| Do you remember how your heart raced as you | | | | some irresponsible soul to mar their patch of soil. Then |
| gazed on your first moose? Can you recollect the first | | | | they roll over and ponder the vastness of the sky |
| time the haunting call of a Sandhill Crane resonated on | | | | above while they search for pictures in the clouds.Don't |
| the chords of your emotions? Is the picture of the | | | | forget to talk. For the youngster just learning her |
| graceful Trumpeter Swan still imprinted on your mind? | | | | words, you are in a goldmine of new vocabulary. For |
| Many of us who have surrounded ourselves with the | | | | the child using sentences, simple explanations and |
| wild and beautiful have relished such encounters. For | | | | dialogue will add to his understanding of the world |
| most of us, it is not hard to think of trips we'd still like to | | | | around him. Talk about safety. Talk about the dangers |
| take and places we'd still like to see. However, how | | | | and value of the world they are walking through - |
| often do we think to include our children in our outdoor | | | | good and bad plants, helpful and stinging bugs, trickling |
| excursions?Studies have shown children under six | | | | versus swiftly running water. And, what if I get |
| learn best by using their senses. The great outdoors | | | | lost?Capture their hearts and imaginations. Show them |
| offers our children unlimited opportunities to do just that. | | | | how to love being outside; how to love seeing animals |
| And many of us have a treasure store of options at | | | | and birds; how to interpret the sounds and smells and |
| our fingertips.However, it is often easier to plan around | | | | textures. Teach them how to love the great |
| our own interests, or our older child's desires, than to | | | | outdoors.One way to start is to plan a vacation with |
| arrange outdoor excursions which include the toddlers | | | | this in mind. Choose a spot, near or far, which offers |
| who play around our feet. Nonetheless, there is no | | | | safe hiking opportunities and terrain without too much |
| better time to begin sparking their appreciation for | | | | rise and fall. One of our favorite spots in Montana's |
| nature than before their interests are engaged by the | | | | Centennial Valley is up Narrows Creek, the canyon |
| television, the video games, and the computer games | | | | which begins behind our Western Montana Lodge. The |
| which will vie heavily for their attention in a few short | | | | lightly used trail meanders up a small draw, following |
| years. Getting them young, while they are still curious | | | | the softly flowing water. Up the draw a ways we |
| about the wonderful world around them, is a great | | | | come to a pond where we explore the bugs and birds |
| place to start.According to the American Hiking | | | | which are drawn to the water. Past the pond we |
| Society, hiking lowers our blood pressure, strengthens | | | | wander through a narrow meadow, up through a |
| our hearts, and helps us lose weight. Hiking clears our | | | | rocky scree, and into a larger meadow.The conifer |
| heads and relieves stress. Hiking is good for the | | | | trees mingle with the aspens. The birds vary from |
| environment, and, hiking adds to our awareness of | | | | water fowl to neo-tropical warblers to birds of prey. |
| it.Children enjoy hiking -- especially when we start them | | | | Often, if we are relatively quiet, we even get a chance |
| young. They don't seem to care about mileage or | | | | to observe a deer, elk, or antelope - grazing along the |
| destination. As one dad so aptly put it, "Have fun. Look | | | | gently flowing stream. What better classroom can one |
| at the world through their eyes, and it becomes new | | | | find?As you head out the door, remember to grab a |
| again."Little ones are interested in the here and now - | | | | simple first aid kit for those bumps and bruises. Be |
| the up close and personal. Give them the hands on; the | | | | sure to include a child-safe sunscreen (at least SPF 15), |
| touch and taste things. A walk is a great way to do | | | | and a child-safe bug spray. A few other things which |
| that. Be creative. Don't stick to the park. Take them to | | | | might add to the adventure are a magnifying glass, |
| a meadow. Walk along a chattering brook. Climb a | | | | plastic bags (for the take-home treasures - be sure to |
| small hill. Meander among the trees. The options are | | | | check local regulations if you are not sure what these |
| only limited to your imagination.When you are hiking | | | | include), snacks, water, and diapers - if needed.Every |
| with children, especially the young ones, you become | | | | child who becomes enamored with nature as a toddler |
| an adventurous walker. It is the journey that is | | | | is another brand snatched from the fire of a synthetic, |
| important, not the length. Let them see you enjoying | | | | asphalt and concrete world. Every child who learns the |
| nature, and they will grow up thinking it is special too. | | | | joy of time spent in the great outdoors is another little |
| Don't rush. Don't have plans. Just walk. And pay | | | | one who will grow up filled with an appreciation for the |
| attention.Get down on their level: spider webs, a dew | | | | intricacies of this masterpiece we call earth. Every child |
| drop, a crawling bug, tossing pebbles. Little faces, close | | | | who learns to care for their world is another up and |
| to the ground, often see things we stride over without | | | | coming adult who understands their role in protecting |
| a second thought. The feel of the grass, the smell of a | | | | and improving the vast resources we all enjoy.Lerrina |
| flower, the taste of a rock, the joy of climbing a 'huge' | | | | Collins lives with her husband and family in Montana's |
| boulder, the texture of a tree's bark, the sensation of | | | | wild and pristine Centennial Valley. She and her family |
| sliding (or rolling) down a grassing hill, or the adventure | | | | enjoy hiking, particularly around their Western Montana |
| of crawling into a hole. This is what excites them.One | | | | Lodge. You have permission to reprint what you have |
| experienced Mom likes plopping on her belly with her | | | | just read. Use it in your ezine, at your website, or in |
| children and examining a small section of ground. They | | | | your newsletter. The only requirement is that you |
| count the bugs. They look at the color of the dirt. They | | | | include the following footer: "Hiking with Children by |
| watch the busy ants. They study the plants and | | | | Lerrina Collins. Visit for more original content like this. |
| grasses. They wonder at the candy wrapper left by | | | | |