Random walks, bring on the best talks with kids
Sometimes simple walks with your kids can give you more insight into their lives than simply asking them about it.
I’m always looking for ways to talk to my 6-year-old.
He lacks focus and when I talk to him about things that I feel matter, he gets lost and starts talking about anything.
Once he starts rambling about whatever he thinks of, he doesn’t stop, and I actually love it.
Getting to that point though isn’t always the easiest until last week.
We need random walks
It started with picking up my son from the school bus. He reminded me that whenever I pick him up from the bus stop we usually walk over to the pizza shop and get pizza for ourselves.
This one particular day, I wanted nothing to do with that walk.
It was cold, I left my 12-year-old sick at home and I wasn’t in the mood for a 10 minute downhill then uphill 10-minute climb.
I was hoping he forgot, but of course, he didn’t and I vowed to not break promises. He asked for the walk and reluctantly, I agreed, I mean we all need walks don’t we?
We both needed it.
Walks trigger something in kids
I don’t know if it was our alone time together or simply seeing other kids during our walk, but my son started to talk and didn’t stop.
The gratification came quickly on my side as we walked down our huge hill, I knew this was going to be a different talk.
There was no structure, no motive, just a father and son walking down a hill. He started to talk to me about a piggy bank he was building in school.
I love MONEY talks and have them often with all my kids. That led to him teaching me about a megalodon and how hard it was going to be for him to turn a water bottle into a megalodon piggy bank.
He told me his issues with it. Even though I couldn’t really picture what he was talking about, I was able to tell him that I knew he would make it happen.
It was an easy way for me to learn about his school and even encourage him to do his best without harassing him.
Living in the moment during random walks
During our walk, we covered megalodons, school and even found a concrete slab full of cat footprints.
That led us to a full out conversation about fossils and how we can leave our own imprint in the sand for others to find 100’s of years later.
We didn’t have a finely put together agenda. It was a spontaneous walk and we were just living in the moment full of random but special discussions.
That one 15 minute walk gave me insights into what my son was doing in school, some of the things he really loves like sharks and showed me how much he really knew about the world around me.
Some times dads like me, are quick to brush off the power of simple walks without realizing how dope they really are. Those 15-minute walks can create a bond like no other. I forgot how dope they were since we drive almost everywhere we go.
If you want to have a real talk with your kids with no hidden agendas, think about taking more simple or even spontaneous walks with them.
Even a 15-minute walk can create dope memories and you don’t have to do it every single day or over think them with agendas.
Just have them!
Ever took a walk with your kids and learned something you never thought they knew? Hit me up and share your story so we can hook up other dope dads like us.
