Tired of parks? Try hiking instead!

Any other parents sick of parks? Look, we’re grateful to have so many amazing places to entertain our kids, but lets be real, If I never had to look at a slide again I’d be good.

After our 4th kid, my wife and I turned to each other and asked ourselves “Is this what parenting will look like for the next decade?” So one day we decided to get in some REAL nature, let’s go on a hike. Maybe we can ALL get something out of these outings as a family. 

So we took our first hike and it NOT what we expected. Our kids basically started a revolt, they whined the entire time. I’ve never heard so many “uppy daddy’s” in my entire life.

it was at that moment we realized we were raising soft kids. 

Something had to change. If our kids couldn’t walk up a hill without complaining we were failing as parents! 

Hayley read somewhere that for every year old your kid is, thats how many miles they can walk. So our 7 year old can walk 7 miles, 5 year old 5 miles and 2 year old 2 miles, hypothetically.

So we didn’t stop. We hiked at least once a week as a family for an entire year and it was the most transformational experience we’d had thus far. 

Our kids went from whiny cling-ons to independent explorers who grew their mental state, challenged themselves physically and learned to love Gods nature.

So if you’re wanting to try something new, give hiking a shot!

Check out our favorite hiking gear on our resources page here!