How To Get Kids Outdoors

My personal prescription for happiness and sanity? Be outside before noon. It doesn’t sound like much, I know, but with an 18-month old, nothing is as simple as it sounds. Sometimes getting a load of laundry on the line and breakfast into the boy takes most of the morning, and then there’s naptime to contend with.

Usually he takes just one a day, after lunch. But if we go on a long late-morning walk, he often falls asleep in the backpack. It’s not much of a nap, especially if he hears a brook or a crow or a red squirrel…usually he’s asleep just long enough to make getting him to take a “real” nap in the afternoon an unpleasant battle. Some days I feel I just can’t risk it, so we stay in, and I feel like a caged animal.

A big part of the “problem” is that I’ve created my own troubles, and I couldn’t be happier. In just a year and a half Max has become a boy who likes being outside so much that I have to ration his dosage. Otherwise he gets so excited and revved up that some afternoons, when I’m trying to get him to sleep, he’s literally pounding on the door, begging to go out. He dances to the chattering of red squirrels, gobbles like a turkey, and talks to chipmunks and chickadees. He doesn’t care what the weather is. One day in early March I let him play for a few minutes in the snow-melt runoff along the road. It’s the only time he’s ever kicked and screamed as I carried him away from something. I had to do it; his lips and fingers were turning blue.

Boy Meets Grouse

While walks along our dirt road are nice, we really prefer to be out among the trees. We have a neighbor who has a large woodlot and he said we were welcome to spend time exploring his woods. We’ve found a vernal pool and are watching the wood frog eggs develop. We’ve seen deer and rabbits, salamanders and snakes, but the weirdest experience we’ve had so far has been with a grouse. We’re not totally sure if it’s male or female, but after consulting some books and folks who might know, we’re leaning towards male. We’ve seen the bird twice. The first time, my husband, Doug, was along with us. I took several pictures of what we thought was really strange behavior for a grouse. You know grouse, right? Usually you just hear the males “drumming” in the spring or get your wits scared out of you by one flushing just a few feet from you. This bird seemed curious about us. When we first saw it, it was maybe 20 feet from us, but as it pecked about in the leaves it wove its way closer until it was barely 10 feet away. Max was asleep in the backpack, but when he realized we weren’t walking anymore he woke up, pointed at the grouse and said, “Dah!” The bird was not phased. I kept taking pictures and Doug and I talked about how bizarre this was. We both thought that maybe it was a female with a nest and she was suggesting we just move along, but there are several problems with this theory. One, it was early for a nest. Two, we were moving along until the bird caught our attention with its odd behavior. Three, she (?) wasn’t really leading us anywhere, just sort of pecking about in the leaves and making soft noises. (Doug said it sounded like a hamster, but if you get close to a chicken pecking around on the ground, they make soft warble-like noises, too.) Even though our theory was full of holes, it was the only one we had, so we decided to act on it and move along. Even the large movements of turning to go didn’t seem to make the bird flinch.

That was early April. Ten days later Max and I went back to check on the frog eggs and take some pictures. When we got there it was too early in the morning and the sun was behind a tall hemlock. I could see the developing tadpoles just fine, but in order to take a picture I need plenty of sunlight shining into the water, as any camera flash just reflects off the surface. So we decided to go wandering for an hour or so. I took a section of road I knew would make a loop, but when we got to the turn-back point, I decided to take another trail that looked inviting. It went east for a while, then curved back northward, following two sides of a stand of mostly white pine. When Doug and I first saw the grouse, it was on the northern end of the west side of this 2-3 acre section of woods. Now walking on the east side, I wasn’t thinking about the grouse at all. Hearing a rustle in the leaves, I thought I’d stepped on a branch as I skirted around a sloppy spot in the logging road. When the sound continued even after I was back in the mud, I became curious and looked back into the woods. “What the…?” It had to be the same grouse. It wasn’t flushing, it wasn’t running away, it wasn’t walking away; it was coming right towards me, if anything, bolder than the week before! Max and I watched it pick its way through the underbrush, looking as though it was trying to “act casual” by pecking at the ground every so often. It came closer this time, maybe 6 or 7 feet away.

My young son does not understand that wild animals are not like his dogs and that any movements should be slow and slight. He pointed, giggled, and kicked his legs. The most dramatic of these might make the bird move a foot or two away, but it kept coming back. Finally, having taken yet more pictures of this unusual animal, I decided to walk on. The bird followed! I stayed in the logging road, the grouse stayed alongside, usually about fifteen feet away, picking its way over some fallen trees and under others. After maybe 75 feet, I stopped again. This time the bird got really brave. It circled around us several times while I took more pictures and even changed the batteries in my camera. I thought a few times that it was going to come right up and peck at my shoes. Again, thinking I now really had enough pictures, I thought I’d see what it would do if I walked off further. It followed along like it was my pet. When we got back to the main trail that was my loop back to the vernal pool I said, “OK bird, I’m taking a right here, what are you going to do?” Well, of course, he was going my way! We were now on the same stretch of road where we had seen the bird with Doug. I thought surely if it followed us that far, at the very least it would stop there. I stopped a few times to let it catch up, then stopped again at the spot we’d seen it first. We had now walked together along three sides of a few acres of woods. The bird had not shown aggression and only a little caution. I took a few more pictures, throwing caution to the wind and extending my arm to take some shots almost directly down on the bird. What would it do if I knelt on the ground? It moved a few feet away, then came closer again so I could get some more great shots. I even got some video of it following me as I backed away. I eventually decided, as the bird continued to follow us, further and further from what I could only assume was its territory, that I should just keep going and not look back or wait for it. I didn’t want it following us home! Max, of course, was distressed that we were leaving his new friend behind, but I explained that it had to stay in the woods and we had some frog pictures to take.

While Max won’t remember the details of his first walks and hikes, I know I’m laying the foundation for a life of appreciation and respect for nature. Sure, he has lots of books about animals that are full of information and great photos, but his favorite animals, besides his dogs of course, are those he sees and hears on our walks.

How To Get Kids Outdoors: A Note on Carriers

Incidentally, because Max is still a toddler, he’s in a backpack carrier for our woods walks. I prefer the Ergo. It’s a soft carrier (no frame) and as the name implies, so ergonomically designed that I hardly notice the 32 extra pounds. Doug likes a carrier from Kelty, which does have a frame. The specific model we have isn’t made anymore, but the current ones  are still basically the same.

But you don’t really need any special equipment to have fun in the outdoors. Just go outside with your kids and let their curiosity, and your own, lead the way!