coolness
12-15-2012, 17:16
I was hoping to hike and have an overnighter with my son Thomas (8) today. He decided not to go so I went for a solo 6 mile hike on the AT. I only started hiking 2 years ago and have always hiked with one or more family or friends. Check out the pic and see if you can guess where I hiked. ;) The weather was a bit cool to start but warmed up nicely. Saw a Scout Troop along the way and another solo hiker. I was back at my car in 4 hours.
A side note - I broke my left femur on July 4th this year while trying to Ice Skate. Liberty University has an indoor rink. I was in the hospital for 5 days and was out of work for 3 1/2 months. The doc put a rod in my leg. I've been hiking for a few weeks and have logged about 18 miles. :) It's healing very well; my arthritic knees give me trouble but the more I hike (over time) the better they feel. Getting ready to hike some 30-40 milers this Spring.
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joshuasdad
12-15-2012, 17:44
Hiking north of Daleville, VA? Or possibly near Lynchburg Reservoir? Grats on the first solo. You will be putting out 12-15 mile days before you know it, and loving every minute of it.
Considering your recent broken femur and the age of your son go lite wt, slower paced, and shorter miles. He probably has to take 2-3 steps to match your one. Make the hike as interesting as you can for your son. Perhaps, pick a scenically diverse short section of trail. That AT section from Dragon's Tooth, up to McAfee's(?) Knob overlook(great BIG boulders the size of small houses in that area too you can safely wander through with your son!), and around to the reservoir(perhaps, climb up the BIG rock where the trail crosses adjacent and under it for a bird's eye view of the reservoir), and coming out into Daleville is a rather scenically diverse multi day(about 3 days) trek. Pick some or all of it when you think both of you are ready. Let him do a little adventuring, exploring, and learning without always looking over his shoulder. Part of learning to better apprecaite, respect, and enjoy nature, even for children, is accomplished through self discovery. Let him feel free to commune with "nature" and you but STILL be there within eyesight just in case. He may have been a bit put off with the COOL weather. Kids(and adults) don't always immediately respond well to being placed outside their comfort zones. Look for a window of warmer weather for a short overnighter with Thomas, even if it's just down the street in a nearby park or in the backyard. You always have to be aware of the abilities of others in your hiking group when being a group hiking leader. This is ESPECIALLY the case when hiking with children. Work up to things.
Here are some hints about what I've learned on how to better motivate and teach people including children. Be aware of varying attention spans and interests. Not everyone is going to be equally interested in the things you are. Chunk it down if necessary. Your goal is to capture and keep your audience captivated but that also means knowing when to back off for an ocassional break. This is your opportunity as friend, teacher, and father! Get as many of their senses involved in the learning process - sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. SO OFTEN, I notice adults attempting to repeatedly jam commands and information into children's ears by talking and shouting at them. In other words, verbally teach them. When children don't respond as adults wish through verbal stimuli it's almost always blamed on the child instead of the adult who has poor motivational skills and is unaware of how we as humans process information and learn!
Here's an example of what I did on a 6 mile day hike. I was teaching my then 9 yr old nephew about holly trees. As I was verbally(sound) telling him some of the BASICS about holly trees keeping it in context with my audience, a 9 yr old, I started pointing out(visually, sight) various species of holly. I pointed out the various barks of different holly species. I pointed out small white flowers and red, orange, and black holly berries. I got him to smell some of the small weakly scented white flowers. I got him to bite into one of the non-poisonous holly berry species. "Yuck", was his comment. I said I agreed. Holly berries don't taste so good. I then pointed out the spiny leaves of one holly species by letting him touch it(tactile, touch). "Ouch", he replied. "That's scratchy." I then let him touch a smooth edged(non spiny) holly leaf. I rubbed it on his face to show him not all holly leaves had spines. I also let him know some holly species need a separate female tree and male tree to produce fruit, a holly berry, on the female tree. BUT, I also let him know a couple of holly species have both male and female parts on the same tree so fruit can be produced without having a seperate male and female tree. Some yrs later, while in highschool, still retaining what I had taught him, when his science teacher was telling the class that a seperate female and male holly tree are always needed to get berries and holly leaves are always spiny he calmly and respectfully informed the class that the teacher was incorrect about these points. His comments were initially dimissed by the teacher saying both he(my nephew) and me(his uncle) were wrong. One wk later, after the teacher did some more research, to the teacher's credit, he stood my nephew up in front of the class and apolgized to my nephew.
Why did I go into this on your thread? - because I note a great and widespread diservice being done to children by adults who get angry, blame children. and even get abusive because of their own adult inadequacies and ignorance! It sounds like you want to be a good father and part of being a good father is beiing a good motivator, teacher, and friend to your children. I'm also a plant geek. LOL.
coolness
12-16-2012, 09:04
Dogwood,
Thanks for the info. :cool: Thomas has been on quite a few day hikes in the past 2 years. We hiked up Cold Mountain last year for about 10 miles and he enjoyed it. We also hiked Cold Mountain from the other side to the Bald a couple weeks ago. He likes to hike; he had the "opportunity" to hang with a friend yesterday and that's cool. He really wants to go on an overnighter. We did an overnighter a few weeks ago at the Devil's Marbleyard here in Virginia. He had a great time though it was a bit cold. Warmer weather will be here in a couple months; December might even have a few "warm" days. We're actually hoping for a warm day during Christmas break to hike McAfee's Knob. It's only a bit over an hour from here. Thanks again for your tips and knowledge!! Here's a pic of Thomas on the trail. He'll be hiking with me for a long time. :)
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Hiking with your kids is such a great chance to bond over memories that last forever. I used to make my kids come along out of guilt on Fathers Day. This summer my youngest daughter asked to join me on my AT Hike for three to four weeks. Nice.
walknrow
12-16-2012, 20:05
Sounds like a good start, and great way to work the legs/knees. Slow, steady, & consistant. Good Luck!
maybe clem
12-26-2012, 18:31
A side note - I broke my left femur on July 4th this year while trying to Ice Skate. Liberty University has an indoor rink. I was in the hospital for 5 days and was out of work for 3 1/2 months. The doc put a rod in my leg. I've been hiking for a few weeks and have logged about 18 miles. :) It's healing very well; my arthritic knees give me trouble but the more I hike (over time) the better they feel. Getting ready to hike some 30-40 milers this Spring.
That's impressive, good job!