{"id":6879,"date":"2012-04-24T13:16:42","date_gmt":"2012-04-24T18:16:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/?p=6879"},"modified":"2012-04-24T15:12:08","modified_gmt":"2012-04-24T20:12:08","slug":"the-kiddie-bucket-list-50-things-kids-should-do-before-age-12-with-an-ottawa-centric-twist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/2012\/04\/24\/the-kiddie-bucket-list-50-things-kids-should-do-before-age-12-with-an-ottawa-centric-twist\/","title":{"rendered":"The kiddie “bucket list” – 50 things kids should do before age 12, with an Ottawa-centric twist"},"content":{"rendered":"

O<\/span>kay, this? Best parenting advice I’ve read in a long time, and very in line with my ever-strengthening philosophy of giving kids room to be kids. Thank you to my friend and longtime reader Kim for sharing this article in the weekend Globe and Mail: Bucket list for kids: 50 things to do before they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re 12 <\/a><\/p>\n

I love this, because I think each and every one of these is an excellent activity — and yet it makes me sad and kind of tired. Do we as parents really need to make an itemized checklist of experiences our kids must achieve? Meh, maybe the grey Ottawa skies and cold, damp temperatures are making me cantankerous. It actually sounds like a road map to a pretty great summer, if spring ever decides to return.<\/p>\n

Here’s the official list, editorialized with my own local spin:<\/p>\n

1. Climb a tree<\/p>\n

2. Roll down a really big hill (Mooney’s Bay has a great one for this!)<\/em><\/p>\n

3. Camp out in the wild (did you know there’s a campground <\/a>on Prince of Wales just north of Hunt Club? Practically downtown!)<\/em><\/p>\n

4. Build a den<\/p>\n

5. Skim a stone (I recommend Britannia Beach <\/a>for this one!)<\/em><\/p>\n

6. Run around in the rain (or puddles<\/a>, maybe?)<\/em><\/p>\n

7. Fly a kite<\/p>\n

8. Catch a fish with a net<\/p>\n

9. Eat an apple straight from a tree (we love Kilmarnock <\/a>and Cannamore <\/a>orchards)<\/em><\/p>\n

10. Play conkers<\/p>\n

11. Throw some snow (can we wait until December for this one, please?)<\/em><\/p>\n

12. Hunt for treasure on the beach<\/p>\n

13. Make a mud pie<\/p>\n

14. Dam a stream<\/p>\n

15. Go sledging<\/p>\n

16. Bury someone in the sand<\/p>\n

17. Set up a snail race<\/p>\n

18. Balance on a fallen tree<\/p>\n

19. Swing on a rope swing (the rope swing is hands down the kid-favourite feature in our backyard)<\/em><\/p>\n

20. Make a mud slide<\/p>\n

21. Eat blackberries growing in the wild (there are – or were – wild raspberries growing along the boardwalk at the Chapman Mills Conservation Area)<\/em><\/p>\n

22. Take a look inside a tree<\/p>\n

23. Visit an island<\/p>\n

24. Feel like you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re flying in the wind<\/p>\n

25. Make a grass trumpet<\/p>\n

26. Hunt for fossils and bones<\/p>\n

27. Watch the sun wake up<\/p>\n

28. Climb a huge hill<\/p>\n

29. Get behind a waterfall (or maybe go caving<\/a>?)<\/em><\/p>\n

30. Feed a bird from your hand (bring some seed to the Lime Kiln Trail or Hogsback Falls for this one!)<\/em><\/p>\n

31. Hunt for bugs<\/p>\n

32. Find some frogspawn<\/p>\n

33. Catch a butterfly in a net<\/p>\n

34. Track wild animals<\/p>\n

35. Discover what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in a pond (Mud Lake <\/a>is great for this!)<\/em><\/p>\n

36. Call an owl<\/p>\n

37. Check out the crazy creatures in a rock pool<\/p>\n

38. Bring up a butterfly<\/p>\n

39. Catch a crab<\/p>\n

40. Go on a nature walk at night<\/p>\n

41. Plant it, grow it, eat it<\/p>\n

42. Go wild swimming<\/p>\n

43. Go rafting<\/p>\n

44. Light a fire without matches (um, no thanks)<\/em><\/p>\n

45. Find your way with a map and a compass<\/p>\n

46. Try bouldering<\/p>\n

47. Cook on a campfire<\/p>\n

48. Try abseiling<\/p>\n

49. Find a geocache<\/p>\n

50. Canoe down a river (although you might want to wait until they’re older than 3 and 5 yrs <\/a>old!)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I figure the boys have a good half of the items crossed off, and I can tell you for sure I won’t be taking them abseiling any time soon – although the zip-line at a local aerial park is not out of question. What do you think? Is there anything on here a child of 12 can or cannot live without doing? Something you’d add to the list?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Okay, this? Best parenting advice I’ve read in a long time, and very in line with my ever-strengthening philosophy of giving kids room to be kids. Thank you to my friend and longtime reader Kim for sharing this article in the weekend Globe and Mail: Bucket list for kids: 50 things to do before they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re … Continue reading “The kiddie “bucket list” – 50 things kids should do before age 12, with an Ottawa-centric twist”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77,10,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fun-for-kiddies","category-mothering-without-a-licence","category-ottawa-family-fun"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6879"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6896,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6879\/revisions\/6896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/danigirl.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}