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I’ve been thinking recently about the whole deal of hiking with children. For some it is a kind of torture with incessant “I’m bored”, “I hate this” or “I want to go home” followed by crying. While others have kids who can’t wait to get their walking boots on and look up adoringly with big smiles as they climb a 30 degree hill in the driving rain.

I’m hoping that my own daughter will turn out to be the latter. At just under two she loves coming out for a walk with Daddy, but that’s usually because I’m carrying her the whole way in a back-pack. She gets to point out cows, sheep, birds etc and even go to sleep to the rocking motion as I walk.
We have a trip to New Zealand booked so I’m seriously thinking about getting her some waterproof hiking boots. She’s getting heavier by the day, so I’d like her to do some of the walking on our holiday otherwise I’ll come back home as skinny as a rake with legs the size of Arnold Schwarzenegger. I’m not sure that shops sell waterproof hiking boots in baby size 5, but I hope they do.

Maybe I’ll also get her nursery to give her a crash course on orienteering or ask them to teach her how to use a handheld GPS. I wonder if you can get the GPS to play music from Teletubbies too? Now that would be a handy gadget for walking with kids.

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