The Great Outdoors!

Dearest Guide,

We are following your blog daily and loving it.  I've shared it with my friends with children not at PhMS, too!  My question:

My children are happier if they get time outside.  However, I have to cajole, drag and bribe (!) them to get out there.  This can be especially daunting on those rainy days.  Invariably, out outdoor adventure brings smiles to all our faces, mud-splattered or no.  Can you suggest activities or ways to make the transition outdoors more appealing?

Signed, Craving Fresh Air


Dear Craving,

What a well-timed letter!  I just saw the forecast and dry, sunny days in the 60's are headed our way this Tuesday-Thursday at least.  But we will address ways to get outdoors when the weather is foul as well.  My Big Idea is to have a destination to head to in the yard. Someplace a bit homey, a bit comfy: a place that beckons you and invites you to linger.  This could be your patio set, made comfy with cushions and blankets.  A hammock or other roost set up within sight of the birdfeeder would invite cozy, quiet birdwatching.  I used to receive a magazine called "Birds and Blooms" and the best photos were those of children sitting so still in the garden as to have birdies perch upon them.  A blanket spread on the ground under a very dense tree that would protect one from the drizzle.  Is it too early to set up a tent?  A real tent if there is one, or a sheet tacked to a fence up high, stretched out and weighted at the bottom by heavy rocks?  Some of your kids are fort-building geniuses.  Perhaps there are some places, (a dry patio?) and some materials (the patio furniture, second-best sheets, pillows with washable pillow slips?) that could be commandeered for your troops.  As the weather gets finer, these various nests can be feathered with all sorts of comforts, which will need to be curated and limited, quite likely, from time to time.  Some other thoughts on getting your kids outdoors?  Let's use bullet points!

*   Transitions are hard for many children. Give a 15, 10 or 5 minute heads up to the kids to let them know you will begin suiting up to go outdoors at that time.

*   Have backpacks with any of the following you can muster -  a magnifying glass, binoculars, notebooks and pens, first aid kit, bird or tree identification book, small water bottles, lip balm, soft bucket hats, sip lock bags for collecting nature artifacts (this can lead to pressing flowers and leaves, which leads to collages with those flowers and leaves), plastic bag and gloves for collecting trash and, drum-roll, please.................a surprise snack! What am I forgetting?  You will think of it.

*   Prepare a basket with slips of paper within, each having a Point of Interest for a Walk or Yard Investigation or Outdoor Activity, such as: How  many cars are parked on our street?  How many of our neighbors are outdoors?  How many dogs are in their yards?  Which tree is the tallest in our yard/street?  The prettiest?  The shadiest?  How many different kinds of flowers are in bloom in our yard/street?  Take a walk with giant steps.  Walk backwards for a while.  Practice safely crossing a street at an intersection.  Sing as you walk.  Lay on your back and talk about clouds.  Take cuttings from the yard for indoor arrangements. (obviously, this leads to Flower Arranging, later!)   Sweep the deck, patio, front steps, sidewalk.  Wash your bikes.  Draw outdoors. Gentle Parent, please supply the remainder.

*   Create shelves outdoors on the covered deck or patio with Practical Life and Art activities. If you lack an outdoor covered area, perhaps this area is near the outdoor space - by the sliding glass door or in the mud room. (I WISH I had a mud room!)   A bucket with scrub brush, bar or travel-size bottle of (very dilute) soap and a sponge is a set-up to wash many things.  Add a towel if the item should be dried rather than air-dried, garden tools (give a lesson and supervise for safety, always), a flower press (can be made of a book, sheets of newspaper and bricks/books to weigh it), crayons, tempera paints, chalk, paper and an easle or low table, a box of watercolors, a little dish for rinsing the brush (a shot glass is perfect), a bird book and binoculars in a basket, a sewing activity, outdoor games, etc.

*   Provide a similar basket or bag, but more like a scavenger hunt or command game; Seek the highest place where you play in our yard.  Stand where we saw the wild turkeys. Touch your favorite place in the back yard.  Find the prettiest view of our house from the street.  Walk down the street until you touch 20 trees.  Sit by the feeder until 5 birds come to dine.  Leave a bouquet on a neighbor's doorstep.  And on. No matter that your children cannot read these slips. You can be the reader!

*  Set an expectation in your family that you will go out each day unless The Elders decree it imprudent. Have a family meeting to establish this new normal if needed.  Each day at breakfast or some other, early morning communal time, the day's weather can be discussed and the time of day for your outing can be set.  If the mood strikes and the kids go out earlier than planned, I guess you can decide if you still wish to keep your Set Outdoor Time.

Gentle Parent, there are at least 6 solid ideas up there and I thank you so much for writing and getting me to jostle them out of my brain.  I hope you enjoy at least one of them or that they spark some inspiration for you.  Time spent outdoors is scientifically proven to boost mood, health and well-being.  Attachment to the earth is a spiritual bond connecting us to something larger and more timeless than ourselves, which, is a great comfort and solace.  A sense of  place can be formed at a young age that stays with us all our lives.  How I remember the of the alley of ferns, the dark patio completely sheltered by low evergreens, the strawberry patch, the tiger grass.  We are animals and part of nature.  It isn't good to be too distant from our home.  Fellow dendrophiles, I remain,

Your Guide,
Doni

PS "Lean on Me" songwriter, Bill Withers, passed away of heart complications at the age of 81 on March 30,2020.  Won't you join me in dancing to his "Lovely Day" (on YouTube) with your family in the living room or in your bedroom with the door locked?  The lyrics are lovely: the groove and sound, sublime!  This may be played at my own funeral along with "Love Train." Thanks, Bill.  Rest in Peace.