As if my daily life of raising two toddlers 3 & under while pregnant with a third isn’t challenging enough, I also decided to take it upon myself to attain a nearly impossible goal of spending as much time outside as possible – specifically: spend 1000 hours outside in a single calendar year. This was prompted by the 1000 Hours Outside Instagram page, which I learned about from my sister-in-law. The idea is that you balance screen time with outdoor time. According to the 1000 Hours Outside website, the average American child spends 1,200 hours in front of a screen. That’s over 3 hours a day. Comparitvely, kids spend only 4-7 minutes playing outside a day. Now, we aren’t a screen free family, but I will admit that I fear that some of the wonder of childhood can get lost between all the screens we have access to. This topic is probably almost as dividing as sleep training, and not an issue I wish to debate with other parents. I think we all do what works for us and try to do what’s best for our child(ren). But I personally love the outdoors, and find my children are better behaved outside (and I worry less about messes, things breaking, etc) and want to raise the boys with the same love for camping, hiking, and general exploring that my partner and I have. So, I took upon this rather challenging goal. 

Spending Time Outside with Toddlers

One thing I do love about this specific challenge is despite its difficulty, even just by taking it on, you’ve won. Ginny really emphasizes this on this on her page and in her Facebook group of the same name. The real goal is to make memories and foster a child’s imagination and physical abilities. Ginny has a website and podcast if you wish to learn more.

As for us – It’s already well into August, and I’m proud to say we aren’t even halfway to our goal! Hahah

As of Aug 13, we are sitting at a yearly total of 419 hours outside. Granted, it’s been a weird year weather wise, anyone living in Nova Scotia can attest to that. I also have dubbed this year- “the year of illness,” but that’s a whole post for another time, and I don’t want to make any excuses. Each day we try to get outside for a chunk of time, and I think that adding that into our daily routine has been enjoyable. We have had some solid 13 hour outside days camping in Cape Breton, and a handful of days where we didn’t get outside at all.

We’re still going strong and tracking our hours, and I’m curious to see how BB1 entering school, and B3 coming along will impact our routine. (See my note re: acronyms here.) However many hours we get this year will be the number to beat next! 

Here are some of our favourite things to do outside so far this year – 

1. Camping in CB with Nannie & Grampa. By far the best way to spend outdoor time. The kids don’t even need toys, they just love running through the woods, helping set up the beehives, playing with sticks, collecting rocks, or walking down to the brook. Unfortunately we were unable to do this as much as we planned this summer, due to a lack of time off from Matt and the pregnancy making me a terrible driver (does this happen to anyone else?)
2. Gardening. This is our first year setting up our own little tomato/strawberry/cucamelon patch. The kids LOVE going out and checking on the progress of the plants. We have a giant pumpkin vine that seems to grow overnight so every morning we see how it’s doing.
3. Stroller walks. This one’s mostly for me. Load the kids up with snacks and go for a walk. They like it and so do I. It’s becoming a bit more of a challenge as I near the end of pregnancy, but I’m hopeful we’ll get back into it after B3 is born and I’m recovered, of course.

We still have some time left in the year, and I’m excited to see how far along we get. Time outside is never wasted! Let me know your favourite ways to spend time outside- or if you’ve ever taken on a challenge like this.

– R