Five Reasons to Go Hiking with Your Children

1. Exercise: Children have so many activities they enjoy these days that
   involve no physical exertion at all. It’s our job as parents to see to the
   well being of our children. One way of doing this is by helping them be
   physically active. So lace up those hiking boots and hit a trail near you!
2. Education: There are beautiful things to see in nature any time of the year.
   Take your camera along and take pictures of the wildlife and flowers
   along the trail. When you return home, have your children try and find
   information about the items in the pictures. You can find information
   about the various regions of the country online. Help them learn where
   to look, and there’s no telling what they might discover about their part
   of the country. There are also hikes at historical and military parks that offer
   learning experiences.
3. Money Management: You can teach your children that there are activities
   they can do that aren’t very expensive. There are different levels in hiking
   trails. You should be able to find information about the difficulty levels
   online. Start with the easy ones and work your way up. For most of the
   easier ones, the only big expense will be a good pair of shoes.
4. Quality time: We all like quality time with our children. While you are hiking
   you have plenty of time to talk about what’s been going on in your child’s life.
   Be sure to open up about yourself also. Kids are curious as to what’s going on
   in our lives as well.
5. Stress Relief: When you are walking around communing with nature it’s hard
   to be stressed. You and your children will feel much better after a hike. Let the
   calming influence seep into your soul and just relax.

There are many other reasons it’s good to go hiking, but just by looking at these five examples you can see that it would be something worth doing with your children. Anything we can do to improve our relationship with our children, help them relax in this stressful world, and teach them something along the way, has to be a good idea!