Backpacking With Kids - Start Early

The first hike our oldest daughter experienced was at four months old. She was strapped to my wife's chest covered in layers of Down and Gore Tex. The hike lasted somewhere within the array of 3 hours plus it snowed without interruption. In fact, it was a Colorado blizzard detailed with howling winds and zero visibility.
Fast forward nine years later and my two daughters, ages nine and six - join us inside backcountry every chance we get. They are content to settle a tent night after night with torrential storms engulfing our camp. They are capable of take up a fire, filter water, know where to go to the "restroom". They know what plants to take into consideration, they can sneak through to grazing deer. They will hike literally miles as they don't know that not hiking throughout the day could be an option. When staring down a hundred foot cliff, they're going to both rappel off without having a second take. Our two precious little daughters are most likely more seasoned and much better acclimatized for the wilderness experience than most adults.
You might ask the way they got doing this? They certainly are regular elementary school aged girls. They like all the stuff their friends do and spend a lot of their time riding bikes and scooters around our neighborhood. Yet, given the chance they'll go camping, hiking or backpacking any chance they get. I believe the key reason why these are way they are is due to our insistence, very early in their lives, that they join us on each and every outing. We haven't let cranky kids, colds, sore muscles or tired feet stop us.
Pre-kids, my wife and I both worked in the outdoor industry. We spent every available day faraway from work backpacking, hiking, climbing. We enjoyed a really active Colorado life. We were both determined any time our children finally arrived our lifestyle may not change. Our family and friends insisted otherwise. We were told that reality would smack us inside face so we would soon mould to a far more sedentary existence. Well, our first child eventually came and some degree everyone was right. Various Types of Kids Activities were no longer able to go out around we did. That is reality. However, while we slowed down somewhat, we actually didn't decelerate that much.
We have continued through two kids, multiple jobs, houses and experiences - to acquire outside. Weather never stopped us and yes it still doesn't. We're in the same way very happy to winter camp (yes - in tents) even as will enjoy summer nights underneath the stars. Walking long distances hasn't stopped us either. Our kids are accustomed to walking all day long. Whether that be inside late Spring heat with the desert or gaining and losing elevation during the day inside Rockies - they're in. Granted, walking that far occasionally takes bribery, candy and trail games to look at their minds off of the drudgery, but and we don't cater our trips for many years. Rather, we now have our youngsters adjust for the trip.
Canyoning is an activity we really enjoy. Rather than put our trips on hold before kids were older or curtail our planned excursion for something simpler, we now have included them from a really early age. Before they were even capable of walk. We have fond memories of their first canyon. Both of them were strapped into kids-backpacks and we were holding shuttled down each canyon obstacle, manually or rope. Today, both of the girls enjoy canyons and incredibly they're fearless.
I believe both our girls are quickly developing an intense love of the outdoors. Rather than attempting to play Learning to Operate Heavy Equipment or watch T.V. - they will prefer we take hike, ride a trail or search for animal tracks. I can only hope their love affair with this natural world is maintaining growth. The bonding us has experienced on our many trips is nothing short of magical.