New Walkers

Shaz said:

Hi,
I am relatively new to walking and have two children age 10 and 6. I
also lead a group of Girl Guides and wouldlike to involve them in
walking.
Any suggestions?

Once we took a group of youngsters up Screel Hill
(http://tinyurl.com/qxqew) which is pretty tiny by the standards
of regular URW readers, but there's still a sense of achievement
in getting to the top for kids that don't do that kind of thing
much. The main thing, though, was that it wasn't just 'park the
bus, walk to the top, eat the sandwiches, back to the bus again' -
we had various games on the way up through the forest, as well as
taking time to help the kids to be aware of what's going on around
them. Whether or not it was a big hill or a long walk was never
considered.

A few suggestions: try making copies of the route of the walk and
encourage the kids to track where they think they are on the
route. Try to get the kids to identify trees with the help of
books. Play hide & seek. If you get to a point where you have to
choose left or right, but it doesn't really matter which, let the
kids choose. Ask them to collect ten different kinds of leaves or
five different colours of stones. Listen to a bird singing and
see who can whistle the tune back again best.

And so on - you get the idea. Adults can do the walk just for its
own sake, but many kids need something else to keep them interested.

Colin

In message <[email hidden]>

Colin MacDonald said:

Shaz said:

Hi,
I am relatively new to walking and have two children age 10 and 6. I
also lead a group of Girl Guides and wouldlike to involve them in
walking.
Any suggestions?

Depends wholly on the kids, and how you think they'll cope. Some fairly
young children can be fine, other older ones may struggle. I saw a seven
year old girl on the top of Great Gable today (overheard her asking her
dad if many seven year olds go up there, so I presume it was her age), and
she seemed to be enjoying herself. Yet I once took a not quite girlfriend
over Catbells, who grumbled at every rock in the path.

--
Simon Challands

Shaz said:

Hi,
I am relatively new to walking and have two children age 10 and 6. I
also lead a group of Girl Guides and wouldlike to involve them in
walking.

I've led groups of children on walks and found stiles to be the major
problem. If you walk with 10 kids and the walk involves 10 stiles, it's
not unusual for them to take 1/2 minute per kid/stile, with all their
faffing about. That means it takes almost 3/4 hour - just negotiating
stiles!

Jim Ford

I got 3 girls, 6, 8 & 11.

My 8 yr old walked Skiddaw without complaining on her very first real walk,
she has since done a 10 mile hike around Mardale, and others, next weekend
weather permitting, she will stand on Scafell Pikes summit.
Last weekend I took all three of them on an organized walk in Buttermere
that turned into a nightmare.
My advise is simple, know where it is you are walking before you walk it.
Get down to a child's level, and see all of it from their point of view. A
five foot wide stream with 4 stepping stones may be nothing more than a mild
inconvenience to you, to a child its no fun believe me, not when they have a
long walk ahead of them. We came across several of these kind of obstacles,
but try crossing boggy ground (foot deep black tar is what we had), with a
child, or more than one.. not any fun.. believe me. We walked nine miles
around Catbells - High Spy the other week and I don't think we could have
got wet had we wanted to.

Don't mean to put you off at all, really don't, but I consider myself to be
fairly experienced, and last week I didn't turn back quick enough to save my
kids getting very wet and very miserable.. lesson learnt to be sure.
I haven't read everyone else's posts and I am sure there are far better
people here than I, but my 8 yr old is like me - thin, tall and has the same
mentality as I do - I climb mountains because they are there to be climbed!
Not all kids think this way, not all kids have what it takes to enjoy this.

Have fun

C

"Colin MacDonald" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Shaz said:

Hi,
I am relatively new to walking and have two children age 10 and 6. I
also lead a group of Girl Guides and wouldlike to involve them in
walking.
Any suggestions?

As others have suggested kids vary a lot in how well they will cope
with walking, and its not just physical, its mental too.

My sisters son (9) once accompained us on the Pembrokshire coast path.
We did 15 miles, and most of the adults were fairly tired but the 9
year old was fine. My own son (10) is fit enough to do the walking, but
mentally he just cant be bothered, and winges a lot after a mile or so.

What you dont want to do with young children is plan walks that involve
a big committment in terms of distance. It might be OK in good weather
but if it turns bad the little dears get miserable very quickly. You
dont want to put off forever a child who might become a lifelong
walking partner.

With my brothers and sisters children we have had great fun exploring
old hill forts, monument and castles etc. They enjoy running round like
mad things playing hide and seek having sword fights and battles.

If your thinking of involving the guides, you will need to read the
rules and regs of the Guide association as to where you may go and what
level of competance you need to have to lead them.

Where in the country are you, or which areas are accessible to you. No
use suggesting the Lakes for a day walk when you are in Kent.

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Where in the country are you, or which areas are accessible to you. No
use suggesting the Lakes for a day walk when you are in Kent.

A lot depends your abilities and confidence, my eldest did Cadair Idris at
4. However I had been there many times before so knew what to expect. It was
not untill he was about 7 that I took him on to hills that were a first time
for me as well.

Gerald

Shaz said:

Hi,
I am relatively new to walking and have two children age 10 and 6. I
also lead a group of Girl Guides and wouldlike to involve them in
walking.
Any suggestions?

I have a daughter and a son. My daughter always hated walking, and my
son simply loves it, and the longest the walk, the best it is for him.
Last year, he was 6 year old, and we walked around 100 km with around
4500 m ascent in 6 days.
When we reached the end of the walk, he was so sad and asked us when the
next long walk will take place.
See him in action here (in French, sorry)
http://users.skynet.be/fa035702/vosges/

Yan

In message <[email hidden]>, Shaz
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Hi,
I am relatively new to walking and have two children age 10 and 6. I
also lead a group of Girl Guides and wouldlike to involve them in
walking.
Any suggestions?

Get a GPS and trying Geocaching:

http://www.geocaching.com/

Children love treasure hunting!

Regards
--
Neil Pugh

Neil Pugh wrote

"Get a GPS and trying Geocaching:

http://www.geocaching.com/

Children love treasure hunting! "

Alternatively, if you have a GPS, you can play the guessing game?

How far to the next summit? back to the car? How high are we?

Provides plenty of interest to make the miles wizz by......

David.

214Fells said:

Alternatively, if you have a GPS, you can play the guessing game?

How far to the next summit? back to the car? How high are we?

Provides plenty of interest to make the miles wizz by......

Though I don't really see why you need a GPS to play this...

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Quoted message said:

Get a GPS and trying Geocaching
Children love treasure hunting!

Proper pirates use maps.

Hello,

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Any suggestions?

Get a GPS and trying Geocaching:

http://www.geocaching.com/

Children love treasure hunting!

Another quest: http://www.cistes.net/index.php
Mostly in French, but it is up to you to create new cists in English.

Yan