[at-l] Re: how far will your little ones walk?

[sloetoe@xxxxxxxxx (Sloetoe)]

--- J Bryan Kramer <jbryankramer@msn.com> wrote:
> Well our youngest is about to hit five, in my experience with
> him and the two before him I'd say most three year olds are
good for 3 miles at least and maybe five miles with the right
encouragement. It depends a lot on the kids attitude.
### "...the right attitude." Huge huge huge. (Now, how you get
there is subject to alot, but...)

> Our soon to be 5 year old has done 5 or 6 miles. They can do
> more than that but a long break around five miles for
> refueling and running around helps a lot.
### One thing kids can NOT do is reliably determine when they're
needing food, drink, and rest, and parents who hike MUST enforce
all three to keep the miles happy ones. Eating like a bird,
insufficient hydration (and how many *adults* are guilty of
this?), and then NOT resting during rest stops -- hoooo-boy.
When a toddler throws a tantrum that they simply *can't* go on,
and then when you stop and sit, they suddenly explode into
boisterous bundles of youth, ... well, *somebody* got worked on
that one, and if it worked once, it will *surely* get worked
again. (They're not dumb, they *are* your children after all.)
### Anywho... we stopped every 30 minutes for 5 and every hour
for 10; we ate, we drank, we were off our feet. (On that last
one, if enforced rigidly as a rule that kids MUST follow during
a rest stops, well, it can produce some serious fun as they try
to get around it. Try it.)

> We got him a pack (at Target)ies a water bottle and a change
of clothes in that pack.
### Having found the BigLots' packs by luck, were I going to
outfit a toddler for the trail now, I would get a good fanny
pack rather than a shoulder/knapsack, as the fanny pack is more
likely to fit the wee ones' bod, and the fanny pack will
*always* fit well, whereas a knapsack fitted properly for teensy
shoulders will soon (God willing) be too small.

=====
Spatior! Nitor! Nitor! Tempero!
   Pro Pondera Et Meliora.

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