The Importance Of Adventure

Growing up in a family of eleven kids was always an adventure. Having no television and not being allowed the computer, except for 30 minutes on the weekend if our rooms were clean, meant that we found a lot of other things to do. Building forts in the woods and playing town was always one of our first choices. Our imagination was often used, whether it was playing olden days, Oregon Trail, or even school. One of our favorite things to do was “sleep under the stars”. This is when we would take all our bedding off our beds, bring it out in our lawn, and sleep out there. We would spend the whole day excited for night to fall. When it finally did we would look at all the stars and try to find the Big Dipper. Another fun activity that we did was hiking out to the old threshing machine in the middle of the field to play on it and pick blackberries. I was so happy when the day came and I was old enough to make it the whole way. All these memories were made without the influence of technology. I will always be so grateful that my parents allowed me to grow up with the interference of technology, because of that I so many fun and adventurous memories.

My parents always tell my siblings and I to follow our

Last spring, my friends and I did a parent-free hammocking/camping adventure. Although, it just for two nights and was half-hour away from our home, it gave me just a little taste of what it could be like. We did a hike-in campsite at Maplewood State Park. It was rough because we were hiking up hills and we didn’t have proper hiking backpacks. The school backpacks were packed full and very heavy. We stopped all the time to take little breaks because they hurt our backs. Being able to be on my own for five days and having proper camping equipment would be my dream! A parent-free adventure would mean I would be able to cultivate my love for the outdoors even more and become a free-spirited, independent