Tag: childhood unplugged

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We Failed At Achieving 1,000 Hours Outside This Year. But in the End, We Still Won

In December of 2021, I came across an Instagram page called @1000hoursoutside. A mom started the account while living in a townhome without a yard and was set on making a better attempt to focus her time and energy on spending time outside with her family. The whole idea behind the 1,000 hours spent outside came from a study done on screen time in children saying the average child spends about 1,000 hours on screens a year, she was trying to flip the narrative and spend this many hours outside instead. While I dislike blaming screens or writing them off completely, I too have found immense value in spending time outside for myself and my children. 

I started tracking our outside hours come January 1st. My youngest son was born at the beginning of January, so during the first week or so of the year we were not able to clock many hours. But once we were home from the hospital, even he got in on the action at only a few days old! 

One of the benefits of tracking our hours for us was the motivation behind it. If we knew we could add more hours to our tracker app to earn badges and see how far we’ve come, it made it more motivating (especially in the colder months!) to get out a little more. Even spending 20 minutes outside adds up eventually! 

Tracking hours may seem arbitrary, and to some, it may be. To us, it gave us motivation and a starting point to see how far we had come. For example, in the month of January, we spent 22 hours outside, but in February we were able to jump to 24 hours outside for the month! It may have only been a 2-hour difference, but it felt like such a big win to us. By March we were up to 36 hours and in April we spent 82 hours outside!! 

In the end, we didn’t end up getting a full 1,000 hours outside. We finished off the year with around 890 hours. But did we fail? 

If we’re only talking numbers, then yes. 

But did we also win? 

We won more family time. 

We won the development of gross-motor skills. 

We won the time spent being curious over snow hills left over in the spring. 

We won more fresh air. 

We won afternoons with friends at the park. And evenings gathered around a fire roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. 

We won a balmy spring day by the river, and a hot summer’s day lounging out by our camper. 

We may have lost the number game, but in the end, I think we ultimately won. And next year, we’ll shoot for higher. Not to meet a number from a random statistic in a study, but because time spent outside is never wasted. 

You don’t have to read a blog post or Pinterest quote to see the benefits of spending time outside. You just have to get outside and the benefits will show themselves tenfold. 

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Tips You Need For Getting Outside in the Cold With Kids

Winter is well on its way; each day it’s getting colder and colder outside! The other morning it was a chilly 15 degrees out when I drove my daughter to school! No doubt about it, it is cold! Spending time outside in the cold weather is still just as important as spending time outside in the warm weather, and sometimes is arguably more important. Here are our favorite tips for getting out in the cold months and helping the whole experience become more positive and less awful. 

Base layers for clothing! Having a base layer of thin cotton PJs, thermals, wool, or something similar can make or break your experience when you’re trying to keep warm. It makes such a difference. We like to do our base layer, sweats, and a sweatshirt over the base layer, then snow pants and a coat. Waterproof gloves and boots also are ideal. The majority of the snow clothes we own are hand-me-downs or purchased secondhand. It doesn’t have to be expensive! 

On a relevant note, make “using the bathroom” part of your prepping to go outside routine. Trust me on this one, you won’t want to spend time undressing for a potty break five minutes into your time outside. 

Have a goal or activity set before you get outside, or as soon as you get outside. In the summer months when it’s warmer and doesn’t take as much thinking or prep to go outside, we can easily walk out the door and find entertainment fairly quickly. And even if we don’t find entertainment, it’s enjoyable to just spend time in the sun and nice weather, so it’s naturally easier to spend more time outside. When it’s cold, if there’s not a goal or activity waiting, it makes the time outside feel much, much longer and much, much colder. Have a game plan as you walk out the door on what you’ll be doing. 

A few fun outdoor activities we like to do when it’s cold outside- bike rides, walks around the block, soccer in snowsuits, shoveling snow, pushing each other around on sleds, and our personal favorite… ice excavating! To be honest, the majority of what we do in the summer, we can do in the winter too, but with a little adjusting. 

Enlist some friends for outdoor play. It’s much easier to stay outside and enjoy your time when friends are involved! 

Mind the time of the day when planning outdoor time. In the warmer months, we typically go out first thing in the morning and it becomes a big part of our routine. We obviously have to change this as it gets colder outside! Checking weather apps to know when the wind will die down or when the rain or snow will stop can be very beneficial in planning your outdoor time! Yes, it takes more work than just walking out the door and knowing it’ll be nice enough weather to stay out. But like I always say, the time spent outside is always worth it! 

Getting outside may take a little more time and effort, especially with little kids. However, you don’t need to read this blog post or some Pinterest quote on why time spent outside is beneficial. All you need to do is spend the time and you’ll see the benefits tenfold.