That's about all we ever do. I'll have my wife look into a better head support
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Kids and Overlanding
- Thread starter Raul B
- Start date
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Member III
Not to take away from his wife's shop, but just to test it out on the trail, we used to just roll up a dish towel for our kids. It worked pretty well for the mild- med trails we used to run in my old Cherokee.
Our oldest was probably 3-4 months old when we first started taking her out on the trails with the club.
We have the Eddie Bauer inserts currently and she's almost to big for the smaller one but is still to small for anything rough without it
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I made a new thread before I knew this existed. My apologies.
My kid loves getting off the beaten path. He calls it "riding on the dirt" or "riding on the mountain".
Its funny, he got used to me checking the GPS when we are out and about, so now every time we stop, he says... "Are we checking the map, dad?"
My kid loves getting off the beaten path. He calls it "riding on the dirt" or "riding on the mountain".
Its funny, he got used to me checking the GPS when we are out and about, so now every time we stop, he says... "Are we checking the map, dad?"
Recent shot of my younger son posing below our Murderspork
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I've got a niece and two nephews that are as close as I will ever have to my own kids. Unfortunately my niece lives in another state. My brother and his boys however live 3 minutes from me. At 8 and 5 we don't just bring them along we now let them lead. I bought them a rzr170 and showed them how to make it go. Pretty much short day trips right now. I like roads that have an old abandoned ranch house or some kind of building on it. I'll spend a few hours the night before telling them about it, then put them out in the lead and tell them I don't remember how to get there, they need to find it. Bigger trips are easy to get them to go on as long as I promise to bring their.22s. 
We got to take my nephews and my buddy's son and daughter for a short day trip this weekend. Kinda had a few problems. Her hand got a throttle blister and my buddy ended up on his daughters quad while she rode with me for a while. The baby rzr lost a fuel pump. Had to tow my 8 year old nephew the last mile to the fishing hole. He did great taking hand signals on when to use his brakes to slow me down and keeping the rope tight on down hills. Even with setbacks they loved every minute of it. 
That's what ya gotta love about taking kids on outdoor adventures from a young age. They learn that things don't always go exactly as planned, and how to handle themselves in the event that they don't.
This creates highly agile, adaptable, and capable kids who aren't afraid to engage with the world and it's many difficulties. I'd hope it goes without saying that that is a great thing! [emoji1305]
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Contributor II
My fondest memories as a child were out playing in the dirt, be it running around the mountains or blasting thru the high plains desert on a motorcycle. I am trying to create similar memories for my 2 kids (currently 7 and almost 4). Although I work in IT, I hate the prevalence of technology in our lives most of the time. When we go camping, unless it's on the trip and we want them to stay awake - it's no phone/no tablet. We take notebooks for drawing, binoculars and extra clothes so that they can get as dirty as they want. Marshmallows and hotdogs and a fire can provide a ton of entertainment.
I also look for anything that might be interesting and just point at it and say "Hey! What's that? Who wants to go check it out with me?" This is almost immediately followed by me chasing them down a trail trying to keep them in site. :)
Taking my first long trip with the 7 yr old next week. I'm taking his bb gun, fishing poles, an UNO deck and letting him bring his GoBag along. Since mom isn't coming, he will probably get his first knife this trip as well ;)
I also look for anything that might be interesting and just point at it and say "Hey! What's that? Who wants to go check it out with me?" This is almost immediately followed by me chasing them down a trail trying to keep them in site. :)
Taking my first long trip with the 7 yr old next week. I'm taking his bb gun, fishing poles, an UNO deck and letting him bring his GoBag along. Since mom isn't coming, he will probably get his first knife this trip as well ;)
Just finished our first camping trip w/ the baby, and for anyone out there with an infant, get one of these:
It's compact, lightweight, and the floor ensures your kid won't be able to cram all of those delicious twigs and rocks in his/her mouth. We were able to leave her in there while we set up camp, which was really nice. We also threw our small dog in there too...
It's compact, lightweight, and the floor ensures your kid won't be able to cram all of those delicious twigs and rocks in his/her mouth. We were able to leave her in there while we set up camp, which was really nice. We also threw our small dog in there too...
Some flicks (a few cross-posted from my build) of a recent 2.5 day trip with both boys (2 + 4 years old) . . .
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Off-Road Ranger I
Just had a fun family camping trip out digging and collecting geodes. I just hope I get the spirit of adventure into their lives. Keep them from getting sucked into thinking screens is all there is.
Had a great time, will have a fun filled summer going on more trips!
OB# 3805
Had a great time, will have a fun filled summer going on more trips!
OB# 3805
Memorial Weekend on the Superior National Forest -- Gunflint Trail.
A little help gathering firewood
A little help gathering firewood
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Amen to that!
We have been dragging The Varmints around since the youngest was 18 months old. That means we have about 6 years of this under our belt, much of it trips of several thousand miles.
I am not into electronics. We don't take along much that is intended to entertain them. The new setting is the entertainment. Get out there and explore it. Just don't break anything.
The biggest challenge is the time in the car. One of our tools for that is "The Initials Game". It is kind of like "20 Questions", but there is no limit on the number of questions. As an example, I might offer the initials "S.L." and then everyone else asks me questions to which I can answer "yes" or "no". Things like "Is it animal?" "Is it bigger than a bread box?" "Is it tangible?" "Do we own one?" and so forth. In this case, S.L. is a particularly wicked one: Speed Limit. But this sort of thing keeps their minds working while we drive.
It is good to have traditions too, things that they know they can look forward to on each trip. S'mores is an objective, but it seems that more often than not we are dealing with fire restrictions (one of the joys of SoCal). One tradition we have been good at is the reading of a Patrick F. McManus story each night when we go to bed. (And if any of you have not discovered McManus you owe it to yourselves to go find some of his material and read it. Any outdoorsperson can appreciate his work.)
Another useful thing to pack along is a bird book. That way the kids can work on identifying your campsite visitors.
More than anything it is about exploring. We don't try to bring "home" along with us. This is the quest for something new.
This past weekend went to tionesta pa. Did some fishing and my 2 girls loved it! We even found out a new easy of making sunny side up eggs or dippy eggs. Use a campfire pie maker! I'm trying to talk the wife into a trip to Maryland this summer. Not sure off the spelling but Assateque island
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A few years back, while camping with some friends w/ a 6 year old daughter, I came up with this idea: I brought along a piece of rough, fabric-like paper from a craft store. I aged it with dirt and a bit of fire, so it had the look of really old parchment, but more rugged. I then drew a "treasure map" of the campground, using paint pens, with various stops along the way at big rocks, or stumps or trees. Each stop had a small item (magnifying glass, etc...) and then at the end, there was a bucket with assorted outdoorsy/educational toys/activities (bug ID book, balsa wood glider, nature coloring betc...). When I gave it to her the first morning, with some story about an old man delivering it to me in the night with instructions that she follow the map, she freaked out (in a good way). She enjoyed the "hunt" better than the stuff she found, frankly, but I still think it's a pretty good idea. And, she still has the map, years later...
Influencer II
Got 4 kids in house presently
from 12 to 17
I find that we enjoy the longer drives with convo and general silliness, and when that gets old, they all have tablets or cell phones..... and there's youtube and Netflix..
I have a T-Mobile hotspot that makes any music or video pretty much at no cost...
Up front, I installed 3 hi amp USB outputs for charging, and another 3 in the back.....
Heading up to the Klamath area this weekend.. camping with three of them, the wife and Grandma
In June we're headed to SoCal for my kids' punk/pop band competition, and rather than staying in a hotel @ $1600 for 2 room/4 nights, we're camping by the lake for $100 (for the win!) and quarters for the coin-op showers.... plus there's lake time there....
from 12 to 17
I find that we enjoy the longer drives with convo and general silliness, and when that gets old, they all have tablets or cell phones..... and there's youtube and Netflix..
I have a T-Mobile hotspot that makes any music or video pretty much at no cost...
Up front, I installed 3 hi amp USB outputs for charging, and another 3 in the back.....
Heading up to the Klamath area this weekend.. camping with three of them, the wife and Grandma
In June we're headed to SoCal for my kids' punk/pop band competition, and rather than staying in a hotel @ $1600 for 2 room/4 nights, we're camping by the lake for $100 (for the win!) and quarters for the coin-op showers.... plus there's lake time there....
