This week I'm excited to introduce our friend Shannon. She and her wife are masters of organizing group camping trips, which we have been lucky to be part of for many years now. (They created the camping spreadsheet I shared last week). They have also started taking their kids backpacking and skiing, while impressively managing sports and activity schedules. She is right about how friends help kids hike more - when my kids hike with them they go much farther!

Transitioning to parenthood:

1. What outdoor activities did you do before you had kids? More Skiing and backpacking, kayaking, plus all that we do with kids
2. If you or your spouse were pregnant, did that person continue any of the activities and how did they modify the activity while pregnant? Not really, we got a cushier sleeping pad for car camping. 
3. If you do different activities after having kids, why is that? We haven’t taken the kids paddling yet, but we should be able to do that with our 9 year old soon. Our schedules are busier now with sports and kid activities, so we don’t necessarily prioritize our outdoor activities. We waited until age 7 or so to introduce downhill skiing, but did enjoy cross country skiing when they were young.
4. How old were your kids when you started doing outdoor activities with them? We started camping and hiking when the kids were just a few months old.
5. What was your biggest challenge when you started doing outdoor activities with the kids? Working around the nap schedule! Trying to schedule a hike around a toddler’s nap is tough. 

Outdoor parenting:

1. How have these challenges changed as the kids got older? Our schedules have gotten busier! Soccer, swimming, softball teams, birthday parties, etc. The kids are less enthusiastic about hiking now, but that usually dissipates after the first quarter mile. 
2. Do you have trouble maintaining the kids interest in the activity (ie during a long hike) and if you do, how do you keep the kids interested? Candy. Lots of candy. Also, we just introduced the kids to geocaching and the kids are surprisingly interested! The best thing is having friends on a hike! Chatting with friends makes the miles fly by! Finding ways to make things fun by singing and playing games while hiking helps. 
3. How do you fit the activities into your working life? We try to get out for a hike every week. During our 2020 Shelter in Place we tried to get out one midweek afternoon each week for a hike. 
4. How do you balance outdoor activities with kids activities (organized sports, music, school)? It’s hard! Our balance leans toward a greater commitment to team sports at the detriment of our outdoor adventures. That said, we don’t have a problem with taking off on a Friday after lunch a few times a year to get an early start to a camping weekend. 
5. If you have a partner, how do you ensure that both of you can keep doing your outdoor activities? We take turns. She likes running so I make sure to be on kid duty so she can run. I play soccer, so she’s on duty then. When we’re outdoors together, we’re both on duty...with some breaks.

Summary/Conclusion:

1. What resources helped you figure out how to do these outdoor activities with your kids? (books, friends, groups, blogs, etc). We started with Strollerhikes.com when our oldest was a baby. Then we found a core group of friends who shared our interest in getting outdoors with the kids. Mostly we relied on our outdoor skills from before kids. 
2. What is your favorite outdoor parenting hack? Put the baby/toddler in a snowsuit for chilly nights when camping. Bring extra blankets to pile on in the middle of the night.
3. What is your biggest outdoor parenting mistake? Not pushing the kids hard enough. They can do so much more than we think they can. 
4. If you could give one piece of advice to other outdoor families, what would it be? It is ok to start small, within your comfort zone. Just get out!
5. What is your favorite piece of gear for outdoor parenting? A small solar powered inflatable lantern. It is lightweight enough for backpacking, but creates a lovely soothing glow in the tent.

We are so excited to introduce our first interview of an Outdoor Parent! We are hoping to do about two of these each month and use this information to improve our information pages. If you're interested in being interviewed, please contact us.

​Transitioning to parenthood:

1. What outdoor activities did you do before you had kids? Hiking, camping, backpacking, climbing.
2. When you were pregnant did you continue any of the activities and how did they modify the activity while pregnant? When I was pregnant I continued all activities while pregnant with modifications. I didn't backpack after the first trimester (mostly because I was tired and not interested in carrying any more weight) and I climbed only at the gym (not outdoors) while pregnant. Hiking and car camping had no modifications.
3. If you do different activities after having kids, why is that? No change
4. How old were your kids when you started doing outdoor activities with them? 1-2 months started hiking. Car camping around 6 months? Backpacking around 1 year. Climbing for parents went along with car camping. Climbing for kids around 3 years.
5. What was your biggest challenge when you started doing outdoor activities with the kids? Adjusting expectations for how big/high/far/fast we would go. Balancing adult fun and kid fun so everyone has a good time. But really it's been amazing. I remember our first J Tree trip when Evelyn was about 18 months old. She ran around in the dirt for hours chasing after the other kids and having a tremendous time. It was amazing to sit in a chair and not have to entertain her. It was the first time that I realized a pack of kids + nature actually can increase adult free time and relaxation. I've made sure to take advantage of the phenomenon as much as possible since then.

Outdoor parenting:

1. How have these challenges changed as the kids got older? Do my kids count as older yet, lol? My 6 year old is starting to have more opinions about what she wants to do, but so far she loves nature activities. Probably the biggest challenge has been motivating her to hike, since she isn't very easy to carry anymore. See below!
2. Do you have trouble maintaining the kids interest in the activity (ie during a long hike) and if you do, how do you keep the kids interested? Yes, I have trouble with this. The things that have worked include 1) hiking with other kids so they play together along the trail, 2) Carrying a giant box of blueberries for trail tag. The game is "whoever touches the next tree/log/rock/etc up ahead gets a blueberry!" This game has been known to carry Evelyn and her hiking friends shockingly far (several miles), even with significant elevation gain. 3) Adjusting adult expectations about stopping. Stopping more than we want to to explore, talk, snack, etc. Then continuing on. 4) Giving in and carrying her part of the way. She's only ~45 lb.
3. How do you fit the activities into your working life? Right now we are satisfied with planning ~4 - 6 trips/year and doing a lot of local hiking. We are fortunate that most of our family is close so our vacation time is generally spent in the outdoors. This could be a long weekend or a longer trip. We also built a climbing wall in the backyard for at-home free play. This seems to fit with the amount of time we have free.
4. How do you balance outdoor activities with kids activities (organized sports, music, school)? Because I'm a teacher, my vacation time generally lines up with the school year for my kids. I mostly restrict kid activities to the afterschool program Evelyn attends. If she's doing something on a weekend like swimming or gymnastics, I am fine with her missing a class and swallowing the money if we have another plan.
5. If you have a partner, how do you ensure that both of you can keep doing your outdoor activities? It's mostly about scheduling trips that work for our schedules. He is busier than I am at work, so I often will take weekend trips with other families that he can't attend. Neither of us really do outdoor activities sans kids. Kids are just part of our life now and they are generally included. We do occasionally rely on sitters to allow us to climb together. This takes the form of swapping childcare with another family, or getting paid help. We found ourselves stranded in Red Rock Nevada once when another family skipped out our planned trip and we were able to find childcare at a local kids gym in Las Vegas (Evelyn was around 2 or 3yrs). We would wake up, drive her into the childcare, then book it back to the rocks, climb something shorter and then dash back to pick her up by 5pm.

Summary/Conclusion:

1. What resources helped you figure out how to do these outdoor activities with your kids? (books, friends, groups, blogs, etc) Rock Rugratz, our babysitting co-op group (Oaktown Babyswap) that we do at least one trip/year with, and trading tips with other active parents.​
2. What is your favorite outdoor parenting hack? Rather than mess around with a million sleeping mats in the tent, I pack one big egg crate foam for all of us to share. This is nice and comfy on my hips too, which are less resilient than they used to be.
3. What is your biggest outdoor parenting mistake? One time I led a group of families to a climb in The Pinnacles. In my mind the climb had a simple approach and nice flat ground for the kids to play. My memory did not serve me well that day, it was a sloped ravine with a drop-off and there were a lot of toddlers tied to ropes that day.
4. If you could give one piece of advice to other outdoor families, what would it be? Definitely try camping/climbing with another family or two. It keeps the kids busy, provides social time for everyone, and gives the parents flexibility to support each other's activities.
5. What is your favorite piece of gear for outdoor parenting? My daughter had trouble with nature peeing for a long time. The Go Girl was a life saver. I even started taking it to the local playgrounds at home so she could step behind a bush if needed.

See all of our interviews here, where you can browse through them by keywords and locations.