Tag Archives: nature

Why I Prefer to Parent Outside

Many times in my nearly twenty years of parenting, I have felt the need to adjust my course and reroute us. This weekend was one of those times. Tempers were short starting at breakfast on Saturday morning. By mid-afternoon, we weren’t just crabby, we were ducking for cover. If only I could say what sent us careening off our happy family road, I might have been able to tame the tempest brewing in our midst. But alas, the usual culprits—misunderstanding, miscommunication, misfiring temperaments—were reeking havoc on our normally happy home life with no endpoint in sight.  Sleep did not restore my people to their more human selves and Sunday dawned with no respite from the relentless bickering. With nowhere to retreat to, I issued a maternal decree: we were taking a family hike, all hands on deck, and now. Their response was swift and pointed, and it prompted this post: Got teens, tweens, or in-betweens? Parenting outside is the best advice we can give you! | Sisterhood of the Sensible MomsNobody had the insight to see that they were the very worst versions of themselves. Nobody realized that they were making me long for the days of toddlers. Anyway, a little fresh air and exercise away from screens was just what the Momma ordered. Nature recalibrated my crew and set us back into our reasonably happy routine. This ability to take terrorists and turn them back into fully functioning and fun people is just one of the many reasons that I prefer to parent outside. But there are many more and I feel like I need to share this piece of parenting good news with anyone who will listen. Because this quick fix is cheap, easy, and packs a lot of family fun into its itty bitty price tag.Got teens, tweens, or in-betweens? Parenting outside is the best advice we can give you! | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

Other reasons why in no particular order . . .

1. I suck at crafts. 

We are all living in a Pinterest world, and ain’t nobody need that kind of pressure. While Ellen can bust out  container gardens, repurpose pool noodles like a HGTV host, and turn a picnic table into a coffee table, I am a Pinterest craft fail waiting to happen. Honestly, even simple t-shirts are outside my realm of competence. Just ask my oldest son about the “pink pumpkin” shirts I made for his soccer team to wear in a Halloween tournament. In any case, parenting outside is exactly the kind of hands-free parenting that makes Pinterest go ’round without subjecting me to sticky fingers. Also, I’m at least competent on a trail, not so much with a hot glue gun.

2. The open air wears my kids out.

Seriously, I’m raising puppies over here. Laps around the house are not uncommon. Trails, especially long, hilly ones, are my friends. If you too have offspring with boundless energy, heed this good advice.

3. They talk more outside.

If you have never been stuck on the other side of a sulky teen in a conversation, you might not feel me on this one, but it’s scientific fact. A good walk is the equivalent of popping the pickle jar open. The words which were few and far between in the living room flow free and easy in the great outdoors. There’s no explanation, but who really needs one. Results talk.

4. Nature’s buffer is most appreciated.

The herds whisper more than thunder in the open air. Trust me on this one.

Got teens, tweens, or in-betweens? Parenting outside is the best advice we can give you! | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

5. I’m a sucker for a pretty view.

Aren’t we all? Well, all the good ones are outside.

Got teens, tweens, or in-betweens? Parenting outside is the best advice we can give you! | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms6.  It’s affordable travel at its finest.

We all have a heart for the wild blue yonder, but this cash-strapped mom with almost two college tuitions to fund needs her adventure to really have some bang come with every buck. Outdoor adventure brings the adrenaline rush without the credit card bill.

7. It’s my passion.

One of my friends said that the definition of joy was when your kids love something you love. Well, even though I have been throwing books at my kids since they were cuddled up in the womb, nobody is a bookworm yet. I love games too, but our competitive natures can turn family fun into bloodsport. And while we all do enjoy a good Netflix marathon, coming to consensus on what to watch can be tough. (Except for Sherlock. We all love Sherlock.) But the one thing we all like/love/tolerate well as a group is time together in the great outdoors. I’m taking this as one for the win column.

Got teens, tweens, or in-betweens? Parenting outside is the best advice we can give you! | Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

8. It’s solid gold for making the memories.

Because most of my life is like this up and down weekend, I sincerely hope in the overall balance of my parenting that my kids can point to mostly positive moments when they remember me and our family life together. The memories where we are stretching ourselves together in beautiful places with no real agendas are the ones that will knit tightly in the fabric of our family bond.

I hope.

Because while I can’t make all their roads smooth, I can strive to let my kids know that they are not traveling alone. I want the things that stick to be the ones where we enjoyed each other’s company in a simple, uncomplicated way. But mostly, I just really want them to stick. I want, in the final sum of this beautiful family I am making, to find that this cache of memories is hardy and stands up to the harsh sands of time.  I want these pieces of our life together to be the things that bolster them in hard times and walk with them on lazy afternoons. I want our special brand of family to burrow into their marrow and become the very fiber of their selves. And nothing, absolutely nothing, makes the kind of teflon memories I’m striving for like parenting outside.

If you think I’m just waxing poetic here, I also wrote about this here  and here. I’m all in when it comes to the Great Outdoors.

Any great ideas for bonding with your crew outside? Drop those here. 

-Erin

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Read This When You Have Time

Ten years ago, a kind but wily acquaintance was giving me the hard sell. He was leaving the neighborhood Cub Scout pack and moving on with his son. He was looking for a replacement/fresh meat/gullible sucker to take his place. I was strong and full of good reasons why I was not the girl he was looking for. He listened intently to every word I said and nodded his head in quiet acknowledgement. But as he was leaving, he handed me a note and said, “read this when you have time.”

Well, to this day, I think of him as the Lex Luther to my Supermom persona. On that little note, he had written the following:

10 Needs of BoysLet’s just say that his little note was the kryptonite to all my arguments. I have been happily traipsing, backpacking, hiking, biking, and canoeing the outdoors with a gaggle of boys (and girls too) in tow ever since.

But that doesn’t mean that I was ready for the job I had undertaken. I love the outdoors with a passion, but you know what they say about passion making you blind, right? I have gotten lost on familiar mountains more times than I can count. I would send up flares when the Diet Coke supply got a little low in the house, so my wilderness skills weren’t exactly honed yet. And the extent of my nature knowledge was mostly stuff I learned off of Snapple caps and from my own well-intentioned but equally clueless mom.

But the truth is that experience is a fine teacher and ten years in, you can feel safe sending your kids into the woods with me and giving them actual knowledge about the outdoors. We might get lost but we will have a darn good time getting there. I would have loved to have had the following book with me in my early days of figuring it all out and you will too.

The Truth About Nature: A Family’s Guide to 144 Common Myths about the Great Outdoors is a book you can sip or gulp. Organized by season with a fun myth rating system kids love, it’s a book that can serve as a reference when needed or a nightly reading staple just for fun. It’s a versatile, accessible read and how you read it will depend heavily on why you are reading it. Just know that once you open its pages, it’s hard to put it down.

My seven year old is currently obsessed with this book and goes around asking his friends things like, “Fact or Myth? Frogs freeze” or quizzing unsuspecting guests on whether they think that bats are blind. We read it in little bits each night as part of our nightly ritual and he can read it by himself but prefers to hear me say “No Way!” whenever a deeply entrenched myth of mine is debunked. But this book’s greatest value by far is the way it excites about the wonders of nature. Even lukewarm couch potatoes won’t be able to escape the allure of all the “too strange to be true” facts and fun experiments you can do at home.

So this is my note to you: Read this when you have time. I hope it changes your mind about nature and kids and kids in nature the way that other little note changed mine. If you want to take kids hiking, camping, or even just out in the great outdoors known as your backyard, you can make a great time even better if you bring this book along. Consider this the kryptonite to all your arguments about why you can’t get your kids away from the TV and on to a trail.

The fall colors are waiting. Enjoy some time with your family in nature today!


-Erin

Looking for books on nature? Reading about kids and the outdoors? Read This When You Have Time---Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms

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