How young is too young ?
How young is too young for your child’s life to be put at risk in the bush – or should it ever be? How young is too young to be wet, cold and miserable, separated from your destination by a flooded river, maybe even separated from your parents? How young is too young to attempt to climb Aoraki/Mt Cook?
Keen outdoor parents know that kids generally love any trip to the hills, so it makes sense to avoid anything risky or unpleasant that might turn their kids off the outdoors, right? Some parents, however, take the opposite approach and are discovering their kids are capable of feats that would make adult trampers quiver.
Not only that, they’re seeing tremendous growth in character as a result and a fast-tracking towards independence. So how do they do it?
At first glance, you might wonder why Victoria Bruce would post such a video to social media. She’s tramping with her seven-year-old daughter Emilie in the Taipo Valley, inland from Hokitika, heading for the historic Dillons Homestead Hut. But the weather is bad and the Taipo River is raging, cutting off their only route to the comfort and warmth of the hut.
