When should hiking children carry their own stuff and how much?

The older and more physically fit the child, the
heavier load they can carry.

Infants through 4 year olds shouldn’t be expected to carry anything. Preschoolers might use a trekking pole or collect interesting stuff found on the way, but they probably won’t carry any of it for long. Small frame packs are fine for healthy 5-7 year olds. A capacity internal frame pack is okay for 9-12 year olds.

A good rule of thumb for how much they can carry is no more than 25 percent capacity of their backpack. Most upper elementary school age kids can carry only about 10 pounds for any short distance. Subtract the weight of the backpack, and that means only 4-5 pounds goes in.

I’ve seen some formulas that say a child should be able to carry a pound of weight for every five pounds they weigh. A 90-pound child then would be able to carry 18 pounds. This formula seems overly optimistic, however. A physically fit, athletic teenager probably can carry this much, and as they near adulthood, more. But don’t expect this of your fourth grader – and especially not of your preschooler.

Increase the amount that children carry as they grow and are capable of taking on more weight. Once a teenager, they can move up to small adult backpacks and carry some of the load that you usually take. Still, limit the amount your teens carried based on their abilities.

Read more about day hiking with children in my Hikes with Tykes guidebooks.

Day hiking with kids may require adult attitude adjustment

Hiking with children requires patience,
as they like to stop and explore.

To enjoy hiking with kids, you’ll first have to adopt your child’s perspective. Simply put, we must learn to hike on our kids’ schedules – even though they may not know that’s what we’re doing.

Compared to adults, kids can’t walk as far, they can’t walk as fast, and they will grow bored more quickly. Every step we take requires three for them. In addition, early walkers, up to two years of age, prefer to wander rather than “hike.” Preschool kids will start to walk the trail, but at a rate of only about a mile per hour. With stops, that can turn a three-mile hike into a four-hour journey. Kids also won’t be able to hike as steep of trails as you or handle as inclement of weather as you might.

This all may sound limiting, especially to long-time backpackers used to racking up miles or bagging peaks on their hikes, but it’s really not. While you may have to put off some backcountry and mountain climbing trips for a while, it also opens up to you a number of great short trails and nature hikes with spectacular sights that you may have otherwise skipped because they weren’t challenging enough.

So sure, you’ll have to make some compromises, but the payout is high. You’re not personally on the hike to get a workout but to spend quality time with your children.

Read more about day hiking with children in my Hikes with Tykes guidebooks.

Hiking activities, games are age dependent

The types of games and activities you select for a day hike with kids – or if you select any at all – depend largely upon the child’s age. That’s because as children grow, their interactions with you and with nature change.

Infants in baby carriers largely are passive passengers. While you must be aware of and tend to their needs as you would any infant, no special games or activities really are necessary for the trail. They’ll be happy to see the sights around them, play with the back of your sun hat, and sleep in the gentle breeze created by your steady pace.

For my son, that passivity changed sometime during his first year when he began to string words together into sentences and started talking with me. His passivity totally ended when he came down from the carrier sometime during his third year. Toddlers in the carrier generally are easy to amuse with songs and simply pointing out the names of various trees, birds and other objects in nature. To them, the outdoors is still all brand new. Once toddlers begin walking on their own and through their preschool years, however, they’ll flit from point to point, touching and examining everything around them. Engagement with them becomes increasingly important so that they behave and do not become bored. This is an excellent opportunity for adults to employ games and activities that build their skills and love for nature while strengthening the parent-child bond.

Most elementary school kids generally are able to amuse themselves, especially if a friend comes along on the hike, but you shouldn’t pass on this chance to continue developing their cognitive, observational and creative skills. The games now can become more sophisticated, and they’ll likely want to play a variety of them (unlike the preschooler who usually likes to do the same game over and over). Interacting with your child remains as important as ever so you can lay a good foundation to ensure communication is possible during coming teen years.

Teenagers generally will become more interested in the destination rather than the journey, taking a more adult view of hiking. They still will enjoy games and activities but are likely to be more selective about which they play. Most will prefer activities that revolve around their interests, such as drawing or journaling. A good way to keep teens involved in the hike and interacting with you is to give them leadership roles and responsibilities: Allow them to select the trail, to help plan the trip, to navigate during the hike, to locate rest spots. You’re now developing their hiking skills, teaching them the fundamentals of the sport so that once they become adults, they will be excellent hikers … who in turn take their own children down long trails into the wilds.

Read more about day hiking with children in my guidebook Hikes with Tykes.