Comments on: Kids Need Room to Roam: Tips on Taking Your Little Ones Camping

By: Alan

Alan — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 06:52:49 +0000

My days as a kid camping were getting bit and stung by Yellow Jackets.
I would also go on hunts for Blue bellied lizards.
Explore, Explore and more to explore.

A kid needs to be outdoors.

By: Spencer

Spencer — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 19:31:01 +0000

I wholeheartedly agree with this one. As a scoutmaster, a lot of what you said had a familiar ring to it. One of the more famous quotes of Baden Powell (founder of BSA) was “Never do anything a boy can do”. Sometimes that means things are going to take a lot longer, but I’m always amazed at how much those 11-14 year olds remember if they had to figure something out and do it themselves (with a little guidance, of course). In camping situations, I really think the BSA “EDGE” method works great. Explain, Demonstrate, Guide, and Enable.

By: Traci Lehman

Traci Lehman — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 03:14:12 +0000

Reading your blog for the first time…this is an excellent post and I think I will share it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

By: Not_a_Man

Not_a_Man — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 18:34:48 +0000

We took our first son camping, back country with a couple of hours of hiking to get to camp, when he was only 7 months old. He loved it, we loved it. There is more planning involved, but it is a great experience. When our second son was 11months (the oldest was only 2 and 1/2), we took him on his first camping trip. This time we had to canoe for about 5 hours, with a couple of portages in between. We had our good friends with us, in a different canoe, with their 6 month old baby. Wow, other than being bothered by a few bugs, the kids were great.

Now the kids are 4 and 2, and have gone camping many times. We live in the city and getting away in this adventure trips is surely a great way to spend time as a family.

By: Philip

Philip — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 13:08:04 +0000

You can always tell a guest post on this site because it always starts with a criticism on things are “these days” compared to the “good old days” when men were men or whatever. What draws me to the site is the way Brett (and Kate) write about being a better man without accusing you first of not being a good enough one.

By: Kirsten

Kirsten — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 07:17:52 +0000

This is a great article. It seems parents nowadays have trouble letting go. Kids must learn to spread their wings without a parent around telling them to be careful ;o). Luckily in the Netherlands (where I live) it is still very much commonplace to get kids a bike at about 3. Most of them know how to handle it and explore their neighborhood on their own at 5 or 6 and cycle to school, friends, hobbies on their own at 9 or 10. Unfortunately we do not have much wilderness over here, but we do have lovely forests to go hiking. A good tip on keeping them busy (especially kids than do not seem very interested in the plants and wildlife like mine): use fantasy. A forest can be an alien planet, a treasure island, or whatever comes to mind. Mine can spend hours in the woods, running around caught up in some story ;o)).

By: Peggy Collins

Peggy Collins — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 16:17:12 +0000

This is SOO in line with our family values, both our kids started canoe tripping around 9 months. They can go anywhere, you need to watch and be aware of your surroundings, but they are super troopers – though our families think we are crazy.

By: Mike Alves

Mike Alves — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 21:06:52 +0000

I loved the Free Range Kids mentality in the intro. Keep preaching that kids are safe on their own!

By: rob giannamore

rob giannamore — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 20:24:00 +0000

We lived in columbus ohio when our first daughter was born. We bought a Kelty backpack and had her in it at 4 months. We would join the sierra club for urban hikes and popped our baby in it. Our second went on a hike in January, she was born in November. The Kelty is falling apart, the buckles are broken, the kickstand is broken and has been through all four of our girls.

By: Damien Tougas

Damien Tougas — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 19:03:06 +0000

Great article! Towards this end, we strive to take our kids out hiking for an entire day a week, and shoot for one multi-day backpacking trip a month.

I like to think of this as training. When they get older I want to be able to do some cool stuff (bigger treks) with them, but that won’t be able to happen if we don’t lay the foundation.