- Kids spend thousands of hours a year in front of screens.
- I wanted to get my kids outside for at least 1,000 hours a year.
It's been 10 years since my husband and I set out to weave 1,000 hours of nature time into each year with our children. At the beginning of our journey, we visited many parks, trails, campsites, and naturescapes, all nearly devoid of children. We began to wonder why.
Childhood — and life for all of us — has largely moved indoors over the past several decades. This change is attributed to several factors, such as overscheduling and a decrease in recess time. Whatever the reasons, children are facing many challenges associated with a lack of time to freely play outside.
An educational philosopher from the 1800s named Charlotte Mason was the first person we came across who recommended an amount of time that children should be playing outside: four to six hours a day, whenever the weather was tolerable.
It seemed like a lot, but we gave it a try and never looked back. In one block of time outside on a September day in Michigan, I regained hope that I could truly enjoy the childhood years.
Our greatest times as a family, and my most successful times as a mother, point back to these fully immersive nature days.
To make things more manageable, we would spread these four- to six-hour chunks over a few days, shooting for roughly 20 hours a week and thus an average of about 1,000 hours of outside activity a year.
When you consider that the average American child spends thousands of hours a year in front of screens, there certainly have to be some opportunities to trade screen time for green time.
End screen-time battles to make way for more time outside
We are not militant about never allowing our children to have screens. Our goal is to prevent the habit from becoming excessive, which we accomplish by setting time limits and expectations ahead of time and enforcing as we go with our favorite screen-time-argument referee, Circle parental controls. We find that this tool helps our family spend more time on the things that matter most, like getting outside and being together.
We make sure outside time is part of educating our children
Our world is filled with beautiful complexities and endless learning opportunities. From the life cycle of a monarch, children can learn about symmetry, or about geography as they track its path south. They can learn similar concepts through migrating birds, or the patterns on leaves or snowflakes.
No moment of outside play is ever a waste of time when it comes to child development, because movement is a crucial component of lifelong learning.
We let our kids be bored
The best way to deal with childhood boredom is to be willing to let it happen and to trust the inevitable positive outcomes. Boredom is the bridge between doing nothing and creativity.
I understand that it can be uncomfortable and annoying to listen to kids complain about having nothing to do. When kids play outside, it can take up to 45 minutes to determine a playscheme, so we need to give kids the time they need to figure out what they are going to do with their surroundings. Waiting almost always gives way to something engaging.
As parents, we set the example
The best way to get kids to love spending time outside is for parents to set the example and do it with them as much as possible. Many track their steps, finances, glasses of water drunk, and more — why not also keep track of how much time we're getting outside, especially when screens have become so pervasive and have such a draw for both kids and adults?
Getting outside is a win-win. It helps children develop cognitively, socially, emotionally, and physically. It helps parents with their moods and
Ginny Yurich is a Michigan mom to five children. She loves growing zinnias and swimming in Lake Michigan. She is also the author of the book "1000 Hours Outside Activity Book, Low Tech Nature Activities in a High Tech World."