Children

Ever since my son, Ben, was born, I wanted to share my love of the hills with him.  Our first outing was Harrison Stickle with Ben in a front pouch aged 3 and a half weeks, which was about all I could manage in between feeds in Kendal.  My wife valued the time to herself, so what better way to give her a break than to do something I love?

Ben on Seat Sandal, aged 4

Ben took a while to master walking on his own, but once he'd found out how to put one leg in front of the other, he did so again and again and again.    There's a fine line between happiness and tears fo a child, so a certain amount of discretion is required, but children can do far more than they are usually given credit for. They like a challenge, value the time with their Mum or Dad, and love camping.    We started off by ticking off the Wainwrights (aged 6), moved on to the Munros (aged 10) and did other things in between like walking from Zermatt to Chamonix (aged 7), the Welsh 3000s in a day (aged 6), backpacking over the Rum Cuillin (aged 5) and hut to hutting in the Austrian Alps (aged 9).  Not everyone will be so ambitious, but get your child used to the hills early, have them experience the joys of wild camping, go out in the snow and have fun!

Ben's Wainwright Completion
Ben's Welsh 3000s 
Ben's Munro Completion
Ben's Munro Blog
Ben's Rum Adventure Video 
Family Austrian hut to hut tour video



1 comment:

Bagpuss said...

Came across your blog whilst looking for info for our up and coming Scotland trip. I've been taking my daughter walking since she was 3. As a single parent and non driver we haven't achieved as much as you have done, but my daughter has had plenty of mountain adventures. She is 9 years old now and has done lots of walking in South/North Wales, the lakes and Peak District. She hasn't done allot of winter walking. The weather for our time in Scotland is looking pretty wintery so we will probably stick to smaller hills. I was wondering if you had any good ones to recommend? We are saying for a week in Crianlarich and a week in Kentallen. How did you manage on your winter walks with your son?