Getting the Whole Family Outdoors

My son would display the classic symptoms of nerves when it came to trying anything new that had the smallest amount of challenge to it – he began walking at 13 months, but because I reacted to it with cheers and claps, he sat down and decided to wait another 2 months before trusting his feet again! This is Serhaan’s third year at Avid4, and he has declared it is his favorite camp ever, among the multitude of summer camps he has tried out in his grade school life! Keep in mind the first year we sent him to camp for a week, he was seriously stressed the Sunday prior to camp and asked whether he could opt to sit out the rock-climbing and kayaking activities. He was nudged into trying out each activity, and realized that they were more accessible that he had imagined. Not only was he reassured enough to give rock-climbing a shot but has asked to go for more and more weeks each year since. Serhaan now approaches outdoor sports with an assurance that makes me jealous. We went to a weekend trip this summer to Lake Tahoe, where he insisted he wanted a solo kayak, met the waves caused by speed boats with applause, and offered to teach me how to paddleboard. I declined the offer. I do not have the confidence to stand up on a paddle board. While the fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree, I think mine rolled away to embrace the outdoors with confidence! He is now certifiably “avid for adventure”.