Now that the weather is starting to get nice in many areas of the world as spring comes on the scene, you may be feeling like it’s time for your family to start spending more time outdoors and enjoying nature together. But if your kids and spouse have gotten used to being inside during the winter, it might be hard to convince them to spend any decent amount of time out of this comfort zone. Luckily, with the right strategies, you can find ways to make your family excited about leaving the house and doing something outside.
To help you learn how this can be done, here are three ways to encourage your family to spend more time outdoors.
Start With Something Everyone Finds Fun
Just telling your kids or spouse to come outside with you likely won’t be an easy sell. Rather, you should make a plan that will include doing something that everyone finds fun but that takes place outside.
If your family likes to run, signing up for a family fun run and training outdoors together could be a good idea. Additionally, you could do things like going on a picnic together, visiting a beautiful garden, playing a sport, or trying something focused on a task like flying a kite or walking a dog. As long as it gets your family outside and having fun, you’re on the right track for getting your family to want to spend more time outdoors.
Plant A Family Garden
For many people, including kids and teens, if there’s going to be good food involved in an activity, they’re much more likely to want to go. So if you’re wanting to get your kids to go outside more, you can use this knowledge to your advantage.
One thing you could try is planting a garden with your family and working in it together. This can help your family not only have a reason for spending time outside, but can also help them to see the value of hard work and enjoy the fruits of their labor. And, if you have an outdoor kitchen, you can even take some of the food from your harvest and turn it into a great meal prepared outdoors as well.
Lean More Toward Outdoor Adventure
Once you’ve gotten your family more used to spending time outside, you may want to try upping the ante by leaning more toward outdoor adventure. Especially if you have older kids, trying different outdoor adventures can be a great way to help build their confidence, strengthen their resilience, and help them find new things that you’re passionate about or excited for.
Depending on where you live and what you have available to you, you could look into things like hiking or backpacking, surfing, skiing, rock climbing, trail running, target practice, and so much more. If there’s something you or your family members have wanted to try, consider setting this up so that everyone can participate in this outdoor adventure.
If you’d like your family to spend more time outdoors rather than sitting inside all day, consider implementing some of the tips mentioned above to help make this happen.
