Geocaching for childhood health

[+BlindEagleEyes]

Okay I am doing a speech about childhood obesity and as part of the solution for this I want to talk about using caching to get children physically active and interested in the outdoors. So my basic question is do you use caching to get/ keep your children intersted in the outdoors and keep them active? If you do why and how and how sucessful have you been? If not why and what could persuade you to do it? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[Lurch77]

I have only been on a few hunts. But I have always taken my kids along. I guess it is not so much that I am doing it to get them exercise, it is because they love doing it. My son especially. There is few things this 5 year old likes more than "treasure hunting" in the woods. I think it is great exercise for them. But my kids are active anyway. They certainly do sleep better at night after a day of hunting for caches.

Not sure any of that helps with your speech, but there you go.

[+StarBrand]

I have a 5 year old and a 2 year old. Both are ready and willing to go caching at a moments notice but will tire out after just a few caches. I make sure we go after smalls or regular sized if it is an outing with the boys. They just don't care to visit micros.

[+Renegade Knight]

Okay I am doing a speech about childhood obesity and as part of the solution for this I want to talk about using caching to get children physically active and interested in the outdoors. So my basic question is do you use caching to get/ keep your children intersted in the outdoors and keep them active? If you do why and how and how sucessful have you been? If not why and what could persuade you to do it? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Caching is an activity that kids love. Adutls also enjoy it. It's one of the few things that the entire family can get off ther fat lazy butts and enjoy. If the adults like it the kids will follow. My only advice is to listen to the kids. If they like swag avoid swagless caches. And so on.

[+BlessedBees]

We think geocaching is great for kids on so many different levels. Yes, it is a great excuse to keep them active - and chances are, if we are driving to find a cache, we usually spot a park or a playground that we haven't yet visited. And since we are out anyway, let's stop and run around and play. (If we are going to make a day of it, we have the kids help us pack a healthy picnic lunch to eat along the way. We have found that getting to eat outside really perks their 'healthy' appetites.)

 

We also like that while we are out in really gorgeous places, we make an effort to explain to the kids that we have to do our part to make sure that the earth stays clean and beautiful. We practice 'take it in, pack it out' with our 5 and 3 year old. This relates to your speech, I think. If you want the earth to be in good shape, take care of it. If you want your body to be in good shape, take care of that too!

 

Oddly enough, our kids like a variety of caches. It isn't all about the swag for them. All kids are different so find what works for each to motivate them. Our 3 year old can't find an ammo box in the woods to save her life, but loves the bush-wacking to get there! The worst part for them is having to get back in the car to get to the next one! They love the adventure!

[+Marcas_Found]

Our youngest daughter could stand to be in a little better shape (not that her parents have much room to speak). So we do take her out caching with us for the exercise part of it. My wife and I can get more caches without her but it's not about the numbers and it's time spent together as a family.

[+Trucker Lee]

Take them with you. Stay away from micros and p&g, go for caches in parks with or without walking paths. Might take a bird guide with you if one can be found. Don't forget the camera. Multi-caches are a plus.

[+goathag]

The main reason I got into this hobby was to get my child outside. He is overweight and has little activity. He will complain about walking 100 feet to get the mail, but will hike three miles for a McToy. I think it's been good for both of us. It's great to see him interested in being outside. He is also learning about maps and nature.

[PoohkinandPiglet]

All of the caches in our area are along hike and bike trails or in parks. My kids ride bikes or scooters when we go out to geocache. It gets them really active.

[+TMDMom]

My 7 year old wants to go hunt for any kind of cache. Micros, film cans, ammo boxes, doesn't matter. My 12 and 14 year olds only want to go on the big hikes. If we aren't hiking at least 30 minutes, they are not interested.

 

I think by me going out more and hiking/walking, it will have a trickle down affect on them getting healthier. Even hunting urban caches is at least outside, not in front of a TV, so there is some benefit to that.

[+Lacomo]

When I take a kid with me I always let them carry the GPSr on a few caches. Make sure they find some of the caches even when you find some of them don't let them know you have found it. Maybe guide them to find some them without letting them know you are pushing them in the right direction.

[bogleman]

My kids 12, 10 & 8 don't like the really long hikes BUT if I find a location where there are rocks (to climb on & throw) & water they will go. I scared them off a bit on some of my hiking adventures, now trying to get them to go out is like pulling teeth. We avoid the park & grabs (gets old doing the same thing over & over)and only go for a few or we go for a bike ride and I sneak one in on them.

 

We are working on placing their own caches, so I will let them scout the area and let them decide if the location is worth the time. I tell them we will only place a cache here if you like the area AND would like to come back for a visit more than once. 1 down and 2 to go.

[+Team O-Zone]

Our 6 yr old love to go caching, but not for micros. He loves the idea of a treasure hunt and how the cache owner may have been sneaky in thier hide. He has a good size collection of the teasures he has swapped out for. The micros usually don't have any treasures in them, so he is not interested. Now as we do our hikes or long walks, he is now looking for locations for us to make hides. Geocaching is a wonderful way to "get out of the house" for whatever reason "gets you out of the house", if it's for the numbers, for the excersise, for the thrill of the hunt, or for the treasures. Geocaching is an adventure any way you look at it!

[+Thedaviesnisus]

we take our kids with us after dinner. We make an evening of it. We'll plan to go to an area that has a bunch of caches all in one area. Being that both my husband and I are both out of shape, as the weather improves, we have been going out a couple nights a week. The kids are really loving it. We make a point of showing them the 'natural' things that we come upon. Last time we were out we went to a nature trail, as we were finishing up the caching for the evening, and dusk was approaching, we were 'spooked' by a ruffling in the bushes. We discovered a pack of deer. ther must have been at least 15-20 of them. They kids were absolutely stunned. It was a great learning experience. It gave us a starting point. We then had the chance to talk about the surroundings, how they hide in the trees, what they eat etc. It was a great evening. We try to talk about that type of thing with them when were out, its a great lesson for them. And they're having fun too.

[+tctwhite]

When I take a kid with me I always let them carry the GPSr on a few caches. Make sure they find some of the caches even when you find some of them don't let them know you have found it. Maybe guide them to find some them without letting them know you are pushing them in the right direction.

 

This is exactly what we do with our kids. We are foster parents and the kids we get are used to being parked in front of the tv for entertainment. Our kids absolutely LOVE finding hidden treasure. They are too young yet to use the GPS but they love the hunt. Especially if we are out in the woods. We are huge nature fanatics and we teach them as much as we can about nature and how to respect it. Since we have 4 kids, we let 2 find one and then let the other 2 find the next one. The two who find it are the ones that get to swap swag. Let me tell you, they are PROUD of their finds!

[mikey_b]

I'm speaking as a parent of a 5-month old little guy and I can honestly say I will not allow my child to be raised by TV and video games and satiated with potato chips and chocolate bars. That's a recipe for disaster.

 

Anything outdoors and active is better than being cooped up inside. I plan on using my sons curiosity to it's fullest potential to get him out of the house! Geocaching is great for teaching children a variety of skills, and more important, values. Things like Leave No Trace and the importance of caring for the environment and conservation of wildlife and habitat are just as important as being able to hike, read maps, and use a compass and GPS.

 

Those skills and values will serve children well in life. Geocaching is really a gateway, as I see it. It's great to get young children involved and outside. It teaches great basic skills. Then as they get older, they can take part in different outdoor activities, like camping and fishing, then as they approach adolesence they are ready for backcountry hiking/camping and hunting, learning valuable skills along the way.

 

Even if they don't have interest in taking part in those other activities, keeping them involved with geocaching is a great way to get the whole family out of the house and participating in a low-cost and educational experience and build some useful skills for later in life and hopefully pass them on to their own children.

[+Maingray]

Dunno about their health, but i protect MY health by making them lift up the lampost skirts for me.

 

 

But seriously, I have an almost- 7 and a 2 year old and they adore hiking. I've cached with the almost-7 year old from when he was a toddler in 2002, so he's been used to "treasure-hunting" all of his life and sees the positive side of hiking when we all go as a family. No balks at hiking. He enjoys day long micro hunting as well, all that jumping in and out the car keeps him going as well

[+whistler & co.]

Little Whistler has been geocaching since he was 3. Now he's 6, and he still likes the adventure! If not for the new and exciting places (he doesn't give a hoot about swag...usually), I don't think he'd care to go. It's better than just hiking, because you have a definite destination. Plus, once you're a mile out in the woods, you have no choice but to walk back to the truck. If he whines about it, we say "You can either live here in the woods, or walk."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[avelina]

One thing I noticed about my kids is that they like the idea of GeoCaches and possibly finding something to trade (McToys are great), but if it is too hard to find they get discouraged quickly. They do like checking caches they have previously found though so if you just want a hike with minimal searching around it is great to just go back to a old cache.

 

I haven't done a lot of caching, but I had a really good experience getting my kids out hiking due to GeoCaches the last couple weeks. It started out with a hike in a local state park, where we checked a cache we had previously found. There was a GeoCoin in it. I wouldn't let my son take it because I didn't know when we would be able to geo-cache again. He bugged me all week about the coin, so the next weekend I looked up some other caches in the area. So on Saturday, we went to the first cache, retrieved the geocoin, went to another state park and found the cache there and left the coin. That cache had a travel bug, which he wanted to take, which committed us to another hike to re-hide the travel bug on Sunday. Even though there weren't any McToys for the kids in the caches, it really seemed to motivate them and they liked moving the geo-coin and travel bug. My daughter 11 said later that she really enjoyed it and it was a really good day on Saturday. I don't think we would have got that attitude if there wasn't a geocache to provide a 'carrot' to the hike. It was a bit rainy and we had to cross a small stream, I think those two things would have caused a really negative attitude about the hike if the geocache hadn't been there to motivate them.

[+Me N My Munchkins]

My daughter is six and is absolutely addicted. She particularly loves the scavenger hunts, but really hates the micros - there is no "treasure" to find. We are going on a few short trips this summer and her only requirement is to go geocaching. I think it is a wonderful activity. By far, the most common comment I get is "wow, that sure gets you out and moving." One of our local schools also spent a day outside, so it is getting more poplular here. http://www.emporiagazette.com/news/2008/ap...r_sunshine_gps/

Tracie

[+wimseyguy]

I drive until we're about 3 miles from home, hand them the GPS with home already marked as a waypoint, and kick the kids out of the car so they can walk home.

 

Well, that's what I would do if I did have kids. Maybe this is why we don't?

[Copepod]

I took my sister and one of her daughters geocaching in a park near their home last year - my other niece and brother in law were off doing something else. My niece has been pestering her parents to take her geocahing ever since! Not that any of them were exactly inactive or overweight before! They did buy a GPSr on a vist from UK to USA over Christmas (purchase location due to exchange rate).

 

By the way, it's best to be normal weight and active, but better to be slightly overweight and active than normal weight and inactive.

[+wimseyguy]

If only people would quit hiding caches at the Krispy Kremes and Dunkin Donuts I'd be fine.