What is the Right Age to Start Hiking?

Hiking can be fun, and many people get into it. However, starting young is always better. You can do this by starring them off slowly and seeing how they respond to it. Your children might enjoy it and have fun just the way that you do when you go trekking. If you love trekking and you want your children to get into it as well, here is how you can start them.

There are a few things that people have to know about hiking with children. First, children will grow very fast, and over time the hands and legs will grow and gain strength. The lungs are getting better, and the metabolic system is improving as well. Children are very energetic, and they are always ready to play and move around, but they cannot sustain that for very long.

Over time your children will get stronger, and they will be able to move around for longer. If children are tired, then they might lose interest in hiking, and that is something that might lead them to never pick up hiking again.

Children can learn important life lessons from trekking. Parents should encourage children to take up trekking because it can be a great way to learn to live by themselves. The children will have to learn how to survive by themselves, and they will know about many different things that are important to win in life in general. Many parents are starting to put their children into hiking, and it is good if you do it as well.

It is important that they push themselves a little, but if children have fun hiking, then they are more likely to go hiking more often.

Take your children outside once they are three

Try and ensure that your children get exposed to the outside so that they can go out and start to enjoy working out outside and staying outside. Take your children to places that are outside the city. For example, you could go to a lake, pond or some good place and walk back. Do not just walk randomly. Make the walkabout something and go to a place. You can even allow the children to collect things like flowers etc. Many children love to collect things, and you can use that to create interest in hiking in this way. If you do all this, then your children would love to come with you.

Change it when you are four and five years old

As your children get older, you could take them for some longer walks. Try and take walks that involve hillocks and some higher places. You can set up challenges for them to reach certain places as fast as possible. If your children do well in trekking, then you can take them for some longer walks and give them rewards or give them something that they like to eat.

Try and create target goals for your children to reach because they will enjoy going to these places when they reach these goals. The enjoyment will cause them to keep on trying to become better at trekking because they will keep on doing it.

When are they six or seven years old?

At this point, your children must have gone for many walks, and they enjoy these walks. So take them on a day hike or enroll them for one. Once you reach your destination, you can teach your child to light a fire and prepare some easy meals. This can ensure that they sustain themselves if they are by themselves. Ask them to be more social and ask local people for directions as this can make them better at communicating. You can also let them use a camera or mobile phone to click photos of the beautiful surroundings.

When your children reach eight and nine years, and they can go for four or five-day treks

At this point, your children should be physically and mentally prepared to go on longer treks. Even if these children are without their parents, they should be able to manage well. If they go on a long trek, then this can really make them a lot more confident. Try and take the children for these treks on time that are not with their school times because this can really tire them out a lot.

How to train children who have not done this in the past?

Even if you have children who are fit and athletic, it is still important that you let your children get some training so that they can get used to the long walks, etc. Then, you can start getting them into some cardio, pushups, or squats. You can even start some running to include into your training.