Day 15 - Parks and Outdoor Time

I’m thankful for parks and outside playtime.

I’ve said before that we are a park family and I wasn’t kidding.  This time of year is wonderful in so many ways, but it does limit our outdoor time which has been a difficult adjustment.  I didn’t realize how much we all came to depend on the active time outside.  The kids have been going a little stir crazy already with all of this indoor time and the house is in a constant state of disarray.  It’s been a little…difficult to say the least.  

I still try and get them outside as much as possible.  If the temperature is 45 degrees or above, I will probably try and take them to a park.  We managed to go twice last week and once this week already.  Luckily, their school is on the same page as us and gets the kids outside (weather permitting) as well.  I absolutely love that they value free play outdoors.  Evelyn gets outside at least twice a day and Mitch goes out once on the days that he has school.  I really think outdoor play has a lot of value in childhood. Outdoor play lets the kids explore the natural environment and be physically active.  We live very sedentary lives these days with TV, computers, video games and smart phones and I believe it important to teach kids the value of being active.  This is part of the reason I love parks so much.  Kids learn to navigate different play apparatuses.  It builds their gross motor skills, but it can also boost their confidence.  Evelyn has been trying to master the monkey bars at her school’s playground for a while now.  She could only make it a few bars before letting go.  The other day when I picked her up she could not wait to run outside and surprise me.  She made it all the way across!! She was so excited and proud.  It’s such a small thing, but to her, it was huge. 

 I’m hoping that this winter is a mild one or that we at least have a mild day here and there so I can still get the kids outside!