Turns out Mom was right. Yep, how many of us remember our mom or dad saying to us while we were growing up: “Go outside and play”?
Well, now it’s not just that parents are saying this. Doctors have begun emphasizing to patients the importance of being outside. Instead of prescribing pills they are prescribing time in nature.
Yep, doctors orders: Go outside!
It is something I believe in very strongly. I remember when I was a young mom; I would feel great about the day if I had gone outside with my kids at least once. Done something in nature with them. Gone on a walk in the neighborhood, played at a local park, adventured on a hike in the woods.
Even if I accomplished nothing else during the day but get my kids and me into nature, outside in some way shape or form, I would be happy about my day.
There is something about being outside for me that makes me feel better, and that is something I want to pass along to my kids. When I take the kids outdoors or insist they play outside, I see them transform. It is as if by outdoor magic they are changed outside. I don’t know if it is the fresh air or the breathtaking scenery or the no-borders feeling, but being outside just does something for the kids—and us.
And, statistics reveal that kids are spending less and less time outside in nature while being obsessed with their screens indoors, and it’s been like this for a decade or more.
In his 2008 book, Last Child Left in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder, Richard Louv notes the research the confirms how being in nature is necessary for children’s healthy development as well as their emotional and physical health.
His book may have started a conversation that has been continuing to this day and is gaining momentum, even among physicians. Yep, doctors are starting to prescribe going outside as their healing drug of choice.
Being outside helps curb stress, lower anxiety, and improve mental health, among other benefits.
One program called Park RX America inspires doctors to prescribe going outside to their patients while also connecting them with actual parks near them. Sometimes having the location helps us get there.
I used to write weekly adventure blog posts where I would seek out a new outdoor location and turn it into an adventure with my kids, 
and then write about it to share with other moms. I began my adventure blog posts as a way to get me to find new parks and encourage other moms to get outside with their kids. It was fun to hear moms tell me they tried one of the parks I had written about.
As my kids got older over the years, they would sometimes resist when I said that we were going on an adventure, but I still insisted, and later they would say they enjoyed it. Well, mostly.
Sometimes our kids will appreciate what we do later in their lives, and making outdoors a part of their lives will be one of those things. What’s especially gratifying is when our kids get old enough to drive and be on their own, and they choose for themselves to go outside on adventures with their friends. Our four oldest children all love the outdoors and make experiencing nature a part of how they live.
We are working on our fifth and last child, who is 16 years old.
He will get there.
Yeah, there is just something about experiencing nature, being outside, surrounded by fresh air, away from electronics and to-do lists and the tyranny of the urgent. We run off stress, we soak up the sun, we savor fresh air, we see beautiful scenery, and we get exercise.
I come alive outside. And, our kids do too. Even when they don’t realize it. After all, Mom knows best and we can add, Doctor’s orders!
I agree with you that being outside and connecting with nature is important when raising our families. Our family has intentionally spent time in the Rocky Mountains in all seasons hiking, kayaking, skiing or just being. We have layers of memories enjoying being outside in nature together. We also invested the time and money to equip our family to do this. All my now adult children on their own search out these opportunities to be in nature. I have been reading your blog posts for the past 10 years, since my oldest and only daughter went to Bodenseehof like yours. I found your blog as I was searching the internet for more information about the school my daughter was going to. Like your daughter my daughter also had dual citizenship (however hers is Canadian/German). That year “at the Bode” was pivotal in my daughter’s spiritual formation before she started her university studies. Now she is a pediatric resident and is returning back to Germany to celebrate a friend’s wedding this fall. I will keep on reading your blog because I appreciate your voice on family issues.
Cheryl- Oh my goodness! What a joy your words here are to me. Thank you for writing and sharing your story, and how similar our daughters’ journeys with Bodenseehof are! I’m so glad you found my blog- thank you for reading all these years! And thank you too for echoing your outdoor stories! What a wonderful lifelong gift you have given your children —the gift of the nature and exploring and being outside!
That’s so neat that you always took the kids outside, rain or shine! Kids need it. That’s what they do in Germany too! And yeah, sometimes it is the adults who don’t want to go—-but we should go anyway!
Very true article. I liked the terms “transform” and “no borders feeling” in this context. Very interesting that it’s prescribed for adults as well as children. When I worked with children, we usually went outside rain or shine. It was kind of funny how adults would say “the children don’t have warm enough clothing” or any excuse not to take the kids outside because they themselves didn’t want to go out .