A little while back I talked about the outdoor challenge. Simply put, my challenge to you (and to myself!) was to get your child outdoors for as much time as they were spending in front of a computer or a television screen every day. How are you doing?
I must confess to flunking the first few days, but I have an excellent excuse. My daughter came down with the stomach flu and it lasted for two days. When she’s sick, she watches more television, although I did do a good job entertaining her with books, naps, and those paint-with-water crafts. She loves painting with water books.
The next few days I felt a little stir crazy, so we got outdoors a lot. We didn’t go far, just around the corner in our townhouse complex. We jumped in puddles and went on little walks.
Yesterday was an epic day for getting outdoors. We live a 40-minute walk from my daughter’s preschool, and I have never tried to walk it with her, mostly because she insists on being carried. At 50 lbs, she’s a little much for my back. However, I became a cheerleading squad and yesterday we managed to make it down the hill relatively painlessly. We plan to do this three days a week until preschool ends at the end of May. It’s an easy 40 minutes of outdoor time! The excellent weather of the past few days also meant that the children in our complex were finally playing outside, a welcome thing for my daughter.
It’s hard to get outdoors when it is raining intensely like it was today. Also, I find that I have an urge to nest inside the house on my days off. What do you do to get outside when you have a lot to do indoors … or when you just want to stay in on the couch? How are you doing with the outdoor challenge?