Christina Suplee

Have you ever read a book where you’re hanging on every word, and you just want to do all the things the author is telling you? Like right away? That’s how I felt when I read Adventuring Together by Greta Eskridge.

Greta talks about the importance of adventuring with your kids, that you can’t wait until they’re this “magic age” to start doing fun things with your kids, because you’re going to be waiting your whole life. She said, you can’t just wake up one morning and go on a hike with your teenager; you have to put the effort in along the way. And what a joyful effort it is!

After I read her book, our Mondays looked a whole lot different in our house! I decided that each Monday was going to be Adventure Monday. Each Monday my boys, ages 4 and 5, go on different adventures all around where we live outside of Houston, TX.

I LOVE to be outside, and I love going and doing all of the things, and Monday Adventure Day has become a highlight of my week each week. Are there meltdowns? Just about every time. Does someone cry? Sometimes. Do we get lost? Yes. Do we build memories in the hard? Yes. Do we push and grow and learn and bond in a way that is impossible to do inside a classroom? EVERY SINGLE TIME.

Because we only get ONE SHOT at this thing called childhood. They’re only this age once, and this (in my opinion) is what childhood is made for.

Childhood is made for running ahead on the path. Childhood is made for playing tick tack toe in the mud. Childhood is made for spotting the turtle or the squirrel where it lives. Childhood is stopping and listening to the birds and trying to sing back to them. Childhood is made for falling down and getting back up again. Childhood is made for pushing your limits and chasing your dreams and figuring out what you can do. All of this is what we experience each Adventure Monday.

And this is what I want to remember.