Get out and about

Getting out and about with your children helps teach them so many things.

When we walked up mount Te Aroha we did not know how far it was. My eldest was eight and stopped three times in the first 30 minutes saying she could go no further.

We encouraged her to think ‘can’ rather than ‘cannot.’ We knew she had more in her and explained that it takes a little while for muscles to warm up.

A number of hours later we all made it to the top and got to enjoy a great view. Once we were back down she agreed that she felt proud to have made it.

I believe these walks helped teach our girls the benefits of perseverance in a way which would have been hard to recreate in other ways. They learnt that hard work eventually comes to an end and the reward of the view, or the ice cream, makes the effort required worth it.

When you are an hour away from your car:

• you are an hour away from your car;

• there is no rescue (unless there is some form of emergency, and no, running out of lollies or having a sore leg are not emergencies);

• no tantrum is going to be sufficient to give you the super human strength required to carry your child all that way; and

• in the forest very few people can hear the screams!