How do you do it? How do you get your tyke excited about hitting the trail with you…wandering into nature for fresh air, no television, no computers and the sounds of wildlife?

Here’s an idea! Buy them their own gear that they will be excited to use. Their gear “kit” can be as simple as their own water bottle, backpack, camera, binoculars, hiking journal or anything else you know your tyke would love to use.

We, thank goodness, don’t have to entice or excite J-Man to hike, not yet and I hope never. He comes home after school asking to go hiking and camping.
Even though J-Man loves to hike he recently got his own backpack. Santa brought him the Deuter Junior backpack and he LOVES it.

For our first hike with the backpack, J-Man insisted on packing his own snacks and hiking ‘essentials’, aka toys. The backpack is easy for him to zip and unzip on his own and buckle and unbuckle without any help. It’s perfect. He can feel proud and have a sense of independence by doing it all himself. J-Man made sure that he filled the outside pocket and the main portion of the pack with his goodies.

We hit the trail in Arches National Park along the Park Avenue Trail . J-Man wore the backpack the entire time. There were, of course, the occasional stops to get his own snacks and to play with some of the toys he brought along. There are two water bottle holders on each side of the pack for easy access, the sternum strap helps keep the pack in place and the nice padded front of the backpack makes it comfortable against your tykes back.

Thank you Santa for providing J-Man with a great backpack of his own, the Deuter Junior. The only thing I wish it had was a sleeve for a hydration pouch. J-Man doesn’t use water bottles, so the hydration pouch had to go in the main compartment of the backpack.

–Melissa Edge (Family Ambassador)

Get your kiddo’s gear kit started!

• Learn all abou the Junior Backpacks at Deuter.com
• Order one from Paragon Sports
• Have one shipped from RockCreek.com
• Buy your own at Backcountry Edge