New Parent's Guide to Getting Outdoors

Photos: Top Ten U.S. Rivers for Rafting

advertisement

Parenting is one lifelong learning lesson. My friend Mary reassures me that the first child is mainly an experiment. You figure out what works and what doesn't. And just when you think you have a handle on the situation, the situation changes.

For instance, six-year-old Will recently entered a phase in which he's not always enthused about joining our trips into the woods. To get outdoors and restore my sanity, I usually have to cajole him (see Bribery and Racketeering for more tricks).

But then a few months ago, Will delightfully and unexpectedly turned the tables on me. The first sizable snowstorm had at long last arrived. Will, the girls, and I sat in our snug house watching the flakes fall. Now Will was begging me for an outing. I must have been momentarily stricken with Frozen Toe Syndrome, because my first instinct was to say, "You've got to be kidding." Instead, I agreed.

The layering and bundling took at least thirty minutes. Finally, we were off. It was grand. Several inches of snow covered the ground, but not so much that I couldn't bulldoze the baby jogger along. Snow blanketed the trees; that ethereal silence of snowfall filled the air.

I filled my lungs with the cold, sharp air. This was worth every minute of stuffing, zipping, and buckling my children into their winter wear. Will frolicked like a young polar bear. The girls smiled at the strange white things filling the air, and then fell asleep.

This, I thought, is one of those moments that parenting is all about. Sometimes you make it possible by dragging everybody out of the house. Sometimes your kids lead the way.

Either way, you get there.