I love taking my kids hiking. It’s a good way to expose them to nature and get them some exercise. We usually finish it with a Starbucks cake pop as well, so it’s something that they look forward to. This past weekend, our hike started like any other hike, but it quickly went downhill.

At the beginning of the hike, there is a split that you can take. It is just a loop, so no matter which way you take, you end up in the same path at the end. My kids wanted to take a different path than we usually do. I tried to convince them to go the usual route, but they were determined to go the other way. I relented and thought that it may be good for some independence here. Again, the route is a loop and there was nobody around, so I told them to go this way, and I’ll go that way. We will meet on the other side as long as they keep walking forward. There was no way to get lost and if they did, I could quickly just run around the loop and find them. My 5 year old daughter and 3 year old son agreed to go one way and I took the baby and our dog Chewy the other way.

The path that we usually take is pretty short, so I waited for my kids to come around the loop. Pretty soon I heard crying and screaming and knew something did not go as planned. It was not a hectic scream so I knew that it wasn’t somebody getting hurt, it was more of a panicked scream and them calling out for me. Quickly ran up the other side of the loop and didn’t find them so I ran down the aboriginal side and found them about halfway down the path. They were crying, but they were happy to see me. They said, after taking a few steps down their way, they got really worried and realize that they weren’t ready to go down one side of the loop by themselves. I was really convinced they wanted to go and they usually ask to do things on their own, so it was a bit surprising that they didn’t make it down farther in the path. They quickly double backed and went down our usual route and that is where I found them.

Part of me wanted to test how independent they were actually going to be and also gauge their level of adventure that is always brewing inside of them. I’m glad that my kids are still kids at the end of the day. Maybe one day in the near future, they’ll want to take on that short hiking loop challenge on their own, but in the present, they still needed (and wanted) their guide!