Bring out the aventureous side of your kids
Bring out the adventurous side of your kids
The purpose of this article is to pose the question, are kids born adventurous? One of many questions we, at Northern Spain Travel have posed in relation to travelling with kids and more specifically kids on the Camino de Santiago. We have created three posts written in coordination with a NST video series of my kiddies doing the Camino de Santiago by bike.
My name is Stephanie Mutsaerts, the founder of Northern Spain Travel, and these are my two Spanish – Canadian kids. The videos in this series represent what we at Northern Spain Travel do and stand by today, but really they are sweet morsels of our experience thirteen years ago when I travelled by bike along the Camino de Santiago with my sons Oliver, age 9, and Tasio, age 6.
A Pathway of Pleasure Travel
This was our first Camino de Santiago trip and every day was an adventure. If you ask them today which of the many adventures we have experienced together they would, without doubt, select this particular journey on Saint James Way. They are now 22 and 19, and that spirit of adventurer that we developed as a family is with them to this day.
Give your kids the tools to live and learn under challenging situations
Are kids born adventurous?
The answer to this is yes, but also no. More often than not this quality that is attractive in a grown up can be fostered in kids at a young age and over time through exposure to exploration – a word that can be applied to many different life experiences. For kids to be given the opportunity to learn through doing, watching, and being exposed to what we define broadly as adventure gives them a chance to shine.
Will this be too difficult for my kids?
True as it is, when we demand more from our kids than they are comfortable with, or if we see them resist participation, this is when we need to be soft and hard at the same time. I have exposed my children to so many adventurous things because I am incredibly passionate about those things. I want to foster the same passion deep within them. Although it’s not always easy to do, focus your efforts on making them feel comfortable about what they are doing – actually what you are all doing together. Skill and confidence will naturally follow from this approach. This is all part of the slow travel concept. We have plenty of time to do adventurous activities on their terms.
We are the Champions!
My kids and I would sing songs like “we are the champions” when the going got tough. The spirit of peddling hard to make it up the colina and the group praise of our achievement meant the world to them. We would celebrate our day’s outing on the Camino de Santiago with a trip to the ice cream parlour or a delicious foot and back massage.
By praising my kids’ adventurous accomplishments they come to understand that qualities such as bravery, resilience, and effort are valuable and useful and that hard work pays off. These attributes, my dear fellow parents evolves into willing and keen little adventure machines, ready for more action and more challenges.
Help your kids find resilience within themselves
Happy Trails
Honestly, this is the biggest key to just about anything with kids. As you know, we’re big believers that outdoor adventures shouldn’t have to end when we have kids, so our kids have been adventuring along with us since birth. They are constantly exposed to the outdoors, so much so that they’re often more comfortable there than they are indoors. They learn by watching us, by experiencing life side-by-side with our whole family.
