Jungle Trekking with Young Children

It all started when we are planning to send our maid away. My husband and I love to go jungle trekking but without maid to take care of our two boys, we finally decided to bring them along. My youngest son, nicknamed Didi was not even 3 years old when he joined us on such adventurous sport. His older brother, the “Koh Koh”, was just celebrating his 4-years old birthday when we took them for their first hiking at Wawasan 5, Puchong.


It has been a scary and tired experience for all of us. We either hold them too hard that hurts them or we hold them the improper way that make it difficult for us to hike. It took about 6-months for Koh Koh to adapt to it and for us to learn our mistake. Didi, being too young that time, took a bit longer to adapt himself. They cried and grumble all the way and we learned to give a lot of encouragement to them. We also reward them with sweet and breakfast of their choice if they able to complete the trail as planned.

One important thing to remember is that it is best to let them walked on their own, let them hold your hand and don’t grab them so hard that it stress out both of you. Also very importantly, never ever carry them when they refused to walk. Give your child a lot of encouragement and motivation to proceed further. Let them see that life has to go on even though how tough is it. Obstacle is a good lesson to improve oneself rather than a problem.

This year marks the second year we have been going hiking together as a family event at least once a month and now I really cried a lot of happy tears that my two sons has successfully conquer the jungle. They can climb up a step half of their tall without assistance and they are capable of jumping down from a high place without fear. They know which part of the ground can be stepped and which one to avoid. Koh Koh can hike faster than me already. Nowadays we go hiking even it is raining and the trail is slippery. Sometimes they will fall down and sometimes they will have their shoes struck in the mud but they will just carry on walking without fear. Oh dear, I’m so proud of them and every day I thanks god for giving me such good family life.