Hiking with a Four Year Old

Here, she literally sticks her butt out, waiting for the stroller to scoop her up.

One of our biggest concerns with this trip, was traveling with our four-year-old. We worry about her car sickness. Her need for naps is bound to get in the way at some point in time. Her quick and sudden change from 'big girl that can do it all herself' into 'helpless baby' is definitely going to come into play at the most inopportune time. We expect these things to happen. What we hadn't planned on was her acting like anything further than 100 feet was too far to walk. “My legs are tired!”, she proclaimed after only a few steps. “We're only walking a short way, Nadia.”, we pleaded. “Carry me.” Ugh. We didn't want to start with that. We weren't going to travel across the country, toting around a four-year-old the whole way. We plan on doing a lot of walking. City walking. Scenic hikes. Exploring. We can't do that with a preschooler on our hips. Nope. No way. “CARRY ME!”, she yelled. OK. We picked her up. Sometimes it's just easier to give in. We know she's playing the 'I'm-the-baby-card'. We know she's capable. We get that. But sometimes it's just easier to push a stroller up and down a rocky hiking trail, than trying to get her to change her stubborn mind.

One day, we finally got around to checking out the Trail of Tears State Park. This magnificent setting along the Mississippi River has some picturesque overlooks, and is a real beauty of a park. After a picnic lunch (we seem to take a lot of those these days), we decided on a hike to one of these scenic views. We were ill prepared for this decision. Dusk was approaching. No one had hiking shoes on. It was more rocky and much steeper than we anticipated. No chance for a stroller. Carrying her would've been torturous, at best. So what happened on the 3 mile, rugged round trip hike?

Hiking buddies

She sings, and plays with her sister the whole way. She doesn't ask for help once. She doesn't act tired at all. And, this was no easy jaunt. She acted like it was nothing. She had it in her head, that she was gonna hike the whole thing. We were rewarded with a truly magnificent view, and as an added bonus, we learned something about her. Sometimes, her stubborn determination can work in our favor. We'll just have to see how often that's the case.

Awesome view