Advice on taking little kids caching.

[Matter23]

Hey All!
I have a wonderful little 13 month old daughter that I have been taking out geocaching for very easy, stroller accessible, caches. I have a kid back-pack and never used it for hikes and would like to get her into it and use it often.
I am in need for some advice.

How do you get your little one use to the pack?
How far have you pushed them caching? Any events?
What about caching with the car? Getting in and out?
Nap times?? When you can still keep going but the little one is out for the count?
Appropriate swag? What have you taken and traded?
Whats the most difficult cache you found with the little one?

Looking foward to here from everyone!

~Matter23

[kungfuhippie]

I’ve taken my 28 month old and 11 month old out to almost all of the caches I’ve done. They made it to the Meet & Greet at Roche-A-Cri, a CITO and a Flash Mob Event. The older one loves caching, he calls it “hiking” and pretty much wants to go out everyday. We have a Baby Bjorn carrier that I use for our youngest and luckily they are both pretty easy going and seem to enjoy getting out with dad for some caches. We pretty much just started putting our little guy in the carrier when I was cleaning around the house or going for walks in our neighborhood to get him used to it. Now he will fall asleep while we are out on the trail and since he’s right in front of me I can keep the skeeters off him. If the boys fall asleep in the car while we are out, I usually try to have some P&Gs or WSQs loaded up so that I can park near the cache and let them sleep while I grab the cache. Every once in a while they will have a meltdown to let me know that the adventure is over and it’s time to be home, but they do pretty good. As far as swag, the kiddo has traded for a hot wheel truck and golf ball among other things, some stickers just random stuff that catches his eye. I have a gallon ziploc in my caching bag that is full of swag so I can trade out for whatever he might decide he wants to keep. Hope you enjoy your time out with the little one, I know it is the best part about geocaching for our family.

[rtrezrsnhvn]

We have a three yr old that still naps. During weekends, dad and his older brother will sometimes cache without us. Sometimes we all go out together and then we take it for as long as his tolerance level allows. I always pack his potty and a snack. We just returned from a vacation up north and I specifically targeted caches with a lower terrain and difficulty level to keep us out of areas that weren’t safe for toddlers. I actually had 2 loaded that required a proximity to water that I avoided. We’ll get those when he’s older. We did however do some multi’s that I was happily surprised that he was fine with.

I’m getting smarter about looking for attributes. If we are going to keep up this hobby as a family then some of the harder stuff will have to wait.

For Swag, we take the traditional stuff and it’s cute because my older son (9) will sometimes specifically take something just for his little brother (bouncy ball, car, whistle) and won’t take something for himself. He knows that the gift will make it more fun for his brother.

At home we try to only do a few a night/day and we end with something he will enjoy like a trip to a park or a visit to Culver’s. I can’t wait to do more intensive cache’s but for now we are in a season of taking it slow so as not to ruin the experience for all of us. It’s working and he will even ask some nights “Mom can we go geocaching?” so he’s enjoying us being out as a family. I’m anxious to see what back to school and winter hold for us since we just started in June.

Enjoy it.. we decided that this was a family hobby, so when it’s no longer fun, we’ll stop. I’m looking forward to hiking trails with my teen sons some day and sharing this for a long time when they’ve turned my hair completely gray 🙂

[DGDK]

Sometimes my 503 month-old comes out caching with me. She sits in the car most of the time and either reads or naps. Occasionally she will jump out for a P&G, and if coaxed will come along on the trail. I do have to feed her around lunchtime or she gets crabby. Usually lunch is followed by another nap, especially if it’s a little warm in the car.

Whoops, misread the OP, my comments were about the spouse and not the kids.

[rtrezrsnhvn]

@DGDK wrote:

Sometimes my 503 month-old comes out caching with me. She sits in the car most of the time and either reads or naps. Occasionally she will jump out for a P&G, and if coaxed will come along on the trail. I do have to feed her around lunchtime or she gets crabby. Usually lunch is followed by another nap, especially if it’s a little warm in the car.

Whoops, misread the OP, my comments were about the spouse and not the kids.

rofl 😉

[kmhiker]

Get ahold of “LostMom” I think she wrote the book on this subject.

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