The first month is officially in the books! From the launch date of the CalvertHealth 1000 Hours Outside Challenge on January 23rd, my family logged 12 hours outside. We typically logged at least an hour outside on weekdays and three to four hours per day on the weekends.
I found a few things that seemed to help give us a push outside. First was a few bubble machine wands that my 2-year-old (O) is currently obsessed with; we won’t let her play with them inside, so her only choice is to play with them outside. Lucky for us, she loves going outside, so that is typically where we end up. A second push (hopefully not surprising) is this challenge. I am competitive and want to ensure we give this challenge our best effort. I found that on the weekends when we had a few extra hours of free time, I made a more concerted effort to get my kids outside. On the last Sunday of the month, we had a few errands to run, so we split our outside time into three separate hour-long segments.
All in all, even though we didn’t start until the last ten days of the month, I can already see a difference in my daughter. She has always loved being outside, but she had stopped initiating going outside and was content to stay inside and watch tv.
We have also tried to mix up the activities that we do when we are outside. Typically, when I take the kids for a walk, I use our double stroller and push them the whole time. However, my mother-in-law recently got us a backpack leash which I started to use on walks. O isn’t trustworthy yet to walk on a road without running off, so the leash gave me a little peace of mind. We have a mile-long loop in our neighborhood, and O has successfully completed a lap with me a few times and has expressed interest in getting to walk on her own now. This has become a great way to use some energy while also having extra outside time.
I am trying to have a game plan together for February to continue to get outside regularly. One idea is that we are going to start going to playgrounds more often. My son (L) is only ten months old and isn’t walking yet, so O can sometimes get bored when we play in our yard for too long. We will also check out different hiking options, such as Calvert Cliffs Trails and Jefferson Patterson Park.
The further we get into the challenge, the more excited I am for warmer weather when we start to eat meals outside and not have to bundle up quite as much to enjoy being outside. If you are following along with the CalvertHealth 1000 Hours Outside Challenge, comment and share what you have been doing to clock hours outside!