How to Adventure with Kids | A Survival Guide
Are you trying, planning, or hoping to adventure with kids? Are you dreading the idea of your life changing? Maybe you even feel guilty for selfishly wanting to continue to adventure when your kids should be your new priority.
If you’re not a parent yet but you’re pretty sure your life won’t change thus you don’t need any tips, bookmark this page for another day. 😉 That was me, I was in denial about how life-changing it would be. Becoming a parent didn’t mean I had to stop adventuring just that I had to relearn how.
And along with the new challenges came a new world of wonder, awe, and crazy love.
It’s not easy, it’s not for everyone, but if you’re like us it’s almost always worth it to adventure with kids.
how to adventure with kids | a survival guide
1. Success is easier with good adventure partners.
If you know anything about us, you might know that we met on an ice-climbing trip on the East side of the Sierras. We’ve been adventure partners ever since. We’ve even built our lives and our business around our shared passion for adventure.
The reason I am able to stay motivated to adventure with kids is that I have a husband who shares my motivation. Beyond that, we have met other parents who are committed to raising adventurous kids.
Community is the answer to everything, not just adventure. Lean on your people, your partner, and your support.
When I’m stressed about losing sleep on a camping trip, I see other families going backpacking and that inspires me to try. Camping with another family makes things easier too because you can share things like cooking responsibilities. And an extra hand never hurts.
It’s not about comparison, please don’t compare. Know that what you see is not reality. That super cute photo of a baby in the tent was likely followed by little to no sleep. Keep your perception in check.
2. WHEN you fail, get back on the trail.
I say “when” you fail because it will happen. You can plan, prepare, and hedge your bets but at some point an adventure with kids is going to be a wake up call.
It might call you at 3am and tell you you’re done sleeping for the day. I remember rolling out of a campsite at precisely that time because our daughter wouldn’t stop screaming and I was afraid she was going to wake up the whole campground. She and Marc both ended up falling asleep in the car so I parked at a trailhead and photographed sunrise as they caught up on sleep.
Or, it might call you at 7pm when you thought she would sleep in the car and you could drive a few hours at night. After an hour of screaming you’ll desperately find somewhere to camp and admit defeat. That’s what happen to us on a road trip to Utah for a friends wedding.
Turns out when you plan on them sleeping in the car, they won’t. And when you want then to sleep anywhere else, all they’ll want is the car. The battle continues with food, clothes, and what color spoon they want.
You have two choices after a terrible trip. Give up, admit defeat, redefine yourself as someone who doesn’t need adventure. Or, you can recommit. You can persuasively convince yourself that the next time will go smoothly and be totally worth it.
In our experience, it probably will. So don’t give up.
3. Don’t forget why you love adventure.
Marc and I have actually found adventuring a lot harder with two kids than one. In fact, everything is a lot harder. We can’t get over how adorable the sibling relationship is but we can’t deny that having a 2 v 2 ratio is harder than 2 v 1.
It’s been more important now that we remind ourselves why we love adventure. I think it’s a lot like working out, you don’t want to do it but you know you’ll feel better after. So how do you remind and convince yourself that it will be worth it?
Photography is a big one for us, sorry if you didn’t see that coming. We like to look back through old photos of life-changing trips. And we like to get inspired from stunning photos of places we have never been.
Especially during the Covid shutdown, it can be easy to settle into a calmer and simpler life of just staying home. It’s pretty nice that everyone sleeps in their own beds and we have a kitchen to cook in. However, for me, all it takes is a few hours of adventure to remember why I value it.
Feeling the sun kiss my face as my heart beats stronger and the view takes my breath away is instant stress relief. My whole worldview is more hopeful and positive when I’m outside in nature. There is immense joy in challenging myself, learning about myself, and now watching my kids have those same experiences.
So start small. Pick a low effort, low commitment activity to remind yourself that it’s worth it. Once you get a taste, you might just have the motivation to do the work.
4. Stay inspired… buy our book!
Lastly, I end with a shameless plug for our new kids adventure book, ABCs of Adventure. It’s currently available to pre-order via kickstarter! Find out more about the book.
We may have wrote it for our own kids but our goal is to share it with as many little future adventurers as possible. And we’d love to help parents stay inspired and remind you why it’s important to adventure with kids. Pre-order today on Kickstarter!
Whether it’s our book or something else, find a way to stay inspire. This is an extension of the previous point. Once you define why you love adventure, find ways to remind yourself.
stay tuned for more on how to adventure with kids
I’ll be putting out some content in the next few days and weeks for adventurous parents in honor of our adventure kids book launch. Be sure to sign-up for our newsletter or check back in at the blog.
Thanks for stopping by to check out our how to adventure with kids survival guide! Don’t miss some of our other resources for adventurous families.
- Our 8 Favorite Children’s Adventure Picture Books
- Adventure Kid’s Book Launch – ABCs of Adventure
- How to photograph your kids – online course: another result of our Covid quarantine!
- Blue Lake Colorado Hiking Adventure and Photography: one of our favorite first hiking experiences with our daughter
- Family Skiing Colorado: The ups and downs of adventuring with kids.
- Backyard Ski Hill: Skiing with kids is easier when we get enough snow to ski out our backdoor!
- Lessons learned camping with a baby
We are Marc and Brenda Bergreen. We’re a photography team specializing in adventure lifestyle and adventurous wedding photography. Above all our philosophy, love. adventurously. is the guidepost for everything we do.
Finally, be sure to follow us and/or like us to stay tuned.
In the meantime, remember to…
