Have Kids, Will Adventure

The 5 families—with kids ages 2 through 13—formed our own outdoor adventure group about a year ago through OdysseyOutdoors.net. The idea: Meet monthly, enjoy the outdoors in every season, and develop character strengths in our kids. It’s sort of like Boy Scouts for the whole family.

Carving Out Family Time in a
Crazy World

The idea for Odyssey Outdoors first came to me while working as a family therapist in private practice. I had previously organized outdoor summer camps for youth-at-risk and social/emotional outdoor programs for kindergarteners.

Now that I was working with whole families, I was hearing many themes that resonated for my own family. Namely, life with young kids is crazy, we’re all going in a million directions, and there isn’t time to plan all the family time and adventures we would like.

Families wanted a helping hand, to not only get all their fun on the calendar but also to take advantage of the latest research and guidance on raising healthy, well-adjusted kids. 

Developing Character Strength through Outdoor Fun

Odyssey Outdoors helps families carve out time from the rat race, relish the magic of childhood, and empower their kids to develop character strength through fun outdoor adventures.  

The adventure group philosophy is based on the work of Martin Seligman, Ph.D., and his well-researched list of the top 24 character strengths (such as creativity, curiosity, courage and persistence) for success. The groups try to incorporate as many of the strengths they can into each outdoor activity.

Learn more about the 24 character strengths kids need.

Today’s Challenge: Build Your Own Snow Shelter

The mission on this snowy day was to split into teams and build 1 of 3 snow shelters from the classic mountaineering text, Freedom of the Hills. The teams were formed to encourage bonding and friendship among families, and were not competitive in any way.

The kids would earn points by answering yes to some of the following character-building questions.  They would rate themselves at the end of the outing. Some sample questions:

• Did you show conscientiousness by helping to pack everything on the packing list? 
• Did you show curiosity by asking questions about building the snow fort?
• Did you use grit/perseverance by continuing despite setbacks and obstacles such as cold, dark, and disagreements?

See the full checklist of character-building questions.

FYI: Parents, you can alter these questions to fit any outdoor adventure, like sledding or building snowmen. Our adventure group has merged character building with camping, hiking, clam digging, geocaching and rock climbing so far.

By using character strengths and earning enough points, kids would earn a charm at the end of the day.