Just Walking
This past weekend, the kids and I went for a walk, although I suppose if you asked my kids about it they would say we went for a Walk. While both of my children are active, neither of them naturally incline toward outside activities. My son is training to be the youngest Xbox video game champion of North America and my daughter would rather watch Nickelodeon videos online and read.
Partly because of their love of the indoors, and partly because Saturday was clear and 45 degrees after we saw two decent snowfalls in the same week, I decided we needed to get out of the house and enjoy some fresh air. I needed a new book to read and also had some fines to pay at the library so it seemed like the perfect destination.
We live pretty much in the middle of Fayetteville, which puts the library about 2.5 miles away from our house. This first seemed like a big distance for the kids to walk with me, but that is really only when I thought about it through the lens of our drive everywhere, go anywhere anytime always-on culture. I would love to give up one of our cars and walk or bike to work everyday. Walking an hour or two every day as part of a commute would eliminate the need to build-in workout time into my day.
Google maps said it would only take 45 minutes; it took the better part of an hour. The kids were great though. I don’t remember exactly what we talked about, but we did talk — without distraction. We looked at houses, trees and yards that we drive past everyday. While walking we noticed details and artifacts too hard to see when whizzing past at 35 MPH.
After we enjoyed hot chocolates and selected a few armloads of books, my wife picked us up for the return trip home. Both kids were tired from the afternoon, but they both wanted to take another walk the next time we could. We had a great afternoon.
posted: 11 January 25
under: Movement