Where the wild things are

When was the last time – or indeed, the first time – that you went some place really wild with your kids? Not just off-road, but truly wild. Where there are no roads. A place that you might encounter an unfamiliar face. Perhaps the closest we’ve come to visiting a place that could be genuinely described as wild was Patagonia.

Most travelers will seek out the signposted trails, and it can be hard to escape the tourist buses that gather at the visitor centres of glaciers and national parks. It does not take long however to wander off into the vastness of the Patagonian wilderness, and find yourself entirely on your own. Standing in front of Patagonia’s magnificent glaciers, it was hard to escape the feeling that you were staring at a ticking clock. As the debate about climate change rages on, it can feel imperative to experience these landscapes before they change beyond recognition, or disappear entirely. There’s more to it than the sense of urgency. For is there a better way to impart a sense of wonder to our children than to have them immerse themselves in the wild? Whatever your views about the spiritual or moral dimension of our relation to the natural world, trips off the beaten track can be a pure marvel. Pirouette readers have seen initiatives like Project Wild Thing, which encourage families to put the screens down and witness the world first hand. Playing outdoors, getting our hands dirty can be the ideal counterpoint to the immaculate interface of technology that has come to define so much of our interaction with each other, and with the world around us. The most intrepid parents take that idea to its natural limit, and become full-on explorer families. There’s a lot to be said for Frontier Parenting, if you’ve got that pioneering spirit.