Becoming a father was something that I had not known I had ever wanted. My father died when I was 17, just before I was to leave for college, and that experience had made me wary of ever having children. I was also a very active person who spent most of my time on the hiking trail, in a camping tent, or on a mountain bike. Not exactly the best places to raise children.
When my wife told me that she was pregnant, to say it was a shock to us both was putting it mildly. I knew how much she wanted children, but I also knew that we both felt we had years to decide what our family would look like. Now, we only had months.
As you can imagine, my first son came into this world and nothing else mattered but him. I could not believe how much he changed my life, changed my story, and changed my mind on how I could raise a child. Both of my sons are my world, and not a free moment goes by that I do not spend with them.
When my oldest was just 4 months, my wife gave me a great piece of advice. She said that we did not need to change who we were in order to raise our kids, we just needed to adapt them to our lifestyle in such a way that gave them the space to explore and love the outdoors as much as we did. We bought hiking packs to wear our children on our back, car camped instead of backpacked, and found places to camp that allowed our family to rest and relax while I was still able to do things like mountain bike and rock climb.
There is no doubt that it is much harder to hike 10 miles with a 25 lb baby on my back, but I love teaching my children about the places that we are exploring. Having young children with us in nature taught me how much I really did not see when I was alone. Talking to them, teaching them about the trees, the birds, the rocks, the rivers, it made me stop and pay attention even more. I thought that having children would hinder my time outdoors, but in fact it did the opposite.
As homeschooling parents, the great outdoors has been our biggest classroom, and the place where we have spent most of our time. Our boys are now 6 and 4, and some days it feels as though they can hike even longer than we can. The mountains serve as their art studio, the river as their science lab, and the earth as their playground. The questions abound on when our next camping trip will be, if I can take them rock climbing, and when they can learn to mountain bike. This is what they know, and who they are.
My fears of raising children will most likely never subside. The events in our lives shape who we are and what kind of parents we become. But I would never change being a father. My kids have shown me a better world, a world I did not see before they came in to my life.
Being outside with children is not a luxury, it is a necessity. Thankfully children want to be outdoors, want to learn and explore under the sky. There is no shortage of teaching opportunities, and no problem that can not be solved with a little fresh air. A life lived outside is a life well spent.
Joel Fontenot is an engineer and father living in Northern Colorado with his wife and two boys. He loves spending time outdoors, and enjoying the joys and trials of parenting under the Big Sky. Joel is an occasional contributor to the blog Shivaya Naturals, where his wife chronicles their family’s journey, both indoors and out.