One of our favorite family hobbies, both before and after we had children, is hiking. While the length and difficulty of the hikes we take has changed significantly, we still make sure to get the kids on the trails, and have since both were born.
While we always hope for the best on our hikes, we also prepare for the worst. For us, that means having the right gear, the right snacks, and the right attitude. For the little ones, having a comfortable baby or toddler carrier is essential. When the kids were babies, I really liked the LILLEbaby carrier. You can use it forward front, forward in, and also as a backpack. As the kids have gotten bigger, we switched to the Osprey Poco Child Carrier. This one is a splurge, but in my opinion worth it. We have used ours since our son was about a year old, and still use it today with our daughter who is 2.5. She is very tall, so her days are numbered in it, but it has been a great piece of equipment and comfortable for both my husband and I to use.
As the kids have gotten older and want to hike more on their own, making sure they have comfortable hiking clothes is essential. For my son, we usually make sure he has boots or good adventure shoes (we love Bogs boots and Keens), and long pants since he also seems to wander off into long grass or brush and we found out the hard way that having a little one complain about scratchy brush constantly can really ruin an otherwise peaceful walk. Our daughter is still young enough that sneakers work for the amount of “hiking” she does. The only other piece of gear my son insists on having is a carrier for his bunny (because his dad is his hero and he wants to be just like him).
Be prepared for snack breaks with littles! We also really encourage each kids to find a “nature toy” as we call them. Either the coolest rock they can find, best pinecone, or the prefect walking stick are all good options! We also try to bring binoculars so we can look closely at what’s going on around us during our snack break.
For most of the hikes we’re going on with kids, we don’t really need more than sneakers. But if I know a trail will be muddy or we may be doing a little more exploring, I love my Blundstone boots. I also recently picked up a pair of the more technical Vuori joggers, and absolutely love them for hiking. The material is somewhat water repellent, also making little seeds and burrs slide right off. My husband swears by Kuhl pants, and probably wears a pair every day for work and then loves them for hikes too. He prefers boots for most hikes, and recently picked a pair from Go Ruck he likes. My husband usually carries the baby carrier, but sometimes I still like to bring a small sling bag to carry my essentials. My Lululemon one is still sold out, but you can find a good dupe on Amazon.
I hope this post helps. My best is advice is to start them young, start them on short hikes, and make it fun!
