«If the children don't feel like it, I don't push it»

3 questions for Rémy Kappeler, author of the book «Wanderpapa» and father of three.

Mr Kappeler, did you like going to the mountains as a child?

As children, we were often in Adelboden, hiked a lot and spent time in nature and in the stream bed, picking berries or collecting mushrooms. Later I went hiking with the Blauring youth organisation, then with my wife and for the last 14 years with my family.

Rémy Kappeler is a book author and head of the editorial team of the Swiss Hiking Trail Association's "Wandern.ch" magazine. His children are 14, 11 and 6 years old. (Picture: Jürg Buschor)
Rémy Kappeler is a book author and head of the editorial team of the Swiss Hiking Trail Association's «Wandern.ch» magazine. His children are 14, 11 and 6 years old.
(Image: Jürg Buschor)

Do your children come along on every hike?

That varies. If I realise that the children don't feel like it, I don't push it. My daughter once told me that she likes hiking because it's always cooler than she expected. This knowledge helps me to prepare. It's important that we parents can leave it at no and not take it personally. I talk to my children and try to find out why they don't feel like going. Then I can organise the next hike so that they like it. I always look for little adventures along the way: streams, waterfalls, caves, small paths instead of wide tracks. You can easily recognise such places on hiking maps and children love them.

Which hikes do you recommend for families in autumn?

Autumn is the perfect time to round off the hiking season. If you started with short hikes on the Central Plateau in spring and focussed on medium-length tours in summer - for example through gorges, to caves, in shady forests, along bisses - you are now ready for longer hikes, for example to a summit. If you have children, we recommend taking the cable car for the first few metres up. We have climbed the Vilan in the Bündner Herrschaft, the Wannehorn above Grächen, the Eggishorn in the Aletsch region and the Chaiserstuel from Oberrickenbach.

15 hiking suggestions from the hiking dad can be found at: www.schweizer-wanderwege.ch/wanderpapa
15 hiking suggestions from the hiking dad can be found at:
www.schweizer-wanderwege.ch/wanderpapa

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