Observations of my 2YO daughter with her backpack

[Adam Kilpatrick]

I just thought I'd share something I observed today.

My daughter, who is 2 years and 3 months old, loves hiking with me. So far we've only done day hikes, plus she has been camping a few times.

She has her own little daypack that her mum bought her for childcare. It is tiny, must be about 3L. But as she's small it fits her like it would me a 20L pack! Its just a cotton fabric thing with simple straps and a big sparkly love heart on the back.

Sometimes she really wants to wear it, which is super cute. This morning when we got out of the car she wanted to. It was cold, so I had her in her cheap synthetic fill jacket we bought her in Japan, which has a cheap slippery nylon shell (something like 70D I'd say). Anyway, the pack straps were sliding on her jacket quite a bit, sliding off her shoulders, which annoyed her. I slide them back up for her, but they kept coming back down.

She instinctively tried to correct it and did a fairly good job. Then she noticed the ends of the straps-the lengths of webbing past the buckles. She started holding them across her and holding the two ends together, much like a waist belt, but really a cross between a waist and sternum strap due to the height of the slider buckles. I could tell that as she was looking down at the two ends, she wished there was a way to join them together, as it was making the pack more comfy and stable on her back, and stopping her straps from sliding off her shoulders! Was fascinating to watch the thought process of an intelligent* toddler in this situation, the natural intuition coming out as to how a pack should work and fit properly, and figuring out exactly what sternum straps are there for (I swear I've had to teach a hundred adults this).

I think its time I got her, her first proper hiking pack. Might have to do a custom job here as she's so small (she's tall for her age, but compared to a small pack, she's tiny).

*Not a biased father.

[Hikin’ Jim]

Yeah, my daughter insisted on having a little backpack too. And when I tried to give here some fluff like a bandana to put in it, she said, "no, daddy, I need water and snacks." lol. Observant kid; she knows what daddy puts in his pack. Of course I sometimes wind up carrying her pack, my pack, and her, but such is the life of a daddy.

Haven't seen her figure out the sternum strap thing, but then she doesn't have a slippery jacket.

Not a biased father.

Of course not. Neither am I. :)

HJ
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[Richard May]

My son hasn't come out with me as often as I'd like, but on his first excursion he wanted most to take pictures. Of, course he sees me do it all the time. Also, he's most curious about the "hiking sticks" and totally impressed they're part of the "tent".

[Matt Dirksen]

"she's tall for her age, but compared to a small pack, she's tiny"

Yup. My girls used a dinky little zip-off daypack for a while, until they graduated up to the real thing (as shown):

[Gordon Gray]

Here are my daughters with their packs. My oldest on the left made her own waist belt (from old daypack shoulderstraps and nylon strap with buckle), sternum strap, and also made her sisters sternum strap. I consulted but she did the work with the scissors and sewing machine. These are their old packs we got from the thrift store to get them started in their backpacking careers. They have since been promoted to internal frame gear.

[Angus A.]

My daughter who is now 9 began backpacking when she was 6. Even at 6, it was difficult to find a pack that fit her. I had to customize I pack I purchased at Old Navy for $5…added a sternum strap as well as a hipbelt. I also added a string around the shoulder straps from where it meets the pack at the top…this was to ensure that the shoulder straps did not slip off when she wears her jacket.

At 6 with the modified Old Navy pack…before I added the string to keep the shoulder straps from slipping:

Now 9, she uses an REI Tarn 18 for short overnights with a 6lb. load:

On longer multi-day trips, she uses her Deuter Fox 30 with an 8lb. load:

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