News, Adventure travel for families snowballs. (camping, rail, old, mountain)

[John1960]

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, Mont. — Melanie McQuaig smiles as she watches a dozen children playing amid the wildflowers in the distance.
Among them are her two girls, ages 6 and 11, who should be tired after hiking nearly 4 miles up a narrow mountain trail to this glorious lunch spot — a remote subalpine meadow flanked by towering peaks. And yet the girls don't even seem winded.

"Being with other kids and hip young guides is so much more motivating for them," says McQuaig, 44, of Wenatchee, Wash., looking on as the children bound off with a twentysomething guide to fill their water bottles from a glacier-fed creek. "I don't think they'd do a hike like this at home without complaining."

Adventure travel for families snowballs - USATODAY.com

[Mooseketeer]

I think Kids love a real adventure so I'm not really surprised. I think the trick is to incorporate kids into your own lifestyle quite early on.

Quite a few of my friends take their toddlers and even babies camping, hiking etc... and I even have some very adventurous friends who live in Australia and travel the world and Adam their one and half year old son goes everywhere with them, including in the Australian Bush.

It takes a bit more effort and preparation but it means that the kids will grow up used to being in the great outdoors and more likely to follow in Mom and Dad's footsteps.

I love those adventure holidays for kids too as it means they are away from the parents and it makes them a bit more independent, will give them a knowledge of and respect for nature and give them the sense of achievement and pride in their own accomplishments. I can't see a downside to it at all really.