If You Give a Kid a Camera - November 3, 2022 | Kids Out and About Ft. Worth <

If You Give a Kid a Camera

November 3, 2022

Debra Ross

Kids look at life through a different lens than adults do. Remembering this can make your autumn afternoons a lot more fun.

When Madison and Ella were babies, David and I had visions of gloriously leafy future. As soon as they can walk, we'll be one of those nature-y hiking families, we promised ourselves. I imagined us rambling through late-afternoon woods in a golden hour scene from a romantic movie. Of course, as new parents, we hadn't accounted for one immutable reality of Nature: The nature of preschoolers. We soon discovered that little kids don't typically want to hike when, where, and as long as their parents do. That forest path was in reality a shortcut to a meltdown; if my fantasy had included an honest soundtrack, it would have been one long monotonous whine.

Fortunately, together we eventually found ways to make it fun for all of us. The key word there is together: As the kids' input increased, the whining diminished. When Madison was 9, I tasked her with listing her favorites of the strategies we'd devised; that list became our now-classic article, 15 Sanity-Saving Tips for Hiking with Kids.

My favorite all-time strategy for hiking with kids is Madison's #11: Give the kids the camera and let them be in charge of the memories you bring home. When kids take photos, that little frame they're looking through suddenly expands their vision, magically transforming the experience into something they can own and control. What they see becomes their path, their tree, their sky. And that's exactly what we want, isn't it? Someday it really will be their path, their tree, and their sky. Help them frame that treasure as their own.

Debra Ross, publisherNovember is a great time to get out and about in Nature with your kids, especially now that the distraction of Halloween is over and the Bug Annoyance Coefficient is lower. So check out our tips article, stuff the leftover candy in a backpack, and head outside!

Deb