ChristineHi, so it’s been a few years while life got in the way and I paused my work on AdventureParent. But I’m back now. I’ve spent a lot of years traveling with my daughter, going on all kinds of adventures and pushing her out the door to go on her own with her friends. Even though my daughter’s a little older now, I’ve realized that I’m really good at this taking kids on adventures thing. And I want to share everything I’ve learned, and still learning so that you can cherish this time with your children.
Travel is the Best Teacher
I can’t tell you how glad I am that I made the effort to take my daughter around traveling whenver I could.
And here’s me with my favorite adventure buddy when I first started this blog. There were earlier versions, but we won’t count those. I learn from her every day and hope she looks back on all the fun we’ve had and pay it forward. This was taken on her first day of Sports camp at Chelsea Piers. And here she is now, on the Spanish Steps with me in Rome
I played Women’s Rugby in England and the US. I’ve been dogsledding in Quebec. I’ve toured all the major castles in Wales, traveled all over France, England, Ireland and Scotland. I’ve donned a survival suit and zipped around in Zodiacs on the St. Lawrence just to get up close and personal with Blue Whales. And don’t think I just like sports. I trekked to Trinity College Dublin just to see the Book of Kells, I climbed every duomo I could climb in Italy, I’ve laid on the floor of the Sistine Chapel and looked up, I’ve visited Juliet’s balcony and had pints at the Dirty Duck in Stratford upon Avon, the big man’s home town (twice), I’ve visited the classrooms of the Jason Project in Belize and am a frequent visitor to the Museum of Natural History in New York City. Oddly, I was obsessed with Ancient Egyptian and Greek mythology, yet I haven’t been to those places, but they are on my bucket list. I had dragged my husband along with me on travels, mostly mountain biking to Moab, camping in the Grand Canyon, biking the old Creeper Trail in Virginia, scuba diving in Belize, and more.
And Then We Had Kids
In 2004 I had my daughter. I had planned on doing all the kinds of things I had done before, with her and my husband. But the reality of taking a wee little thing on these crazy adventures scared me a little. Other things in life happened. I gained a little weight, my marriage fizzled, went through a hairy divorce, and the result was me putting my adventurous side in a deep freeze. But then one day I got sick of it. I missed the old me and snapped out of whatever funk I had been in. I dusted off my bike and I starting doing a lot more of it, getting the old me back every step of the way. The same went for skiing.
So I started to introduce adventure back into my life and this time I’m bringing my daughter along with me. I took her whitewater rafting. I taught her how to ski. I taught her how to ride a bike, rollerblade, kayak, took her surfing, scuba diving, and ran her around on her first wavejammer. We even took kickboxing together. Now I’m an adventurous parent again. And I want to squeeze every inch out of the health and vitality I have left in me before it’s gone.
Passing Along the Travel Bug
I also want to teach my daughter that this is how it’s done. I like to go with people on my adventures but when I can’t find anyone, I just go it alone. And most importantly, I let my daughter know it’s perfectly normal for a girl to want to do all these things. I had wanted to start this website for a long time because I often found it hard to find good stuff to do for parents who wanted to do a little bit more than gymboree or the local swimming pool with their kids.
I live on the Upper East Side of New York City, where that’s an adventure in itself. I’d love to hear your ideas for adventure and what kind of articles you’d like to read more about. Look for anything adventure-related, whether it be mind, body or both. Life is an adventure, so don’t be afraid to get out there and set an example for your kids. Life is what you make of it.
