Naturally, hubby and I are not outdoorsy type of people :/ We have all girls, who naturally, like their parents, are very content amusing themselves indoors 🙂 Hubby’s family enjoy the great outdoors and we have spent many occasions with them and have many happy memories of outdoor activities including camping, 4WDriving, boating, having fun at the beach, I am sure there is more that I am forgetting.
Over the last six months I have been reading on Charlotte Mason’s idea of nature and enjoying the outdoors. I could list many, many reasons why I do not like spending much time out there: insects, biting insects, dirt on your feet – I know I could wear socks and joggers but really? That doesn’t exactly go with my ‘pretty’ outfit! And I just painted my toenails 🙂 The hot sun, especially if out all day long and we have fair skin so we need hats and sunscreen, sunscreen has to be applied regularly too 🙂 Oh, and the hat has to match the outfit too, oh and then when you take it off, you have….hat hair! And what about all that stuff you have to pack and lug around with you, water, cold water, hats, sunscreen, change of clothes for everyone, a jumper in case it gets cold, snacks, a picnic rug, umbrellas….. Can’t we just visit in someones house? Please?
My children, shall I say, have grown accustomed to… being indoors 🙂 Take them out to a coffee shop – they will sit and chat and mingle all lady like and enjoy their babyccinos immensely. Take them to a church meeting, or similar, they will sit quietly and not disturb anyone. Invite them to a wedding or dinner party that is mostly for adults, they will behave perfectly and you wouldn’t even notice they were there, except for admiring their gorgeous matching girly clothes, or beautiful brown curls, or …… The children have been invited to many celebrations along with us, due to their known, ‘good behaviour’.
As of January this year, as part of our new routine, I included 30 minutes of outside free time. Not long I know, but we had to start somewhere. The first couple of days, they really didn’t know what to do out there! Then one would come back, after about 10 minutes and ask if it was time to come in yet. Ha, not yet! It didn’t take long, about 5 days, and they were hanging out til it was outside time.
They have plenty to keep themselves occupied outside: trampoline (two actually); swing sets; bikes; scooters; trees to make cubby houses under; pets; gardens and dirt to dig in lol. We are very blessed to live on acreage, so our yard is quite private with no neighbours just over the fence, or busy roads driving right past our front door.
Now, the girls love being outside and really look forward to this time of our day. When they have free time later in the day, they usually now choose to be outside 🙂