I decided I wanted to write this blog for a few reasons. First I am a dad of three awesome little boys who love to explore and have adventures. Second, I love the outdoors and try to spend as much time out hiking , camping, rock-climing, snowboarding, etc. as I can. Third I have recently been seeing a world of people who are too afraid or too lazy to let their kids explore all of the amazing things our world has to offer. I hope in following posts to be able to help ease the minds of parents and share some of the things I have learned to make outdoor recreation with kids fun, easy, and safe. I first want to share a few thoughts on the two main things I see that keep parents from taking their kids out. Fear and Laziness.
Fear
Kids are made to explore and unfortunately we live in a day and age where many of us live in tidy neighborhoods, planned communities, condos, or apartments. Our kids don't have a lot of room for adventure or exploration in places like this. Some lucky kids still get that Huckleberry Finn adventure but most of us live in environments that are controlled to prevent risk, which to a little boy takes away all the fun in life because those little guys live for adventure! So where do they go looking for adventure? Many end up turing to video games, drugs, pornography, sex, gangs etc. Boys will find adventure any way they can no matter how much we try to "protect" them.
Another problem we face is that we are constantly bombarded by the media reporting horrendous stories of abductions, and fatal accidents, which scare us as parents. I love my kids more than anything and I will do everything in my power to keep them safe. With that said, children, in order to develop in a healthy way need to explore and to have a little adventure. Nothing lights up my two older boys, the youngest isn't quite a year yet, than saying, Who wants to go for a hike? or who wants to go camping? or lets go fishing. Those boys want to get out and explore and I believe it is a great disservice to them to deny them that adventure because of my own fear. Is there a risk of an accident when I take my kids out hiking? Absolutely! And there is that same risk when I put my kids in the car and drive to the store.
I believe that we sometimes put our children at a greater risk by protecting them from everything. Kids will bump their heads, scrape their knees, and break bones. We can't prevent all accidents. I once saw a little girl riding her bike with training wheels around her driveway. This poor kid was wearing a helmet, knee pads, and elbow pads. Are you kidding me!? She isn't riding her bike on the edge of a cliff! In my opinion all this child's parents did was start creating a fear within this child to stay indoors, not to explore, and not to take risk. All those fears will keep a child stunted. By protecting children from any potentially "dangerous" activities we hurt them in a very real way. A child's development is in some way stunted by not allowing them to follow their natural instinct to explore and learn. They learn to not take risk, to not be creative, to not try new things, and eventually will seek out adventure and exploration in potentially unhealthy and addictive ways. I would much rather have a few scraped knees than a kid zoned out in front of a video game every day or a kid addicted to pornography or drugs. You choose.
Laziness
The Other Problem I see is Laziness. I get it! I'm a dad with Three boys under the age of 5, I work hard all week, sometimes 14 hours in a day. I am involved in the the youth program in my church and sometimes the thought of wrangling 3 crazy kids in the wilderness, is a little overwhelming. I'd rather sit home and watch some TV. I understand the difficulties of piling kids, gear, food, etc. into the minivan and heading out friday night to go on an adventure. With that said I have grown to understand the immense value in taking my children out on things like this so I make it happen. In the end I always enjoy it, I feel like a good dad, my wife feels accomplished, the kids get their adventure needs met and I have some pretty cool pictures to post on Facebook.
People are sometimes shocked when I tell them I took my 6 month old camping for a few days. "aren't you worried about the baby getting sick?" or "I could never do that!" Are often the things I hear, but the truth is that you can do it if you want to. And guess, what? My babies have never gotten sick from camping even at 6 months. Children live all over the world in shelters a lot less water and wind proof than my tent and they survive. Your child will not get ill and die from sleeping a night in a cushy tent. Sometimes taking the kiddos camping is exhausting but it is always worth it when you see your kids smiling, learning, exploring, and experiencing new things. Just get out there and do it! It is worth it and your kids will thank you.
I hope to be able to ease some of the fear and stress of outdoor recreation with children in following posts and hope that people find what I post valuable. Please pass it along.
National Parks are a perfect place for families to make memories and have adventures. I know that at times they can be crowded and I am one of the first people to complain about crowds especially when I'm out in nature, which is where I go to escape from people. National Parks at times seem more like an amusement park than a place to explore nature, fighting through crowds, waiting in lines, fighting over parking places, YUK! But even with the crowds and the commercialization of it I have a soft spot in my heart for National Parks. Nothing says good clean leave it to beaver fun like a trio to a national park. The parks just feel like a place where families should be together. In addition the parks allow us to experience the incredible natural beauty that the United States has to offer, and, because of the millions of people who visit the parks every year, the parks have been set up in a way that make experiencing this stuff easy and safe for kids. This last weekend I took my family to Yellowstone. For whatever reason I have never been to Yellowstone. I have lived 5-6 hours away from it my whole life but have never been. I decided it was high time and thought it would be a great place to take my boys. 
If you know anything about Yellowstone you will know that it is a beautiful combination of wilderness, wildlife, waterfalls, and active thermal features including geysers, mud pots, hot springs etc. I was excited, but when we began telling friends that we were heading to Yellowstone, some were not supportive and some expressed concern saying that they would worry about taking young children to a place like that as the thermal features can be very dangerous and deadly. I had no worries as I know that while yes, these are potentially dangerous sites, if you follow trails and keep an eye on your kids there is very little risk at any National Park. And as suspected we had no accident or even close calls. My boys loved watching the "smoke" and water come out of the ground, They loved the hikes (both of the older boys hikes 8 miles over 2 days and loved it), waterfalls and Wildlife. We kept the kids safe but to a 3 and 5 year old they had a pretty amazing adventure. To them, seeing geysers and buffalo roaming free was like stepping into a dreamworld. If you haven't ever gone, make a trip to a national park there is one near you here is a list. Hope to see you there!
