After starting the Life Outside Fall Challenge I started to think a
bout how I would decide whether we had achieved success for that day. How will I define “going outside” with Gordie?
Time
Although I can’t see counting the amount of time it takes to go from the house to the car, on really busy days, or days with bad weather, I’m not sure that requiring a minimum amount of time is going to be helpful. I think even if it’s a short time any time outside is a win, particularly if you don’t feel like going out in the first place.
Activity
At first I was thinking that this would be about playing outside. But that’s really just part of what we can do outside. Going for a walk is still good time, so is raking the leaves or watering the garden. I’m going to try to do some different things and make it fun for me and for Gordie, but just being outside is enough.
What I’ve Realized
It turns out that I have more expectations and “rules” for outside time than I thought I did. Unfortunately this makes it so we go outside less. It makes it seem like a lot of work. Instead of spending whatever amount of time doing whatever outside, it seems easier to just stay in. This is something that I’m really going to try to work on this Fall – taking advantage of time outside no matter how short and not worrying so much about what we are doing once we are there.
How do you define spending time outside with your kids? Are your expectations making it so you don’t go out as much as you’d like?
I’ve decided that our “outside” is basically anything other than going from building to car. Basically any time spend outside for the sake of being outside. I also tend to think that going out has to be a big production, but I want to get in the habit of throwing some clothes on and heading out even if it’s just 15 minutes.
So true Dana! It’s not about figuring out what to do outside, even though I think most of us tend to think that way, it’s about living part of our life outside. So simple but so foreign to us since we were born indoors, went to school indoors, work indoors…almost everything is indoors. I am trying to change how I think about living outside. Instead of coloring at the table we are coloring outside. I know with the weather changing new challenges will arrive but hopefully we can all inspire one another. Great post!