interested in going.
You get the drift.
I’ve always thought this was an easy answer really.
Share the things you love with them in an authentic, enthusiastic, and loving way, and they will learn to love them too.
We started at a very young age hiking with my boys because it is something I deeply love. I would strap them to my back in a hiking backpack when they were babies and toddlers and set off into the woods discussing what we see.
M and me hiking near Calvert Cliffs State Park, MD
When the kids were old enough to walk on the hikes we didn’t start with long hikes, instead we worked our way up from a few miles to whole day hikes as they got older. We would sing songs, collect rocks, and look for bugs during our hikes. We have all sorts of identification books from trees to birds to scat so we can discuss everything. We carry binoculars and magnifiers for closer looks at interesting things. Everyone has their own gear – hiking shoes, backpacks, water bladders, and hiking poles – to make the hike enjoyable and safe.
We made hiking an adventure.
Years ago, my husband decided to add MRE’s (Meals ready to eat) to our day long hikes. If you are not in the military or a prepper you likely don’t know what these are; I sure didn’t. MRE’s are sealed plastic bags filled with dehydrated food and snacks for use on military excursions that you can apparently buy on the internet. Before a day long hike, everyone got to pick one and when it got to be lunchtime, we’d pick a flat spot to settle down and everyone would open their bag. The only thing you would know is what the main meal was – things like turkey chili, vegetable lasagna, beef stew. The rest was a surprise. You could luck out and get M&M’s, peanut butter and crackers, and trail mix or you could get cheese spread and hardtack. There was a lot of trading and lots of laughing. The main meal came with a heating bag to which you add water, then the food bag, and prop up against a rock until it heated through. Very cool. Needless to say, the food was not great, but that was never the point. We all loved and looked forward to MRE hikes.
Hiking to Fort Bowie, Arizona with M and N
We instilled in them a love for nature. This was easy because my husband and I both love being outside.
My oldest son went camping for the first time when he was 6 months old. I would be lying if I said it was a good experience, it was not. It rained and rained which is miserable without children, even worse with a baby, and it got cold. We were with my former in laws, and I can still picture stringing up the tarps and trying to stay dry. Sound also carries massively in campgrounds at nighttime, so it was an effort to keep him quiet during the night. But we stuck it out and we have been camping ever since. Thankfully most of our trips have been WAY better than that first one!
Camping was an easy one. It combines our love for being outside and makes hiking so easy. My stepkids weren’t introduced to it until they were a bit older (around 8 and 10), but after a few initial hiccups, they embraced camping. We have worked hard to make it comfortable and fun. Again, we have all the proper gear. We make the same meals every time, so we look forward to chili and smores around the campfire at night. There’s nothing like staring at a campfire in the woods, listening to bugs, and talking with your kids with no electronic distractions.
I know camping and hiking aren’t for everyone. And trust me, if you are forcing yourself to do something you don’t enjoy just so your kids will do it, they will know that. They are like little sponges picking up on our complaints, our dislikes, and our fears and mirroring them.
Share things you enjoy with them.
I love to travel and explore. Our family trips always include visiting new places and never missing the kitsch. Some of our favorite memories are of visiting Foamhenge in Virginia in a rainstorm (literally Stonehenge made of foam) or stopping to visit PolyFace Farms in our rented RV because I read about it in Omnivore’s Dilemma. I found each of my boys’ books on offbeat places to visit in each state and have enjoyed looking them up and marking them off.
We do the same with National Parks and National Historic Sites. We visit all of them that are within a driving radius of wherever we are. It is my life goal to visit all of them and we are making a dent together. It doesn’t matter if it is the Grand Canyon versus the Hampton Historic Site, we visit all of them and do our best to learn the history of the place. I have photos of myself next to every sign that will one day make their way into an album. My boys embrace these visits and look forward to them, reading all the signs and learning about wherever we are right next to me.
Don’t get me wrong, they don’t enjoy everything I do. I haven’t been able to interest them in gardening, beekeeping or reading! But they respect my love for those things and patiently listen and occasionally help out.
Don’t do things with your kids because you feel like you are supposed to do them.
This is what it really comes down to; finding what you are passionate about and sharing it with your children. Maybe even trying new things with them and watching to see how they feel about them before interjecting your own thoughts. They may not enjoy things you do, or they may love things you can’t stand and that’s OK too. They are their own people.
My experience is that it has been wonderful watching my children fall in love with some of my favorite things and then being able to share them together.
There’s truly nothing like it.