Family hikes: five tips for a successful adventure

A hike with children needs to be perfectly planned. Whether you’re in Switzerland or abroad, things can get tricky when the little ones don’t want to go any further and ‘Are we there yet?’ becomes a constant refrain. Sales advisor Marc has a few tricks up his sleeve to prevent bad moods from descending. Here, he reveals how he motivates his children on hikes.

Take a rope on every hike

When I go hiking with my family, I always take a piece of rope with me. I can use it all kinds of ways: if one of my three children is tired, the rope can help me pull them up a mountain for a bit, with them holding one end and me holding the other. Or, the children create their own kind of roped party and pull each other up. The rope is also a fantastic tool for crossing streams.

Give the hike a theme

If we’re dealing with a particularly boring section, we sometimes transform into horses and trot, gallop or snort. Or, we’re detectives leaving clues for each other: one group goes in front and the other hangs behind a bit. Another thing we also like doing from time to time is themed routes specifically designed for children – they add a bit of variety and ensure that hike is a roaring success.

Look for treasure on the hike

The children wear their own bum bags where they store little treasures they pick up on en route. We’ve set a rule to stop them collecting too much: each child takes a matchbox, labelled with their name, on the hike. Everything they want to take needs to fit into this matchbox. Of course, we make exceptions, but everything needs to go in their bum bag. When we take breaks, the children reveal everything they’ve found: it’s amazing what they discover!

Celebrate breaks

We take extended breaks and enjoy using the time to do a bit of wood-carving. It’s important that your knife is sharp, as a sharp knife requires less force to use safely. There are child-friendly knives available with rounded tips. Plus, the blades on these knives can’t be snapped shut by mistake. When we stop for a break, we bake campfire bread, make chocolate-stuffed bananas or even sometimes spear a marshmallow on our freshly carved sticks.

Hiking bingo: what the route has in store

My wife and I always pack a couple of zip-lock bags so we can get tired legs moving again with a round of hiking bingo. For this, we draw or write objects on the bag that the children need to find during a set period of time. They might include things like a green leaf, a yellow flower, an insect or a shimmering stone. As a prize, we offer something not available at home, like a bag of gummy bears or a bar of chocolate – to share, of course.