When the Smallest Hikers Bring the Biggest Lessons

There’s something special about watching a four-year-old discover Montserrat for the first time. Their eyes go wide. They stop talking — which, if you’ve ever spent time with a nursery school class, you know is no small feat. And then, almost in a whisper, one of them will ask the question I love best: “Mr. Scriber, what’s that?”

That moment — the moment a child looks at a piece of their island and really sees it — is why I started bringing little ones out on the trail with me.

A Tradition That Grows Every Year

Every year, students from our local community nursery schools come hiking with Scriber’s Adventures. It started small — one class, one trail, one morning. Now it’s something I look forward to all year. Little explorers in their bright shirts and small boots, hand in hand, ready to meet the island they call home.

We keep the trails short and gentle. We move slowly. We stop a lot. We listen.

What They See

On any given walk we might:

• Spot a Montserrat Oriole flashing yellow in the trees — our national bird, found nowhere else on earth

• Touch the bark of a centuries-old tree and feel how it’s still alive

• Hear the plick of a tree frog before a child can even spot it

• Pick up a cassava leaf and learn how their grandmothers used it

• Look out toward the volcano and learn a little about the island’s story — gently, the way little ones should hear it

The questions never stop. Why is that leaf so shiny? What does the bird eat? Can I keep this rock? (The answer is usually yes.)

Why This Matters to Me

I’ve been walking these trails for over forty years. I’ve watched the forest change. I’ve watched the volcano change the island. I’ve watched Montserrat lose some of itself and find new pieces of itself.

The children we take on these hikes are the ones who will inherit this island. They’ll be the future guides, farmers, scientists, and storytellers. If they fall in love with the trail when they’re small, they’ll protect it when they’re grown. That’s the real reason we keep doing this. Not just for the smiles — though there are plenty of those — but for what comes after.

Building Tomorrow’s Caretakers

There’s a saying I think about a lot: people protect what they love. If a Montserratian child only ever sees the island from a car window, they’ll grow up loving it less than they could. But if you take them by the hand, walk them through the forest, show them a flower with a story, and tell them their great-grandfather drank from this very stream — well, that’s a different kind of citizen you’re raising.

That’s the citizen Montserrat is going to need.

Want to Bring a Group?

If you teach at a school, lead a youth group, or coordinate community programs and you’d like to bring children out on a tour with us, we’d love to talk. Send a message and let’s find a date.