Tag Archives: Hiking

10 Reasons to be Grateful Summer Isn’t Over Yet

1. You can just add water.

One of summer’s finest points. From cranky toddlers to truculent teens, nothing will cure what ails them like a little H20. So feel free to toss those puppies into the nearest watering hole. Just make sure you keep them safe .

Great summer recipes, great books to read, vacations to be had, great outdoor adventures, and family travel too! There is still plenty of summer fun to have! | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

2. You can appreciate nature.

Summer is when Nature is all dressed up and ready to party. Hungry for a gorgeous view? Got a hankering for some sparkling blue water? Just get thee and thine out into the Great Outdoors and drink it all in. Bonus: nature is the perfect buffer for your herd of traveling monkeys. Besides when you are hitting a trail, you can always hang back and pretend all that noise is coming from somebody else’s kid. Great summer recipes, great books to read, vacations to be had, great outdoor adventures, and family travel too! There is still plenty of summer fun to have! | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

3. You can appreciate science.

Big shout-out to chemistry for protecting our kids from summer’s dangers with a marinade of DEET, chlorine, and SPF. Brussel Sprouts should totally counteract this.

4. You can toss your calendar.

Hitting snooze to our heart’s content, pushing back bedtimes in favor of chasing lightning bugs, and generally ignoring our to-do lists, we barely recognize ourselves in the summer. We love the easy, breezy nature of schedules with a little more wiggle room. Of course, this also gives our kids the freedom to constantly bug us for sleepovers. Nothing says easy like a house full of other people’s kids.

5. You can hit the road.

Erin jokes that her Native American name would be Have Minivan, Will Travel, while Ellen fills our Instagram feed with her travel exploits. But whether you are traveling internationally with a a big brood or just down the street with a more travel-sized crew, there are still days left to make great family memories. Great summer recipes, great books to read, vacations to be had, great outdoor adventures, and family travel too! There is still plenty of summer fun to have! | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

6. You can keep cool and carry on.

God bless air conditioning for preventing fratricide and swamp butt. Our kids appreciate living to see the light of a new day and, well, crack sweat is not attractive on anybody.

7. You can channel your inner Olympian.

Nothing like a little international sports competition to kick your crew off Netflix for awhile. You can use the month-long celebration of athletic excellence to align everybody’s TV viewing habits or even inspire a little Olympic spirit among your own people. Great summer recipes, great books to read, vacations to be had, great outdoor adventures, and family travel too! There is still plenty of summer fun to have! | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

8. You can have the Good Eats.

With fresh fruits and veggies available all season long, this is the time to really get excited about food. These recipes are some of our favorites! Great summer recipes, great books to read, vacations to be had, great outdoor adventures, and family travel too! There is still plenty of summer fun to have! | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

9. You can actually read Good Books.

Summer’s more relaxed pace means that you might actually make it to the bottom of that pile of books on your bedside table. Here are some sizzling reads we are loving this summer. Great summer recipes, great books to read, vacations to be had, great outdoor adventures, and family travel too! There is still plenty of summer fun to have! | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

10. You can admire the sunsets.

Nothing tames the beasts or quiets the soul quite like a setting sun, especially over the water.

So take a deep breath and remember that summer’s time is fleeting. Make the most of its last few moments: you’ll be packing backpacks before you know it!

-Erin and Ellen

10 Reasons to be Grateful Summer Isn’t Over Yet

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9 Reasons to Kick Your Kids Outside

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We are better, kinder, gentler parents outside. True, we are also sweatier, dirtier, and more likely to be doused with copious amounts of DEET, but the good so far outweighs the uncomfortable here that we stopped noticing. In any case, we have strong, rock solid arguments for why you need to kick your clan out into the great blue yonder.

1. Nothing connects a family like no Wifi.

Seriously. If you have fantasies of logging some serious hours of family togetherness with cards, charades, or even just actual conversation, drop your family in the closest wilderness you can rustle up. Just remember to bring a map and compass, because nothing ensures that this memory will move from good to godawful-must-recount-at-Thanksgiving-dinner-until-the-end-of-time like getting lost together without your phone’s GPS.

Want better parenting? Take your kids outside. Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

2. Wanna talk? Lace up those hiking boots.

Sulky teens and moody toddlers can both bring civil discourse to a screaming halt or entrench themselves in conversational stalemates worthy of a white flag. In any case, the cure for what is ailing your familial discussion is movement. Take this show on the road. Something about the fresh air and the one-foot-in-front-of-the-other nature of a trail gets the conversation juices flowing again.

Reasons to kick your kids outside---Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

3. Water cures all.

Great literature and religious traditions everywhere will back us up: water is a godsend. Sure, water can end epic droughts and convert the faithless masses, but that’s nothing compared to what it will do for a cranky kid, prickly pre-teen, or tetchy teen. Just add water and watch the magic happen. So get your cranky crew to a pool, lake, ocean, or even neighborhood swimming hole. You can even count that as a bath that day too. Tell your mother-in-law we told you so. Win, win, win.

Reasons to kick your kids outside--Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

4. They learn stuff.

Put away the summer reading and workbooks. If you are stressing about your kids’ brains turning to mush under the weight of a hundred unstructured days, we have the antidote to your anxiety. There is literally no end to what your kids can learn outside. Sure, they can learn useful skills like reading a map and compass or glean great information about local plants, animals, and history. But by far the most valuable thing they learn is the things you don’t teach them. It may look like boredom but there is important brain work being done when they are lying in the grass like that drooling on themselves. At least that’s what we keep telling ourselves.

Reasons to kinck your kids outside--Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

5. Nature is the best of buffers.

This far into summer we don’t need to tell you that kids are loud. Really, really loud. And messy. And stinky. And did we mention loud? The great outdoors welcomes all that kids have to offer and then offers this back: a place for them to be fully themselves without things like pesky walls or carpets to clean. Bonus: kids outside are not as loud as pictured.

Reasons to kick your kids outside--Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

6. Cheap Thrills

Nature inspires their creativity and ignites their wonder. This is a fancy way of saying that once you get them out there, you don’t need to do much. Just sit back and watch them play.

Reasons to kick your kids outside--Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

7. Unleash their inner warriors.

By this point in the summer, they are starting to use that b-word we all hate. Banish the boredom just by opening the door. Let their “What I did This Summer” essays start with “I found adventure”.

Reasons to kick you kids outside--Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

8. Build their tribe.

Nothing makes a bunch of individuals a team like some shared adventures. Create the ties that bind by offering them opportunities to make memories that will last a lifetime.

Reasons to kick yourself outside--Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

9. Just do it.

Show them some of the amazing things that can happen when they leave their calm, cool, air-conditioned safe space behind and just jump.

Reasons to kick your kids outside--Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

Go on now, unplug that XBOX, save the Netflix marathon for next week, and get out there already!

-Erin and Ellen

9 Reasons to Kick Your Kids Outside

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Ten Easy Ways to Keep Your Kids Healthy and Safe This Summer

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Summer fun is a-coming and frankly nothing could make us happier. We are truly ourselves when the temperatures rise and footwear becomes optional. But we have kids so we know that the number one key to summer fun is keeping everyone out of the ER or sickbay. Here are the best ways to keep your kids healthy and safe to let the summer fun roll–with as few bumps and bruises as possible.

Want to keep your kids and family safe and healthy all summer long? We have 10 easy ideas | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

1. Teach your kid to be safe around water.

Erin was a swim instructor and lifeguard for seven years. The very best thing you can do for your kids if you plan to even look at water this summer is make sure everyone can swim. Find a reputable place for some lessons and then commit the time and resources to get this one done.

But we have a caveat to this very sage advice: real lessons shouldn’t start until age 4. Swimming lessons are not a replacement for common sense and they can give a false sense of security. By all means, have your kids take lessons as early and often as you are able, but know this truth: just because your child can swim a little and very young kids can swim, it does not mean they have enough stamina to swim out and then back to safety, a key marker of a competent swimmer.

Keep kids safe near water. This and 9 other tips for keeping kids healthy and safe this summer--Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

Other ESSENTIAL water safety tips:

Make a hard and fast rule that no one enters ANY body of water (even backyard kiddie pools) without a buddy. Accidents happen even to great swimmers, even in inches of water.
No diving into unknown or shallow water. Period.
Teach them what to do when they are caught in a riptide. In this case, what you don’t know could most definitely kill you. The threat is real: on average, more people die from riptides than hurricanes or tornados. Lest we not forget that Anne Hathaway almost drowned in Hawaii last summer after getting caught in a riptide, but kids don’t need to be scared so much as prepared. You will never outswim a riptide, but you can outsmart it.
Never leave a swimming child unattended. We both have kids who have spent a season or five on a swim team and would easily qualify as strong swimmers. There is no way we would let any of our kids ever swim unattended. We’ll say it again: accidents happen even to great swimmers, even in inches of water.

2. Be sun safe.

Be sun safe. This and 9 other ideas to keep your kids healthy and safe this summer--Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

Barbecued kids are the exact opposite of fun. Unless you want to follow a fantastic day of fun in the sun with a rigid schedule of aloe applications and whining, heed this advice. Invest in copious amounts of sunscreen, purchase hats for everyone, and spend a small fortune on swim shirts if you plan to spend any decent time on a shore (and you should, you really, really should). Everyone knows pasty is the new black, and your kids’ future dermatologists will thank you.

3. Make sure they know their digits.

When Erin’s reformed wild child was younger, she was lost a lot—on beaches, at amusement parks, and in the neighborhood. Those moments when that cute little redhead was out of sight were terrifying and the only thing that tempered Erin’s fear was the knowledge that her daughter was fully prepared to give her parents’ names and phone numbers to any police officer, lifeguard, or kindly adult who found her first. Teach your child your proper full name and phone number. If you have an escape artist who can’t quite speak up yet, these Travel ID Bands are great when you are out and about.

4. Keep them hydrated.

We spend a lot of time hiking with our kids, and we have internalized this truth we stole from scouting: a dehydrated kid is a dead kid. Brains are 80% water, so not drinking enough water doesn’t just make you thirsty, it impairs your judgment. That’s when accidents happen. Make this a family rule: nobody walks anywhere without a water bottle. Learn to recognize the signs of dehydration and get out of the sun and hydrated as soon as possible.

5. Know the basics of first aid.

Fun doesn’t have a dark underbelly, so much as an inconvenient truth: doing awesome fun stuff sometimes means kids are going to get hurt. Good moms and dads know when a boo-boo needs 911. It also helps to make your family a traveling First Aid Kit and leave it in the minivan for all your on-the-go medical needs.

First aid is a big part of staying safe in the summer. Know when to call 911---Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

Dr. Ellen is never really off duty, even when on vacation.

First Aid can also get crafty. We are big fans of the homemade flexible ice-gel pack. All you need is a half-cup of water and a half-cup of alcohol in a sealable bag. Freeze for 2 hours. You are good to go for all your ice packing needs.

6. Protect them properly.

Make sure your kids are safely outfitted for whatever they are doing. If they are biking, make sure they have helmets that fit. If they are hiking, make sure that they have shoes that fit. Make sure they are properly padded and all equipment is in working order before they hit the surf, sand, or pavement.

7. Know your local critters.

There’s a story behind that snake bite kit Ellen carries, but it doesn’t hurt to remember that knowing your way around your great outdoors before you wander into it is a smart move.

Teach kids to identify some local foliage especially poison ivy, oak, and sumac to avoid spending a small fortune on calamine lotion.
But also check to see if your area has any venomous snakes or spiders.
It also bears noting that smaller critters can pack a punch. Mosquitos and ticks are notorious suckers of summer fun because of the diseases they carry. Learn to recognize the signs for West Nile virus, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and Lyme’s disease. Three of Erin’s family members have had Lyme and only one of them presented with the rash. Keep an eye out for flu-like symptoms in summer months and ask for a simple blood test to rule out the possibility.

It’s the wild animal world, and we’re all just traipsing through it. Keep you and yours out of harm’s way by knowing which critters need a little wider berth.

Know your local critters. This and 9 other ideas to keep your kids healthy and safe this summer--Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

You never know who might want to share the beach with you.

8. Never leave a kid in a car.

This seems ridiculous to have to say out loud, but every summer we both are astounded by the number of cases we read about in the paper. Never do this. Ever. That is all.

9. Teach the buddy system.

Better than “no man gets left behind”, this is “no man goes it alone.” Kids and adults are safer traveling in twos . . . or fours or a whole herd. In any case, teach your kids to bring a friend not just for the memories and extra fun but for safety’s sake.

Always bring a buddy. This and 9 other ideas to keep your kids healthy and safe this summer--Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

10. Fire up the old library card.

This is for their protection and your sanity. Video games all day is a surefire way to make everyone teeter on the edge of family dysfunction. A trip to the library won’t just engage their minds, but it might inspire projects that will keep them quiet for hours. This should give you a little time to catch up on your own reading, a just reward for all your awesome and safe summer funning.

Have a safe, healthy, and super fun summer!

Erin and Ellen

Keep your kids safe and healthy this summer! Ten easy ways to do it!

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Read This When You Have Time

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Ten years ago, a kind but wily acquaintance was giving me the hard sell. He was leaving the neighborhood Cub Scout pack and moving on with his son. He was looking for a replacement/fresh meat/gullible sucker to take his place. I was strong and full of good reasons why I was not the girl he was looking for. He listened intently to every word I said and nodded his head in quiet acknowledgement. But as he was leaving, he handed me a note and said, “read this when you have time.”

Well, to this day, I think of him as the Lex Luther to my Supermom persona. On that little note, he had written the following:

Let’s just say that his little note was the kryptonite to all my arguments. I have been happily traipsing, backpacking, hiking, biking, and canoeing the outdoors with a gaggle of boys (and girls too) in tow ever since.

But that doesn’t mean that I was ready for the job I had undertaken. I love the outdoors with a passion, but you know what they say about passion making you blind, right? I have gotten lost on familiar mountains more times than I can count. I would send up flares when the Diet Coke supply got a little low in the house, so my wilderness skills weren’t exactly honed yet. And the extent of my nature knowledge was mostly stuff I learned off of Snapple caps and from my own well-intentioned but equally clueless mom.

But the truth is that experience is a fine teacher and ten years in, you can feel safe sending your kids into the woods with me and giving them actual knowledge about the outdoors. We might get lost but we will have a darn good time getting there. I would have loved to have had the following book with me in my early days of figuring it all out and you will too.

The Truth About Nature: A Family’s Guide to 144 Common Myths about the Great Outdoors is a book you can sip or gulp. Organized by season with a fun myth rating system kids love, it’s a book that can serve as a reference when needed or a nightly reading staple just for fun. It’s a versatile, accessible read and how you read it will depend heavily on why you are reading it. Just know that once you open its pages, it’s hard to put it down.

My seven year old is currently obsessed with this book and goes around asking his friends things like, “Fact or Myth? Frogs freeze” or quizzing unsuspecting guests on whether they think that bats are blind. We read it in little bits each night as part of our nightly ritual and he can read it by himself but prefers to hear me say “No Way!” whenever a deeply entrenched myth of mine is debunked. But this book’s greatest value by far is the way it excites about the wonders of nature. Even lukewarm couch potatoes won’t be able to escape the allure of all the “too strange to be true” facts and fun experiments you can do at home.

So this is my note to you: Read this when you have time. I hope it changes your mind about nature and kids and kids in nature the way that other little note changed mine. If you want to take kids hiking, camping, or even just out in the great outdoors known as your backyard, you can make a great time even better if you bring this book along. Consider this the kryptonite to all your arguments about why you can’t get your kids away from the TV and on to a trail.

The fall colors are waiting. Enjoy some time with your family in nature today!

-Erin

For the launch of this book, there is an exciting contest going on right now with the publisher where you can enter to win a school visit and free books!

All you have to do is make a simple video.

Just visit this site and follow the directions.

Looking for #books on kids and nature? Read This When You Have Time

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7 Reasons to Tell Your Kids to Take a Hike

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This is the point of summer break where the natives start getting restless. Vacation has come and gone, tidy craft corners have fallen into disarray, and summer bucket lists lie in tattered shreds. Now is the time for twiddling thumbs and casting around for things to do, right?

Fortunately for you, we at The Sisterhood have a foolproof plan to keep you all happy and sane for the next few weeks. So pry those kiddos away from the xbox, extricate them from the latest Youtube videos, and take this show on the road.

We spend many a summer day toting water bottles and packing bug spray as we venture with our crews into The Great Outdoors. We would not marinate in DEET or unleash our inner camel if we didn’t think the payout was worth the effort.

1. Nature is a top-notch noise buffer.

On our latest hike, my sister-in-law Kim said, without any trace of irony, as her children screeched past with their thundering herd of cousins, “I prefer to parent outside.”

We totally get what she means. Nature is the ultimate white noise: no pesky walls to bounce back annoying sibling smacktalk or worse.

Besides, when you are outside, you can always hang back and pretend all that noise is coming from someone else’s kid.

Why You Should Get Your Kids Outside and On A Trail---Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

This is what 145 decibels of little boy looks like. Monkeys in the wild are ridiculously loud.

2. Nature brings out their creativity.

There is nothing like wide open spaces and some cool finds along the trail to bring out their inner woodland fairy or superhero.

They look like a movie poster for The Avengers: The Preschool Years

3. Nature is the ultimate arena.

We are extremely lucky to live a stone’s throw from a great state park that participates in Maryland’s Parkquest, but our experience hiking and camping all over our local environs is that every park has some kind of fun to offer. Frisbee golf and geocaching are the most common games we have found, but you won’t know until you go (or check their website).

Check out these “reindeer” games!

4. Hiking is a great workout.

Simply putting one foot in front of the other for three to six miles will make you feel so much better about all those extra ice cream cones and hot dogs you have been consuming on behalf of summer fun. Of course, finding a copper head on the trail might accelerate your heart rate a bit but that just means you can have the sprinkles, right?

Of course, children pretending to fall off mountains should be left to the mercy of said copperheads. The near heart attack for you means you can add some whipped cream and a cherry.

5. Some of the very best places you can’t get to by car.

Marco Polo will have nothing on you and all you need is a pair of hiking boots or sneakers.

One of the shelters on the Appalachian Trail

6. The view from the top.

It works literally and as a metaphor. Take your kids up a mountain and let them see the reward of all that hard work for themselves. Why You Should Get Your Kids Outside and On A Trail---Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

7. There will be moments that melt your heart.

Teens and tweens aren’t always cute and cuddly any more but stick them on a trail and they surprise you in the best ways. We have also found that a trail is a great place to talk, kind of like the car but without all the smelly sneakers and sports gear fumes.