I’m sure I’ve confessed this here before but as much as I love beauty and fashion, I’m really a nature girl at heart. I mean, sure, I’ll put on lip gloss to head outside but I’ll also put on good hiking shoes and the right gear for the occasion.
I started college as a potential astronomy major (too much physics) and ended up a biology major. While most of my peers were focused on pre-med courses, I focused my studies on classes like limnology (freshwater science), herpetology (the study of reptiles and amphibians), and tree ecology, where I learned I have a knack for identifying trees.
I fell in love with the outdoors as a kid and as an adult I’m now able to understand the things I love about the outdoors. Birds have names, as do trees and frogs and flowers. And I have a general understanding about ecosystems and the environment.
But not every kid starts out as a nature lover and you can’t always turn them into one. So I’ve often questioned how to get my son away from the screen and out in the sunshine. And I’ve figured out one key thing.
Get out there with him.
(Why should kids have all the fun? He needed help learning to ride his Y-Fliker so I decided to get one of my own and show him!)
It’s no secret that more and more people are suffering the effects of a vitamin D deficiency because we simply don’t spend enough time outside anymore. We’re not getting the sun exposure that would normally give us the vitamin D that we need. It’s a problem for many of us.
So, as much as we want our kids to naturally go outside, we have to realize they aren’t growing up in the same world we did.
When I was growing up, video games didn’t take up much of our time. Atari was a new discovery and, let’s face it, those pixels could only hold your attention for so long. We loved watching TV but the shows we loved to watch were on from 3pm to 4pm after school and on Saturday mornings. We had nothing else to do. We went a little stir crazy so we went outside, either by our own choice or our parents.
My son is faced with a different world. Not only does he have the distractions of on-demand TV, but he also has access to a computer, an iPad, a Wii U, and a Nintendo 3DS. With so many choices of entertainment, it’s easy for kids to decide not to go outside. And if you are a conscientious parent and have discovered that this isn’t a good choice for them, then you’ve also discovered that getting them to agree to a good choice can result in huffing, puffing, whining, and even yelling.
It took me a while to figure out that I couldn’t reason with him. I couldn’t explain why it’s important to get outside and appreciate the world around him. I had to show him, and not in the forceful parent kind of way.
For example, in the evening, I’d take the dog for a walk and tell him he had to go with me. He couldn’t stay home alone. He might complain but then as it became a routine, he’d open up as we walked. We’d talk about the stars and the wheat grass and the sounds of the frogs. There’s a small stream near my house with a gentle waterfall and the other day, out of the blue, he said, “Mommy, this would be a nice place to come when you are mad or sad or just want to meditate.”
My little buddha.
Today, we went to the park together. We walked the trails and as he was busy looking down at the rocks, I told him to remember to also look up. That there’s always something going on around us. We walked by the water, hiked a short trail, collected a few things, and took lots of pictures along the way.
In fact, photography is just one area that we bond in. We both love to take pictures and I find that sometimes letting him bring his digital camera is enough to keep him interested in what we’re seeing. I like to think of it as bringing technology into the outside world. It helps get him engaged in what he’s seeing and feel connected to our venture.
That’s just one of the many ways we use technology to get us outside and have a good time but I’m learning that it doesn’t have to be one or the other. And maybe you are too.
If you have any cool gadgets, technology, apps, or even gear that gets you and your kids outside, I’d love to hear about them! Leave me a comment, share a blog post you’ve written, tag me on Twitter.
10 comments
Congratulations, Fadra! Okay, so I don’t know if this is exactly what you mean, but we grow plants with Growums Garden Kits. It has an online component where you learn about how plants grow through videos on the website, it emails you to remind you to check on your plants, etc. We can start on the computer, but then explore the gardent and get outdoors. Really cool!
That’s exactly the kind of stuff I’m talking about. That’s awesome! I didn’t even know that aspect about Growums.
Super exciting project! And it is so hard to balance outside and inside time. I am fortunate that I live in an area of New York with what seems like limitless opportunities for outdoor exploration, from turkeys in the backyard to a hike through the park down the street. And my little ones LOVE it so hopefully they will keep up that enthusiasm!
Michele – I think you have to instill it from a young age. I’m guilty of falling into the trap of the electronic babysitter which is why I think it’s so important to get out there with them!
Oh, what a great project! Mine are currently glued to their iPads. I’ve had to find ways to limit it so they’d go outside.
I’d like to think that we start by force and they eventually they actually WILL be interested in other things!
Getting out there with them is the best way, that is for sure. Starting next month I’m gonna be staying home full time with our son and I have already started telling him that TV time will be limited. We have a garden and Tristan even has his own little area of it to play in. We’ve also started watching the birds in our yard and learning them. I know it’s gonna take some creativity and i look forward to seeing what others share and you as well.
Congrats on the full time gig! I wish that I didn’t have so many work obligations this summer but I’m trying to work it so that at least once a week we get out on our own little field trip. And by the way, Evan can identify birds. We started watching them at a young age and learning more about them and now he points them out to me!
Balancing outside time with inside time is tricky when most of our activities are inside ones. My kids love the outdoors when they get out there, but we do have to threaten to lock them out when their eyes become glazed with too much screen time.
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