Top Tips for Hiking and Walking with Kids

As someone who has always enjoyed the outdoors, I knew that when I had children, I would want them to share that same enthusiasm for exploring the outdoor world along with me. I wanted to help them foster a love for walking and hiking, along with developing a love for nature.

Walking with kids, let alone hiking with kids, has its fair share of challenges; but it is nothing to be afraid of, particularly if you are well-prepared. As a mom of four children, with kids of all ages, 16, 7, 4, and 1, I have experience walking with each of them, sometimes all of them at once, sometimes just a few.

I can’t advocate enough the importance of getting your children outdoors, particularly at a young age; to help them develop a love for movement, whether through walking or hiking. So, let’s dive into it, let’s talk about all the ins and outs you need to know about taking your littles (and sometimes bigs) out for a walk. 

Merry Creek, Castlegar, West Kootenays

1. Look Before You Leap

Going out anywhere with children, especially small children, can be quite difficult. Sometimes, you feel as though you just have to jump into the deep end and hope for the best. But, in the case of hiking, you must always be sure to look ahead and be prepared. 

This means researching different hiking spots, some areas are better suited for small children than others; for example, is it stroller-friendly or will you need to use a carrier? Does it have lots of inclines and challenging rocky paths? Both which can prove difficult for little ones. 

Next, you will want to consider how is the weather going to be on the day of your hike? Will you need a raincoat or rain boots? What will the temperature be like that day and will it change over the course of your walk? Note, this is where layers are very helpful!

2. Safety First

Safety when hiking with kids should always come first and needs to be accomplished in a couple of ways. The first is talking with your children about safety and what to do if you become separated. This needs to be done before each walk. I, personally, love the idea of attaching a safety whistle to their clothing and remind them each time when and how they would use it. Please click here to see our favourite safety whistle!

A second safety tip is to let someone know where and when you are going, and don’t forget for how long you plan to be out. If something bad happens, you know you have someone on the outside who is aware of your plans. But be sure not to forget to let them know when you get back. 

This is also important for the simple fact that cellphones don’t always work when out in the wild. And always make sure that your children remain on the marked trails. 

3. Snacks to the Rescue

Whether you plan to be gone for an hour or the whole day, snacks, and even lunch are critical to pack not only for yourself but also for your children. You will want to bring food that fuels you and your kids to keep going, so avoid the processed, sugary snacks and focus more on wholesome food. 

And it may help to let the children pick when they want to eat their own snacks; they may even want to carry them in their own backpack. This will help them to feel in charge when hunger strikes.

Glade Waterfalls - West Kootenays

4. Timing is Everything

Remember how we talked about researching the paths ahead of time, well this is especially crucial when wanting to know how much time you will need to accomplish your hiking goal. Hiking with kids can mean going slow (sometimes very slow) and it is important to let them lead the walk at their own pace.

Remember, this may mean a lot of stopping, and that’s okay. In order to make sure you have enough time, prepare the night before and leave early in the morning. Take note of when you started your walk and how long the trail is, this will help you monitor your average time it takes to walk a path and will move you and your family up from amateur hikers to experienced hikers. 

5. Enjoy Your Walk

Walking with kids outdoors should be fun, not like rushing them off to school on time. I have always found that talking with them about what they see and preparing them for what we could see is a great way to get them interested in the outdoors. 

Activities such as scavenger hunts, tracking animal prints, and spotting birds, are only some of the few ways to keep your kids busy on the walk. Enjoy how excited your children get from exploring new spots and seeing the wildlife and let them be the ones to take the pictures. 

6. Know When to Call it Quits

Sometimes, no matter how well laid out our plans are, the day goes a different way and the kids just aren’t having it. Forcing them to stay out because you had a plan to walk two trail loops that day will only make them associate the walk as a forced activity. 

Children know their own boundaries and what they can and cannot do; some days it may be more, but some days it may be less. Don’t worry about stopping for the day, you can (and should) try again another day. The key is not giving up, there are plenty of ways to help build up a walking habit with kids.

When beginning the journey of hiking with kids, start off easy. Pick short walks to begin with and build from there. The more frequently you make these walks the more they children will associate them with a part of their routine. 

Children naturally want to explore their surroundings, so be sure to let them. It’s all right if they get dirty, that’s what laundry detergent is for. Focus on making your first time out one that is enjoyable and they will hold onto that memory. 

Explain to them why you love it so much and your children will come to love it too, if for no other reason than they love to be around you as much as they can (at least until they are teenagers.)