The Benefits of Taking Children Camping

We came back recently from a family trip to Yosemite. 5 days, 4 nights of camping in Crane Flat with three kids and my husband. It's not everyone's ideal vacation, but considering that the trip covered both my birthday and my wedding anniversary, I think you can safely say I enjoy it. So did my husband and our kids. There's a lot to be said for taking children camping.

It Teaches Them to Appreciate Nature

One of the big things kids get from camping is an added appreciation for nature. Mine already enjoy hiking, but it had been too long since we had gone camping with them. Hadn't taken the youngest at all yet.

In Yosemite, they were able to see a wider range of what nature has to offer. This was the first time they ever saw a chipmunk, although they're plenty familiar with squirrels. They saw deer in a meadow and deer up close when the deer wandered by Curry Village's dining area.

They also got to climb really big rocks. My oldest wanted to climb Lembert Dome, but not on the path, so she only made it up part of the way. Now she wants to be a professional rock climber (as well as at least a half dozen other things).

We also were able to see firsthand how much the current drought is affecting Yosemite. Yosemite Falls, usually still a great waterfall to see this time of year, was barely a trickle. On the other hand, the kids had a grand time climbing around the rocks at the bottom, which are usually too wet to be safe.

Getting comfortable with nature is important to children. I've recommended Last Child in the Woods before, and I still do. Getting children out into nature beyond backyards and playgrounds is very healthy for them... and their parents.

Camping is also a great time to talk about respecting nature and taking care of it. Yosemite, for example, is very strict about the use of bear boxes for anything which might attract bears to your campsite. It's the perfect excuse to talk about how our behavior can hurt animals.

They Get Dirty

I'm a firm believer in dirt. I don't stress about things getting a little dirty, especially in places where there's little choice in the matter. It made for quite the laundry pile when we got home, and some challenging stains, but it was certainly worth it.

There's a theory that getting dirty may be good for the immune system. Basically, it's the small exposures to germs over time that help your immune system become strong. It makes sense to me, and so I enjoy it when the kids get dirty.

Time Away From Electronics

No one gets to use electronic toys when we go camping. I had my iPad along, but only for music in the car on long drives. It didn't come on hikes and it didn't get used in the evenings while we sat around the campfire. Yes, my kids were quite frustrated with that rule, although a little less so when I pointed out the lack of internet access. While camping, my kids declared certain areas to be clubhouses, pretended to be pirates, climbed rocks and generally had fun.

Children need to be limited in how much they use electronics throughout their day. I know mine do far more interesting things when I tell them to turn all screens off and go play. They interact more with each other and really work their imaginations.

Learning to Do With Less

Camping is very much an exercise in making do with less than you usually have. There's only so much food you can put in an ice chest or otherwise keep at your campsite. No microwave, just the campfire or the camp stove to cook meals. Very few toys aside from what natural objects they could find. Everyone sleeping in one (admittedly large) tent at night.

I'll admit there was one experience I could have done without. The bathrooms for our section of the campground were closed and replaced with porta potties. Definitely could have done without that. Sometimes we walked extra to get to the regular bathrooms, but when a three year old says she has to go, that's usually right NOW, not five minute from now. Then again, porta potties are far better than nothing.

Making Random Friends

My oldest was fortunate enough to meet a girl a little younger than her at a nearby campsite. Instant friendship, and we'll see if it sticks over time or not, as they exchanged phone numbers. They spent mornings and evenings playing whenever they had the chance.

Camping is a great time to meet people you'd never know otherwise. We had camp neighbors from a few other countries, as well as people from more local areas. Yosemite is of course a huge attraction to people all around the world, so you never know where the people you meet have come from until you start talking.

Family Time

Camping was great for ensuring lots of family time. We were pretty much always together, sharing experiences and having fun as a family. No one had to go to work or school, no one was distracted by the television or other electronics. I only got one cell phone call, and that was an auto-dialed call by some company talking about diabetes, so an easy hangup.

Exercise

Camping means a lot of exercise. Most of what you do takes more physical effort than it would at home, plus you're likely to go hiking, swimming or do some other physical activity during the day. We didn't get to hike quite as much as my husband would have liked, but there's a limit to how much a three year old will hike, especially in the hot weather we had during our trip. Still, it was all great exercise.

Teach Respect for Fire

Kids don't necessarily get to do much around fires at home very often, but when camping, fire is something they just have to deal with... at least if that's how you keep warm and prepare your food. My kids had so much fun finding little bits of wood to add to the fire, and were awed by how my husband handled the firewood barehanded.

While fire is dangerous and burns are painful, I believe it's a good thing for children to learn how to deal with fire, most especially how to respect it. Dealing with it in circumstances less controlled than the burner on a kitchen stove gives them that chance, whether it's figuring out just how close they can get a marshmallow to the flame without catching it on fire (or having to blow one out), or seeing how quickly different things burns.

Overall, this was a really wonderful camping trip for us. I've told my husband we need to plan more camping trips each year. We're thinking at least two bigger trips each summer, plus weekends when we can manage it. Because we didn't get to Mariposa Grove in Yosemite, we're thinking one trip next year will be Sequoia National Park, as the kids really want to see some redwoods.

Stephanie Foster runs Green Stay at Home Mom as a resource for green parenting. Learn more about encouraging children to play outside at her site.

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Taking Back My Youth on an MGP Nitro Extreme

It was a cool spring morning which promised to become a very hot early spring day and so the mind drifts to what could be done to make this Sunday a very special one for my son and I.

Having spent most of the day before indoors playing Star Wars on the Wii, Sunday was going to be 'outdoor day' and I was going to be out in the fresh air, not sat in front of a television watching virtual characters battle it out on screen. No, fresh air is what I needed today and so that's what I was going to get.

A few months earlier it had been my birthday and somebody in their ultimate wisdom had decided I was not going to grow old gracefully and bought me a scooter. Not any old scooter, but one with a particularly cool name. Knowing that I had a penchant for gadgets, they decided I needed on that summed up my love of all things 'mega' and 'turbo' and they bought me an 'MGP Nitro Extreme'. Now, when I first saw the words on the box I didn't really understand what it was I'd got. I thought maybe I'd been sent some kind of explosive device seeing as 'nitro' sounds like something we yearned for as kids.

However I soon realised that this was one of those trendy scooters with wheels so small they look like they've been stolen from Action Man's tank and enough metal and rivets to show it had been engineered in the fiery depths of some Pacific Rim volcano. I was going places on this thing, and hopefully not hospital.

As it turned out, the weather never gave me an opportunity to use it and so it lay dormant in the garage waiting for a time when the sun would emerge from the clouds and allow me to go hurtling down the street like a lanky and rather over weight teenager. Oh, and wrinkly. A teenager with a skin problem that makes them look 42. You get the idea.

And the sun came out and I did take my scooter to the skate park to show those whipper-snappers a thing or two about riding one of these beasts. Except just in case it was a bit hard, I went really early on Sunday morning, realising that your average teenager doesn't leave bed until way after midday on a weekend having spent the night before drinking Red Bull in a bus shelter.

So, I climbed carefully to the top of the ramp and holding the bars as hard as I could, I let myself tear down the slope, gravity taking hold of my over-plump frame and dragging me into the curve.

And here, dear reader, is where it went wrong.

You see, these infernal devices are pretty darn quick. They look flash because they are flash and the wheels are greased with the slickest, most frictionless material I have ever known. Before I could take a breath, I was hurtling at incredible speed towards a grassy bank wherein I narrowly missed a metal waste bin, sped off to one side and landed in a soft and slightly muddy patch.

If there was a moral to this story, it might be that people my age shouldn't be dealing in such dangerous sports and should stick to driving 4 by 4 vehicles on highways. But that would be defeatist. Instead, I give you this.

If you do intend to be a stupid as me and ride around like a teenager on incredibly good looking technical equipment - wear a helmet. You look a lot less stupid than someone with a massive bruise on their temple!

http://www.xtremelyboard.co.uk/product.php?id_product=420 - Andy Calloway is the SEO expert and online marketing guru at Calloway Green Ltd, in his spare time he takes part in some ridiculous sports such as riding these scooters.

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Taking Your Game to a Higher Level

Indeed, I feel I've had some very fortunate experiences in my life, you see, I've been the best in the world at a few things. It takes a lot to get to that level, sometimes you feel as if you're beating your head against the wall, but you press on, because you know that's what it takes to get there. You often find that your very best isn't good enough, that you can't win or compete at the higher levels even with all your great attributes, you just aren't good not enough. You must will yourself to go beyond and to take your game to a higher level.

Indeed, now I know this for a fact after going through it several times in various human endeavors. It's not an easy road, most people would give up. In fact, at times I wondered why I didn't. I certainly should have, because I didn't have what it took to win, I had the will, but I didn't have the skill. I didn't have the talent, knowledge, or even understanding to get there. What I had was a sense that I must. It became the driver. Along the way that adversity builds character. And at some point you've come so far that you can't give up, you can't go back, and you cannot allow yourself to quit in defeat.

When you get to that point you'll know it, and it's much easier to keep going than to turn back. Still, to be the best, you have to take your game to a higher level. And you can do that just by learning more, try harder, training longer, the only way you can get to that next level is you have to possess the will to get there. Without that nothing else you do will be good enough. There are winners and losers in life, and having played on both sides of that game, I choose to win. I hope you will make that same choice, but there's nothing I can do about it, there is nothing I can say to get you there, this is about you, your mirror, and that future destiny before you.

Now you can quit, and many men have, history is littered with forgotten names, people that were not able to take their game to the next level, they didn't have it in them, they didn't have the will to never give up, never surrender, and to take no prisoners in the pursuit of victory!

Indeed, I'd like you to please consider all this and think on it and go for it. If you do that you will have my respect, if not I will not be around to hear your excuses, because quite frankly I have enough excuse credits saved up of my own - for 5-lifetimes now - but I refuse to honor them, and I will not turn them in, I don't do excuses, and I hope you will take your game to the highest level and win! I'll see you on that podium of victory.

Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative eBooks on Biking Across America. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net/

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Tips Before Taking Up the Game of Tennis: The Bankhand Debate

Any proper tennis coach is going to attempt to make a student as comfortable as possible on the tennis court, especially a beginner. Of course there is a right way and a wrong way to hit each stroke which includes the proper grip, follow through, and footwork. Often it comes down to personal preference and natural feel however when choosing whether to use a one-handed or two-handed backhand. When making this decision you must ask yourself, is there a competitive advantage to using a one handed backhand as opposed to a two-handed?

It's no secret that the two handed backhand has not only become more popular among professionals, but coaches are more inclined to teach it as well. Especially in the women's game, the one-handed backhand is nearly extinct. Some arguments for teaching the two-handed backhand include a quicker preparation for each shot, as well as a more stable and controlled impact and backswing resulting in a much heavier hit ball. A properly executed two-handed backhand will be compact, allowing the player to conserve energy and quickly prepare for the next point. Most importantly a the player is still able to generate power with such a short stroke. Often if an inexperienced player tries a one-handed backhand the stroke is less stable at impact, it takes more time to prepare, and it takes longer to regroup for the next shot because of the elongated backswing. So why not teach the two-handed backhand to all youth players, and simply stop wasting time with one-handed backhands?

For almost every study there is usually one outlier. In this case, his name is Roger Federer, the former number 1 player in the world, and 23 time grand slam winner. It's impossible to argue with the grace and fluidity with which he hits his backhand. Have you seen the wristwatch commercials that play all throughout Wimbledon? His strokes are effortless even when he's wearing a suit. Federer is able to not only able to produce a compact swing but also generate an incredible amount of power. He can hit his backhand from anywhere on the court from a number of different angles. Yeah sure, Federer is a freak athlete who has been perfecting this stroke for years but his effectiveness comes down to technique which includes proper footwork and unparalleled upper body control. For Federer, or any player who is attempting to hit a one-handed backhand, it comes down to balance, a still head, and keeping your lead shoulder parallel to the net. It is natural to pull off the ball when there are so many moving parts involved, but it's the calmness of Federer's approach that makes the shot so effective.

People argue that it requires great strength to hit a one-handed backhand, but Federer's wiry frame silences those critics. Is Federer so unique an athlete that only he and a handful of others are capable of consistently pulling off this shot, or is it simply a matter of teaching the technique early and correctly? If taught and executed properly this can be one of the most effective shots in tennis.

It is important to remember that proper technique is key not only for executing the one-handed backhand, but also to ensure that you don't hurt yourself. It's fun to just go out on the courts and leisurely hit the ball around with friends, but it's still possible to hurt yourself if you aren't using the proper technique. If you have flawed technique, especially with your backhand, then you are asking for the dreaded tennis elbow. Tennis elbow can be a debilitating injury that not only affects your tennis game but also your everyday life. The injury can often be so painful it hurts to even lift a coffee cup.Really it's not enough to simply watch a Youtube video of someone explaining the proper backhand technique, though it is a good way to pick up some tips. Especially if you are a beginner, you really have to get out on the court and practice the right technique with an instructor or friend who knows the proper technique.

To master, and more importantly teach, such a flawless stroke takes hours and hours of practice. There are thousands of people every year who are taking up the sport of tennis. When taking a first lesson at a club or with an independent tennis coach, a player should trust their instructor to teach them not only the correct technique, but also the most effective stroke. Though you should trust your instructor's judgment it is also important to know that there are multiple options out there. Is the two-handed backhand absolutely more effective than the one-handed? Federer's stroke would suggest that if executed properly, the answer is no. The fact is, the two-handed backhand is easier to teach and easier to hit for a beginner. Federer's backhand maybe the last of its kind. You should does the convenience of teaching the two-handed outweigh the effectiveness and versatility of a one-handed backhand? Probably.

About the Author

John C. Hayes invites those looking for a quality tennis lesson to learn the proper technique discussed in this article to schedule a lesson at the online tennis marketplace http://mytennislessons.com/. People everyday are taking advantage of the services provided ensuring that instructors are able to teach these techniques and players are learning them. Schedule a lesson in your area or sign up for the opportunity to teach those lessons by visiting http://mytennislessons.com/

(c) Copyright- John C. Hayes. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

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