Stages of Hiking With Young Children

I hate hiking with kids and I love it all in one big jumbled breath. I want to hike with my kids to have them witness the beauty around them and to appreciate our world and to get exercise and to get out of their comfort zones and the list goes on. Yet, selfishly I would actually like to get a bit of a workout on a hike without pausing every other step because someone has an itchy foot and needs to check their socks, or because someone just can’t go any further and sits down, or because someone is thirsty and needs to drink the last bit of water I packed before we are a quarter of the way through. In these moments my internal dialogue is mean and annoyed.

On our trip to North New Zealand we drove over 2 hours for a hike at Waimangu Volcanic Valley. Upon arriving I felt excited to be in nature and to enjoy the beauty of the worlds youngest geothermal system. This quickly shifted about 5 steps in when my kids started breaking down and I was thinking to myself “little do you know we have 4 kilometers ahead”. I was saying mean things inside my head and I had to watch myself to make sure I didn’t say them aloud. Yet we kept going bit by bit. Step by step. About half way through our water was out per usual and they were complaining of being thirsty. We continued on. Then I practiced reframing and seeing the positive. Ava was making it a fun game for Adele. Each bench they made it to was an accomplishment. Shea was imagining something far out. Crosby settled into the discomfort of having to finish the hike without catching a bus through the park. We were together. I exhaled and reminded myself that this is worth it. This is all part of our journey. Bit by bit. Step by step.

Like hiking, life is often messy. The reward doesn’t necessarily come easily or without complaint, annoyance, stress, and fear. Yet we keep moving and progressing. Bit by bit. Step by step. The reward is often what we learn and acquire along the way. The ability to persist. To be patient. To reframe our internal dialogue.

So, I will keep hiking with my kids even when my hiking app stops because we are going too slow. The journey is slow, yet this is where the growth lies. The reward is worth it!

Originally published at https://www.becomingtravelers.com on December 28, 2022.