I Won’t Carry That (and 9 other rules for hiking with kids)

As many of you know, our family recently completed a hiking challenge! For one month, we went on a hike (or neighborhood walk) every day. We did miss one day, to be honest…but still, 29 days of hiking gives us some practice under our belts!

I had a friend ask HOW exactly we hike with three small children, so I thought I would share my “rules” for hiking with small children.

First- my setup. All three kids walk. The kids are currently 5, 3 and 1. I started out the month by always taking a carrier on the hike, and I sometimes carry Ezra, but mostly he wants to walk and keep up with the big kids. When he was younger, I would always hike with Ezra in the carrier. We have found that the bigger kids can usually go about a mile before the whining starts. This means that I need to be aware of when we are hitting the half-mile mark so I can turn around and go back, or choose a trail that is about a one-mile loop. Over the past month, I have come up with a list of “rules” that I follow when hiking with kids.

The hardest part is leaving home. Some may think that going on a hike every day would be extremely hard. But honestly? The hardest part is herding the kids out the door. Especially when the weather is chilly and we need coats, hats, gloves, socks AND shoes. By the time I’ve done all the work of getting all three kids out the door, the hiking part is easy! So when I really don’t feel like I doing it, I just tell myself to get them out the door. Once I’ve accomplished that, I am far more motivated to do the rest!

Leave the park better than when we arrived. Teaching kids how to be good inhabitants of the earth is something that I’m still working on. But one thing that I said over and over and over again this past month is that we must always be aware of the impact that we are having on our parks and trails. Obviously, I am teaching my children to not leave any trash behind and to pick up trash that they do see laying around. But I’m also working to teach them to not pick every flower/leaf/plant that they see and to always be aware of where they are throwing rocks and sticks.

I won’t carry that. My #1 rule of hiking with kids is that I do not carry anything for them. I don’t carry rocks, sticks, or flowers. I don’t carry water bottles or jackets. I won’t carry anything for them. They are allowed and encouraged to collect whatever they would like to collect, but Mama is not going to be the pack mule of the hike. They have to carry it themselves. It took about two days for my kids to understand this concept, and they “got it”. They picked up far fewer things and wanted to bring far fewer things along when they knew Mom wasn’t going to carry it for them.

You can choose your clothing/shoes, but you are responsible for that choice. April was a tricky month because the weather can be snowy in the morning and 75 in the afternoon. However, I always tell my kids that they are responsible for what they wear. If they want to wear pants, that is fine, but they need to remember they will probably get muddy. If they want to wear flip-flops, that is fine, but they need to understand that it is a lot harder to climb rocks with flip-flops on. My kids can even decide if they want to go barefoot, but they know that I will not carry them if we come across mud or gravel. If they want to wear gloves even though Mom said to leave them in the van, that is fine but they need to be responsible to carry them when they realize that they don’t want gloves 10 feet into the hike. It may seem harsh, but it has made it so that I can hike with my kids without losing my sanity.

Be aware of your surroundings. While on the trails, I am constantly reminding my children to be aware of their surroundings. They need to be aware of other people on the trail and make sure that they are not running/walking directly in front of someone. They need to be aware of where the rest of the family is and if they are going too slow or too fast. They also need to be aware of the nature around them. Things like looking for snakes before climbing on rocks, and double-checking the logs across a stream before running on them. I could do all of this for my children, but with three of them, this gets pretty exhausting pretty quickly. Thankfully, hiking gives us SO many opportunities to be aware of our surroundings, and my kids are slowly getting better with practice.

Get us back to the car. This is a fun activity that we started doing about a year ago that allows the kids to learn how to lead and navigate. Before beginning, I will often let the kids pick the trail (if the park has multiple trailheads). Of course, I narrow down the options to the trails that we could actually hike, and then let one of them pick! Before we begin a hike on a trailhead, I explain to Tera or Kiah that they are responsible to get us back to the van. Then, I instruct them what color of the trailhead we are following and explain that they need to lead us by following that color. The kids have a blast leading the hike and are always so proud of themselves when they get us back to the van safely (even if it was just a one-way loop!).

Don’t track distance, track exploration. Our hikes are not very impressive mileage-wise. Sure, we hiked every day in April. But I think that the farthest we went was probably two miles. So, not winning any records over here. But to be honest, I didn’t even keep track of mileage. Instead, I would just try to watch and observe how my kids were feeling that day. Some days they want to be out exploring for HOURS and some days we only last 30 minutes. I’m thankful that I never feel any pressure to go a certain distance, but instead just go along at the snail’s pace of a 1-year-old.

It takes training. If you have tried hiking with children and it was a disaster, take heart. We have all had those hikes. Someone is crying. Someone is sweating profusely. Someone else is cold. Someone just pooped and another kid peed their pants. I’ve been there. If this is you, just keep trying to get out there. Start small- a walk around the pond in your neighborhood. Bump it up to a picnic at a trailhead with a little walk on the trail there and back. Let them explore as much as they want. Keep on going, week after week, day after day. If you do this, your kids will gain practice and will soon be hiking champions!

Don’t forget to breathe. ANY activity with children can be stressful, and hiking is no exception! Sometimes I get so frazzled trying to keep all three kids going in the right direction, not trampling some flowers and staying out of the way of passing hikers that I completely forget to breathe and enjoy nature for myself. It’s really important that we take some moments to just breathe and look around us. Thankfully, this is something that we can do WITH our kids. Stop them in their tracks and ask them to close their eyes and just listen. Just breathe.

Do you like to take your kids hiking? What are your favorite tips, tricks, hacks and rules for hiking with kids?