One on One Hiking with Kids | Califf Life Creations

Have you ever wondered how well you really know your kids? It is so important for us, as parents, to take the time to learn who they truly are. Spending one on one time with kids helps us to connect and bond and nothing has taught me more about my children than spending time in nature. One on one hiking with kids allows us to truly detach from distractions and focus entirely on each other.

One on One Hiking with Kids – Detach from Distractions

If you have more than one kid, you understand that siblings can be very distracting. It is nearly impossible to focus on one child when another is screaming for attention. While I absolutely love hiking with both my kids together, one on one hiking allows for a more intimate experience with each of them individually. Putting away my phone (except for pictures) and pushing worry out of my mind, I can completely detach from distractions and focus 100% of my energy on getting to know my son better.

Benefits of One on One Hiking with Kids

There are so many ways to spend one on one time with kids, so why hiking? The benefits of one on one hiking with kids are endless, but I’ll outline my favorite three.

One on One Hiking with Kids Promotes Healthy Living

When you take the time to get outside and be active with your kids you are not only telling them to live a healthy life, you are showing them the way. There is no debate that being active is good for your health and hiking is a wonderful way for kids to do this. Making it a habit will establish a strong foundation of healthy living from an early age that will eventually translate into adulthood.

Find a Connection to Each Other

One on one hiking with kids is simply my favorite way to bond. You don’t have to go far. It is just about disconnecting from the rest of the world and focusing 100% of your energy on each other and the trail in front of you. Try practicing child-led exploration with younger kids. With this, it isn’t about making it to the end of a trail, it is all about the journey. Take a step back, give up control, and let them take the lead, learning about what sparks their curiosity. In this way, one on one hiking with kids will form a connection through experience that is irreplaceable.

Connect to Nature

This is a benefit of hiking with babies, toddlers, and everyone beyond. Getting outside in nature allows you to connect to the world at large. The emotions that nature brings out in a person are as varying as the environments that you can hike through. You can feel like a tiny part of something huge as you walk through a forest and then emerge on top of a mountain and suddenly feel invincible. One on one hiking with kids amplifies these feelings as they are discovering them for the first time. Experiencing them together creates memories for children that make nature a special place.

This brings me to the story of a snowball.

It was born on top of a mountain, given life by a boy more interested in the snow beneath his feet than the vast views laid out before him. That boy loved his snowball and held it gently, lovingly, just like his mama holds him. He carried it from Jupiter’s Boulder to what he called “Venus’s Boulder” and for nearly a mile over fallen trees and rocky trail.

Many times, the boy’s mama told him to put the snowball down since he would need his hands. Each time, the boy clung to the snowball ever so gently and proved her wrong.

Stephen Moss said, “Nature is a tool to get children to experience not just the wider world, but themselves.” The story of the snowball is the perfect example. Not only did that boy learn what he can do, his mama had the chance to get to know him.

The story of the snowball ended in a classic way as, eventually, the boy’s urge to throw it outweighed the desire to keep it safe and it sorted through the air and rolled down the mountain.

“Wow, mom, that was a BIG throw.”

This was my first one on one hike with my oldest in a very long time.

I left his brother at home with daddy, picked him up from school with a packed lunch and we hiked about 3 miles, just the two of us. That snowball was with us for nearly 1/3 of the hike and I learned so much about my son from the experience.

He is gentle, determined, and incredibly capable with a drive that can either keep us moving forward quickly or stop us in our tracks so he can examine something new. I learned to trust him and his abilities, knowing that if he needs it, he will ask for my help. One on one hiking allowed me to get a glimpse of the world through his eyes in a way that I don’t get to experience when we are with more people. I watched his curiosity bloom as he explored the frozen falls, discovering it’s beauty and painting it in new light for me.

I see so much of myself in him and I can’t wait to see what I learn during our next one on one hike. Since he started school, I hadn’t had much time to spend one on one hiking with him so this was so special for me. All of my one on one hikes had been with his younger brother so making this time was really important. I have learned that the older kids get, the more important this type of bonding will become. We all need a little escape distractions every now and again and one on one hiking provides that opportunity.