GET OUTSIDE: 1000 HOURS OUTSIDE

Outside

Challenge 1000 HOURS 2020

HI! I'M GINNY. My husband Josh and I are parents to five children ages 10 and under and we reside in Southeast Michigan. Throughout our journey of parenthood we have consistently seen city, county, and state parks, as well as trails, campsites, and naturescapes in general nearly devoid of children most of the time. About five years ago we started to ask ourselves a simple question, Why? With so much natural beauty all around us (even though we take it for granted at times) it seemed counterintuitive that so many outdoor spaces were just empty. So again, we said "why?"

We did some research and read that striving for a goal of four to six hours of outside time within a day was an ideal amount of time for children to spend, well, outside. This seemed excessive to us and quite frankly, way too long - most children's activities are at most an hour (like a library program) and, many times, much less. But, we tried it. And you know what? We have not looked back. Our greatest times as a family, and my most successful times mothering almost exclusively point back to these fully immersive nature days. In time, we began to find that there is benefit upon benefit to this wonderful time outside.

We track a lot of things these days - steps, calories, budgets, frequent flyer miles etc - why not track something so beneficial to our children as well? There are so many things that compete for our time so it's easy for something like this to get put on the back-burnered. We found that if we spread these four- to six- hour chunks out over a few days (shooting for roughly 20 hours a week) it would take us to averaging about 1,000 hours of outside activity a year. That seems insane, maybe - we get it. But did you know the average American child spends 1,200 hours a year in front of screens? Now that seems insane to us, but hey, we get it - parenting is hard and sometimes those screens 'seem' like such a welcome reprieve from the chaos. We certainly are not militant about it and we don't take a 'no screens ever or you will surely die' approach either. But we would, quite vehemently, argue that nature- big, beautiful, bountiful nature - is the absolute and very best reprieve for you and your children. Honestly, they don't even compare!

Research has confirmed time and time again that what children are naturally and unabashedly drawn to, unrestricted outside play, contributes extensively to every area of childhood development. The importance here cannot be understated and yet we are losing much of childhood to screens, 1,200 hours a year on average.

We track a lot of things these days - steps, calories, budgets, frequent flyer miles etc - why not track something so beneficial to our children as well?

Childhood is finite at just shy of 9.5 million minutes. We only get one shot at it. One of the biggest decisions we make is how we will use our time. The options are endless, many carry with them a lot of pressure.

With so many opportunities vying for our attention one easy way to make sure nature time doesn’t get lost in the shuffle is simply to keep track of it. We track all sorts of important things: calories, finances, steps, etc. It’s an easy way to visually see if we are providing this essential part of child development to our kids. 1,000 hours outside, though daunting, is doable over the course of a calendar year. The entire point of 1000 Hours Outside is to attempt to match nature time with screen time. If kids can consume media through screens 1,200 hours a year on average then the time is there and at least some of it can and should be shifted towards a more productive and healthy outcome. Here's to a 2020 childhood to remember!! Happy tracking but much more importantly, happy memories! PIQ

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