How to maintain your outdoor lifestyle as parents in Hong Kong – and watch children thrive in nature
- Seth and Julia Schy see their blog grow into a business to help parents take their children into Hong Kong’s great outdoors.
- ‘It doesn’t have to be extreme,’ say the teachers – watch children blossom hiking or even just sitting in the grass
There was never any doubt that Seth Schy and his wife Julia would maintain their outdoor lifestyles even after they become parents, but they have noticed that it is not so easy for others to do the same.
“We realised it’s not second nature for everyone to get their kids out in nature. There’s probably infinite ways to raise balanced, great individuals, but Julia and I think one of those ways is to get your kids outdoors,” Schy said.
The couple started a blog called “For Something More” and since it’s inception, they have been inundated with questions about where to start. Even experienced outdoors people had questions about safe ways to bring their young children. From there, the two teachers set up their own business explicitly aimed at showing young families the outdoors.
Seth and Julia plan one day to open their own outdoor school, to educate their own children and others with the aid of nature. For now though, it is about simply hiking.
“I just want to share the word that we love getting our kid outdoors, and we hope maybe to inspire others to the same,” Schy said. “I’ve been an outdoors person my whole life, I was lucky my parents took me out. My wife has been into the outdoors as an adult.
“We couldn’t imagine our life without getting out at the weekend to a hike, or a stream.”
Putting primary schoolchildren in touch with nature may make them smarter
“So many people before we had kids gave me warnings: ‘You better have your adventures now before you have kids’. It gave me more motivation to prove them wrong. I can’t imagine my life without being active and being outdoors. It’s as essential to me as the air I breathe,” Schy said.
Schy’s first piece of advice for parents is to adjust their expectations. It is possible to get outdoors, but you will not be running an ultra marathon with a toddler in tow.
“We’re trying to do something like a 3km walk along a road, and the kids are at the age where every pebble fascinates them, so it takes a long, long time. It’s definitely changed the way we get outdoors,” he said.
Secondly, you have to pick something you are comfortable with. Some parents might be experienced hikers trying to bring their children along for the first time, but other parents might be new to the outdoors themselves.
“It doesn’t have to be extreme. It doesn’t have to be a 10-day backpacking trip. If you just go and sit on one patch of grass and look at flowers, that’s an adventure too. Kids love inquiring and getting lost in stuff,” Schy said.
It is also important to pick an activity that resonates with your child. One of Schy’s children loves throwing rocks, so they take him to a beach with plenty of stones to throw in the water. Equally, it is important to sometimes encourage your children even if they are not initially excited.
Flat hikes to do this summer in Hong Kong
“I took two kids once, both said hiking was not for them,” Schy said. “One was really dragging her feet and I thought “oh no!”. But we chatted and talked, and I was showing her little things on the way. And then we just started playing – you pick up rocks, you touch the fuzzy moss, you draw in the sand or throw rocks in the river.”
“And by the end, she had opened up. She had changed. She was having fun. Is she into hiking now? I don‘t know. But it’s just about playing and playing outdoors. Kids love playing outdoors. There’s so much going on and kids are so curious. I see transformation.”
Short term, the benefits are obvious. There are benefits long term too. Schy said being active outdoors is good for both physical and mental health, and can improve concentration levels. It also encourages children and adults to become stewards of the environment, which benefits the planet, he said.
Five shaded Hong Kong hikes to do this summer
“I hope people take away that getting your kids outdoors is not rocket science. It is wildly beneficial for the kids, for the parents, for society and the world. That’s the long and short of it. Do what’s comfortable, or what’s familiar, but if nothings comfortable get in touch.
“We love love love being outdoors with families. I’ve never seen a kid in nature not blossoming,” Schy added. “You take a fish out of water, or a person out of nature, and they are out of their element.”
