It’s time to make a habit of getting outside in nature. Do it for your kids!
It is important for children to spend time outdoors in nature. Here are 5 tips to help parents make a habit of getting outside in nature with their kids.
I realize that for many people, including parents and their children, getting and spending time outside is not a habit. It is something that they do only to get from their house to their car or maybe they will go outside to go for a jog. That is good, but that is not the same as spending time outside in nature. Getting outside in nature has so many good benefits for kids that parents need to make it a habit.
Getting Outside In Nature Is A Good Habit
It is important for kids to get outside as often as possible to simply explore and play – and that means it is vital that parents make a habit and a priority to spend time outside with their kids.
It is good to just relax, and soak in the natural world.
It is good to slow down and look closely at the bugs you find crawling around the yard.
It is good to reconnect with the natural world.
It is good for your soul and well-being to force yourself to slow down and spend time outside.
5 Top Tips For Parents To Make A Habit Of Getting Outside In Nature
Commit – You need to make a commitment to getting outside. Make it a priority. Once you decide and commit to something you can make it happen.
Preparation – I know that a big impediment is simply finding places to go. Take some time one evening or a few evenings to look into where you could go outside. Find local, nearby parks or open spaces.
Figure out the closest places you could go to be in the mountains – maybe to a trail, a picnic area, or to the river. Look into any organizations that organize activities in the outdoors, such as fishing organizations or youth groups. Here are some other tips on finding trails near you.
Keep you backpack ready to go hiking at all times as that will make it easier to get out the door.
Take action – Now that you have committed and done your planning it is time to take action. Begin spending time outdoors. Here is my top tip on getting outside.
Start out heading to the neighborhood park…then you can move on from there.
Make small changes – Maybe in the beginning you can focus on getting outside twice a week for a half hour. Then after two weeks you can increase this to three times a week, then increase one of those times to an hour.
This could start out as simply wandering around in your yard or the local park. Then maybe once a week you could take an outing to the local mountains.
It is good to take time and think back on how you’ve done for meeting your goal.
Reflection – Every few weeks you should take a few minutes to think about how well you have been spending time outdoors. Did everything work like you hoped? Were there problems? What was good or easy? This is your chance to make changes to your plan so that getting outdoors truly becomes a habit.
Like everything that we do in life we need to take time to look back upon how we did. Life is busy and if the only way to achieve something is to set a goal, commit, take action, and then look back upon how we did.
This may seem like a lot of work just to make a habit of getting outside in nature with your kids, but I promise you it will be worth it.