One fine day I was having a bad case of the grumpies. My children, who love trying to make Mama forget her grumpies, because that is what I do for them, decided that going down to the river to skip rocks and see what we see would be a grand idea.
Little did I know that when we arrived the kids would run out of the car, before I could even open my car door, and end up finding a trail to walk down. I suppose it was my daughters doing, getting her brothers to follow her towards the woods as a way for her to try to find the GeoMate capsule we found a year prior when they noticed the trail along the river bend.
The kids and I have traveled many trails in the local area, one being right off of the property we reside on but we had never seen this trail before so when they asked if we could walk it, I was happy to say yes!
The kids and I had a blast walking along this trail, at a faster than I expected rate, while sight seeing. We were able to see a tree chewed by a beaver and an animal from the weasel family along the river-bend across the way. As the kids and I laughed, walking along sharing silly stories and singing songs we came to an open path and noticed we had walked quite further than we even thought.
Traveling further and further along the trail, we were getting exercise without even realizing it. The kids thought this was a great family adventure, not exercise. This gave me an idea, what a great story to share with all of my readers as a way to get exercise into the kids daily life, and your life, without realizing. Taking a walk on a beaten trail in the woods is a fun way to not only experience nature at it’s finest but to enjoy a family picnic, talk about what you see and have a long walk without feeling like it’s a chore.
The kids had such a great time that I hope we can venture out onto this path again to see what we see. For the rest of you out there in the world, think about your local area, do you have any trails? Is there a way for you to ‘sneak’ exercise in as a nature walk with the kiddos? Or maybe even alone. I say give it a whirl, for we walked forty five minutes without one complaint and that rarely happens with my sons.
I’ve partnered with Harvard Pilgrim on this sponsored post but the thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. You can find more ways to be well at HarvardPilgrim.org/CountUsIn.
I take my boys on hikes in the woods all the time when it’s nice weather. They love it because they think we’re out there looking for bugs and exploring….they don’t even realize they’re getting exercise at the same time.