Walking

When you have more than one small child at a time, it's easy to get in the habit of putting them in the stroller to go everywhere.  After all, they're contained, they're comfortable, there's a place for snacks and a drink and a diaper bag...and it's much easier to push a stroller than hold a child's hand or actually hold the child when they get too tired to walk.  And did I mention they're contained?

So I haven't been pushing Natalie and Konrad to walk places on their own.  After our hikes in the mountains during Thanksgiving, Tom and I realized that we need to start encouraging them to walk longer distances if they're going to eventually hike and not be carried.  And with another on the way, this is really important for us!

In the past when I went shopping with all three kids (besides at Costco, where the carts hold two kids), I have pushed Natalie and Konrad in the stroller while Lukas pushed the shopping cart.  But lately I've been putting one child in the cart and having the other hold on to the cart while I push it, and Lukas walks behind me.  Both Natalie and Konrad do well at this, although Natalie is more likely to let go of the cart and go examine something on the shelf than Konrad is.  And now that Konrad has had a taste of walking instead of riding in the cart, he wants to walk all the time, which sometimes isn't what I want...so he isn't happy.

But walking around a store isn't exactly like hiking, so lately I've been taking walks in the neighborhood, without the stroller.  There's a half-mile loop (about 800 meters) that we call "the racetrack" and last week on a whim I said, "let's go for a walk" and left the stroller and Lukas' bike in the garage.  Natalie and Konrad did well, although Konrad wanted to be carried halfway through.

Today they did even better on the half-mile loop...neither asked to be carried.  They both say, "I am walking!" a lot during the trek.  It's definitely not a power walk for me, but it's a step toward more walking and less carrying of the kids when we do go hiking!