1000 Hours Outside: Take 3

When we first moved back from Texas, I was sitting outside watching the neighbors baby, who was about Stellas age, crawl around in the grass. I don't remember what Stella was doing, maybe I had her in a carrier on me or maybe she was on a blanket but I was thinking to myself, "thier baby just crawls in the grass??? Stella would hate that. Is that even safe?" And yes, she would hate it, but that was a reflection on me and how I had failed her, not a reflection on Stella. When we started going on playdates at parks, often times my friends kids wouldn’t wear shoes. I was dumbfounded. Why aren't they wearing shoes??? Wouldn't their feet get hurt? And dirty!? Oh how differently I see things now... Elliot has been playing in the grass since he was a few months old. Last summer I couldn’t keep shoes on the kids to save my life.

I don't know how I first came across the "1,000 hours outside" program, but it was two years ago that I did. Their website explains it as, "…the global platform for reclaiming childhood and reconnecting families." The idea of that much time outdoors sounds crazy, I mean 1,000 hour is A LOT of time, but only until you put it into perspective. The fact is that the average child spends 1,200 hours a year in front of screens, so the goal is to replace that with 1,000 hours outside. (That’s an outdated number, now it’s more like 4-6 hours a day, or 1460-2190 hours a year, for kids ages 8-12.) There are lot's of explanations for why outside time is so important for everyone but especially kids. Fresh air, vitamin D from the sun, our ancestors spent most of their time outside so our bodies were designed for outside time, escape indoor pollutants, imagination abounds when you're playing outside without all the toys you have indoors... There's many studies to back up how important unstructured outside time is. Frankly, all of that aside, I just enjoy being outside in general and my children are 10x more enjoyable to be around when we're outside. I have come no where close to 1,000 hours the last two years I've attempted this challenge, but just being more intentional about outside time has definitely benefited my family.

When I first learned about the program, I remember listening to a podcast about it. It was right after Elliot was born and so I had a newborn and a 18 month old. The creator talked about how she realized how important outside time was from learning about Charlotte Mason, a classical English educator from the turn of the 20th century. She recomended that children needed to be outside 4-6 hours a day. My jaw metaphorically, or possibly literally, dropped when I heard this. Four to six hours a day!? Stella was getting maybe 4-6 hours a month. That's definitely an exaggeration, in the warm weather we were going to the playground regularly (because what else do you do with a 14 month old once the chores are done at home and you're both bored) but we were not there for 4-6 hours ever. And in the winter, I think we went outside once or twice the entire time the year before Elliot was born. The creator went on to talk about how when she learned about this her and a friend took their kids to a park and they played for hours. This is where she really got me, they didn't go to a playground. They went to a park, just an open space. And these weren't older kids, these were toddlers. I was dumbfounded. They took multiple toddlers to an open space without any playground equitment or toys and they played for hours????? I was onboard for spending more time outside, and I'm always up for a challenge, but I wasn't sure about that.

The 1,000 hours goal evens out to a little less than 3 hours outside a day, but she has a reccomendation set up for different climates since being outside for 3 hours isn't realistic in cold Ohio winters. (At least I didn't think it was, but the kids have almost proved me wrong this winter.) The average amount of time outside breakdown by month is this:

January: Average 1 hour a day

February: 1 hour

March: 2 hours

April: 3 hours

May: 4 hours

June: 5 hours

July: 5 hours

August: 4 hours

September: 3 hours

October: 2 hours

November: 2 hours

December: 1 hour

When you break it down like this, it honestly sounds pretty reasonable in my opnion... Until you get to the June and July of 5 hours a day.... Of course, I mean it sounds reasonable for my family. The kids aren't in school and I'm not working, when we started (as in me and the kids Jakob was not on board for this) in January of 2022 with a 18 month and a newborn, I felt confident we could do it. I remember the first time going out, it had rained so Stella was stomping in rain puddles and Elliot was in a carrier asleep. We only made it 36 minutes, but I thought 'no big deal we'll make it up tomorrow!" The next day we made it an hour five minutes, the day after that an hour 11 minutes... Then I quickly realized that it was not as "reasonable" as I thought it was. Life is busy! It's hard to carve out time to take the kids outside for unstructured play. It wasn't like I could send them out on on their own while I stayed inside and did chores, I had to finish first or put my to do list on hold to nuture this goal. If you already read my My Word For 2025: Priorities blog post, you understand how hard this was for me. If you haven't read it, it'll be linked at the bottom for you.

Even though we were behind before we really had even started, I still felt such a satisfaction every time we came in from outside. The kids are much more peaceful, for lack of better word, when we’re outside. They don’t bicker or get irritated with each other, they don’t get that crazy burst of energy and start beating on each other, and they don’t fight over toys. I have also noticed a difference in immunity. I'm not sure that their increased immunity and time outside is related, although I think there's a good chance they are. Elliot's immune system is much stronger that Stellas and he's spent much more time outside than Stella has over the course of his life. He's also eaten A LOT more dirt than Stella. (See photo below for evidence.)

Stella has never gotten sick frequently, but over the course of her first 3 years of life she did have a couple bouts of sickness that REALLY took her out. Like on the couch, not moving, sleeping the day away. This past November, a bad stomach bug hit us and it took Jakob and I out. I never get sick, so if I'm sick you know its bad. Elliot, unsurprisingly, never had any symptoms except for a slight fever and Stella threw up a couple times but never really acted sick.

In 2023 we finished up the year with 369 tracked hours. (I kinda quit tracking around November so this is a little lower than it reality but it's accurate enough.) In 2024, we had 579 hours. Almost every single months we surpassed the prior year, and I am so proud of that. I know it's no where close to 1,000 and there are certainly people with toddlers my kids ages that have far surpassed that amount, but for a type A mom who it's hard to put off her to do list to get outside and who napped 2+ hours with her kids every day, that's damn impressive in my opinion.

One of my new year's resolutions was to get outside for at least a little bit every day, even if it was just for a 20 minute walk. That definitely has not happened, but we are already ahead of where we were at last January. January of 2023 we tracked 8 hours and 34 minutes. January of 2024 we tracked 7 hours and 35 minutes. This January we are at 10.5 hours already, and I'm planning to get outside tomorrow so my kids can finally build the snowman they've been talking about all winter. (We've tried to every time it's snowed but there hasn't been any good packing snow but now there finally is.) The first time we went outside this year, on January 2, it was like 23 degrees and I fully expected to get maybe 20 minutes in. We were outside 2 hours. We walked around the block, we played around the house, we walked to the playground and played. In fact I had to make the kids come back in, they'd wanted to stay at the playground longer.

We still do a lot of playgrounds, I do try to do open area's too or walks through nature preserve that allow for more imagination and exploring of nature but who doesn't love a good playground. When we go to the playground, I try hard not to be the one to suggest leaving. We usually see multiple families come and go in the time that we're there because we stay for hours and it seems like other families stay an average of 20 minutes. Part of our hours were our nature school we did, which was an hour once a week. Some of those hours are events outside like festivals and fairs. I dropped a big chunk of money on wool clothes for the kids and good barefoot-style-but-warm-and-water-proof boots. (Links at the bottom for the boots and the wool clothes, highly recommend both. Kids got 2 years out of the boots, we're on year 2 with the wool clothes and I expect to get at least three if not four because of them being designed with cuffs that allow for growth.) Jakob and I would like to try camping with the kids this year, true tent camping. I've been wanting to since we got married but he always said the Marine's ruined it for him.

Eventually we'll hit 1,000 hours, maybe this year maybe not until the kids quit napping and can go outside to play on their own more. Either way, just being more intentional about outside time has been so great for our family. I've never had the kids turn down an offer to go outside, in fact the opposite. I am the one who has to shut it down sometimes because if it were up to them they'd be outside all the time. Once we finally get a playset in the yard, I don't know if they'll ever play inside again. Frankly, I'm okay with that, we all have a better day when we spend at least part of it outside. Even if all you can do is 20 minutes a day, I guarantee you will notice an overall positive change in you and your children's lives if you start getting outside more.

Do you track your hours? Do you have tips for me on how to get more hours in? (Like folding laundry outside, which I did almost every day this summer) Let me know! And make sure to scroll to the bottom of the home screen and subscribe to get notified of future blog posts!

Link to the kids boots: https://www.keenfootwear.com/products/little-kids-howser-ii-chukka-waterproof-black-reef-waters

Link to the kids wool clothes: https://tkclothingvictoria.com/collections/sleep/products/merino-base-layer-sets?variant=41866762846297