I got an email a few weeks ago from a Mom by the name of Sarah. She was seeking advice about outdoor play/activities for children with learning challenges, specifically ADHD. Because I have little to no experience with this kind of thing I invited her to write up her experience in hopes that other parents might have more advice to share than I did.

If you have a child with a learning challenge or special need and have used the outdoors as a tool, we want to hear from you.(See the bottom of Sarah’s article for more specific questions, or add your own thoughts).

Thanks for sharing your story Sarah, I absolutely love this post. I for one think Michael is a pretty lucky kid.

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This is my firstborn, Michael:

His little fetus self hit me in the gut at twelve weeks pregnant and didn’t stop moving the rest of the pregnancy. At twenty weeks, he kicked the TV controls off my belly. After his birth, he screamed for three months straight.

I stopped comparing him to other kids, or asking for help from other moms a year into the adventure. My son was just—different. Tough, independent, confident, and able to take down a full grocery cart in 2.3 seconds. He climbed out of his car seat before other kids even realized they were in one. (P.S. Duct tape around the straps solved this problem for awhile).

Around his third birthday, he was evaluated for early learning disabilities (including autism and ADHD). Twenty minutes into the evaluation he pulled out every toy, had to be told to go back to his seat fifteen times, ran into the door twice, and spun in a circle for three full minutes… Oh and he tried to set some turtles free. Anyways, after all this, the evaluator scrunched up her face and went, “Yeah. It looks like ADHD.” As if to drive this point home, the kid ran into the concrete block wall and bounced off with a huge smile. Then did it again.

One of her suggestions—find a gross motor activity that allows him to practice his missing executive function skills. (more…)

Last week Adventure Parents posted a link (on their facebook page) to an article about a woman rock climbing with a  two-year-old on her back

This article was accompanied by the photo on the right.

I wanted to comment on his post. I just couldn’t find the words… I mean, the photo looks pretty sketchy, and while I personally wouldn’t have felt comfortable with this, I sorta get why she made this decision. I know what it’s like to want so badly to continue all the outdoor hobbies you did before you had children. You crave that feeling of adventure, adrenaline, the freedom and just plain feeling like yourself!

…and lets face it, you want to prove wrong all those people who made you think your adventurous life was over the day you got pregnant.

I’ve been just as tempted as the next guy to strap a pack-n-play to the front of a raft. But it never seemed quite like the good idea I wanted it to be. For me it came down to the risks involved. Or is it because as Menna says in the article: we have become a “sue-and-blame culture” where “so many people are nervous, so afraid of getting into trouble, and taking small risks.”?

I want your thoughts on this! Does this look like a “small risk”? Do you agree with her decision? Is our culture just over paranoid?

All thoughts are welcome!

Confession. Back before my brother made me this fancy new blog I had a blogger blog (the semi-private family kind). I originally wrote this post in June of 2007 right after our first post-child, multi-day climbing excursion to City of Rocks in Southern Idaho.

The following is a list of helpful tips and adjustments I found worthy of mentioning. (more…)

I’ve been taking a spring break for as long as I can remember, it’s something I’m pretty sure I’ll never give up. March is always the most stir crazy moth for us; it’s when it SHOULD be warm but it isn’t. Skipping spring break just isn’t an option.  Some of our favorite places to camp with our kids in March are: Anza-Borrego, Mojave National Preserve, Superstition Mountains and Parashant National Monument. This year, because it was 1/2 way between me and my sister (and her husband and two boys) we settled on another long time favorite, the Death Valley area. We didn’t have much of a plan beyond meeting up in the Alabama Hills (west of Lone Pine, CA), we just too things day by day.

Here’s the visual description of our trip.

And the physical description.

Day 1: Spend all day packing. Drive from Reno, NV to Lone Pine, CA at night while the kids are asleep (a good call in every respect aside from the fact that we drove past Mono Lake in the dark, so I’ve still never seen it). Listen to the audio version of Animal Farm. Find our campground/meeting spot. Sleep in the van. (more…)