Would you believe me if I told you my two young boys are willing to leave the house, parting from their electronics, and go romping through the woods? Not only that, but they’re doing it willingly!!!!
I know this sounds too good to be true, but to paraphrase the philosopher Kurt Angle who once said, “It true! Oh yes, it’s true!” But this wasn’t always the case.
We’ve never had much of a problem with our 6-year-old. He does love his TV and video games, and loves the outdoors, but more times than not, he won’t suggest it himself. Generally someone else has got to make the recommendation.
Our 8-year-old is a different story. I’ve come to believe that he’s allergic to the fresh air, and acts as thought he would die without his electronics. When he does leave the home willingly, a playground is usually involved.
However, that has recently changed. These two are not only willingly leaving the house, and running around the woods, but are asking to go out on their own! What changed you may ask? Well, I’m glad you did and I’m about to tell you!
A couple weeks ago I was about to take-off for my afternoon run, jog, walk, or whatever you call it, when my youngest asked to go along. I knew he couldn’t go as far as I wanted to, so an idea come to mind. Years ago a coworker introduced to Geocaching.
For those who are not familiar with the term, Geocaching is an online, GPS based scavenger hunt, with hides all over the world. There just happened to be a “kid friendly” hide in the park between our home and their school that I hadn’t found, so I told him there was something I wanted to look for and could use the help. My wife then pressed the older to go along … and off we went!
A few minutes later we were at a trailhead close to the cache, my phone telling us we were about 1/10th of a mile to ground zero, and we began to walk to the ageless childhood tunes of “Where are we going? What are we looking for? How far is it? and Are we there yet?” Then … there it was … a plastic container, hiding in a hollow tree, filled with a log book and trinkets.
The boys were highly intrigued by this new found “treasure”. After we examined the cache and signed the log, they wanted to keep going. While this extended hike was unexpected, it wasn’t long before we found ourselves in the field behind their school.
They didn’t recognize it at first, but a group of kids playing T-Ball caught their attention.
As we continued on, it finally clicked, “This is our school!! Did you know there was another way to get to our school!!!” Though I did, I didn’t want to destroy the moment, and let them continue to explore! Their excitement was just contagious!
When we finally returned to the house, this adventure was all they would talk about! They spent much of the evening telling Mom, every little detail of what took place!
After work the next day Aimee told me that their “adventure” was all they would talk about. My youngest finally asked, “Dad, can we go on another adventure and find more treasures?!” How could I say no to that?!
A couple days later we took off again, aiming for two child friendly caches in another park. This time we found a creek and a “bamboo forest”, a sight they still talk about. A couple days later there were finds in a wooded area behind some town homes, and more recently, a half-mile trek through some trails which concluded with a new playground to explore! What a day! We even wrapped up this weekend with my oldest asking if we could go ride our bikes.
“You want to do what?” I asked.
“We want to take our bikes down the trail we went on before!” We had taken bikes down that trail a month or so prior and my eldest seemed more interested in complaining about the outdoors than riding a bike, and now he was asking to do it again? On his own?
So, off we went, I with little hope this would be a good idea, but I was happily surprised. We went about a mile and a half round trip, and if it weren’t for the time, I believe we would have gone a whole lot further!
Why this sudden change? I’m not really sure, but I’m not overly concerned. All I know is that at least some of this was sparked by a little plastic box, behind a tree, in the woods behind their school, that had the word “Geocache” taped all over it!
The fact that these kids are asking to go outside is a minor miracle! My boys are now willing to leave the electronics behind, go outside creating memories, and I’m not going to complain!
TFTC! (Thanks For The Cache!)
That’s so fun! One day, I’d love to take them on my favorite hike in Estes park, Emerald lake!
Kewl!