“Nature play aids children in every area of development. If you want your child to thrive academically, socially, emotionally, and physically you have to build time into your life to spend outdoors.”
– Ginny Yurich
A movement that requires movement! One thing most of us are missing in our daily life is the good old fashioned time being outdoors. Time outdoors is a key part of a healthy lifestyle; so many healthy things happen outside that we do not even think about. Other than the obvious benefits of Vitamin D synthesis and an increased intake of fresh air that improves our not only mental ability but also sleep and boosts your immune system, there is a developmental component to spending time outdoors. Loads of learning takes place outdoors and studies show that everyone benefits from time spent in nature. 1000 Hours Outside™ is a program founded by Ginny Yurich and her husband, to combat screen time and help bring us back to nature and through this back to health.
One of the things I was most excited about when we moved to Auburn, Alabama was that with the weather being milder most of the year, it would give me the ability to be outdoors every day, being active with my kids and building memories like my upbringing.
I grew up in a sweet little neighborhood with quiet streets and loads of kids. My parents fed us breakfast on the weekends and kicked us out of the house, rain, shine, snow, or heat and told us not to come back in until it started to get dark. We may not have enjoyed every moment, but when I look back, I realize my memories are about things I did outside. We were lucky to live in a safe neighborhood full of kids, close to the water and full of backroads we could bike to town easily. On any given day there was someone to play with. We only had to go to the neighbor’s house knock on the door and ask, “can Nell come out to play?” Then we would either ride our bikes around the neighborhood looking for other kids to play with, growing our group into a bike gang, or we would end up on someone’s front lawn running wild. We only needed our friends and our imaginations and a bucket or rope. When we were younger the game was “farm” where we would gather sticks and leaves and whatever else and as we got older it was late night games of Manhunt where anyone’s yard was fair game. The summers were filled with long days on the beach swimming until we fell into bed and in the winter, we would all meet at the neighborhood pond to ice skate and have epic ice hockey matches. Those were the days, and I was fortunate to grow up where I did. Since then, life has changed, technology has come a long way and replaced the time outdoors and families have not put emphasis on time together in nature.
Most people are not in tune to their own consciousness-they do not even notice changes in their surroundings, they have lost the ability to observe quietly or just sit and be without an agenda. Boredom is good for us; it can be a great instigator and that is usually when something wonderful takes shape. Children need to be given unstructured time and space, with this freedom huge developments happen. Little ones learn to use their bodies differently, they learn new sounds, they become more observant and aware of their surroundings. They learn to be more calm, quiet to stop and wait or to run wild and scream loudly letting everything release from their body and gulping in clean air. Then there is the biomechanical piece, where they build muscles like grip strength or flexibility in their feet and ankles from different terrain and the ever-important stability, the central core strength used to help them with everything. Children need to learn how to play in nature, to discover and touch new things, they do not need toys, competitive sports or passive, electronic entertainment to thrive socially or academically.
1000 Hours Outside™ encourages families to get back to basics and remember that so much happens while outdoors, socially, emotionally, physically, and yes, academically. They provide great resources on their site to help you kick off your challenge and help prompt the power of nature play. I encourage you to take the challenge, download one of their free trackers to color in as you earn your hours or, even better, this year they have an app available for you to track your outdoor time. It is never too late to start!
I will say that for us the hardest part of spending time outdoors is 1) the prep work it takes and 2) the transitions. Prepping for a day outdoors is a commitment, after everyone is in bed my work starts, I begin packing lunches, snacks, bags, making sure we have a change of clothes and layers for inclement weather. But the rewards are far greater than the time spent in prep work, and I know that my family will look back at the places we visited and the memories we have made and will be ever grateful for that together time.
Will you take the challenge?
Keep it simple and aim for a goal of one hour a day. As the weather improves, you will find yourselves outdoors longer than you thought. It will become a new addiction and something you look forward to. I will say, that on days where we can only get out for 30 minutes to an hour, our whole house feels the blues. The kids are cranky, they argue with each other more, and they need more entertainment from me. Our area has so much to offer in terms of outdoor adventure for kids from The Kreher Nature Preserve to Chewacla State Park. I hope you take the chance to find the joy in the outdoors and helping yourselves and your children to learn what comes naturally.
