Speaker 1: Hi.
Speaker 2: I'm Laura Vanderkamp. I'm a mother of five, an author, journalist,
Speaker 2: and speaker.
Speaker 3: And I'm Sarah Hart Hunger, a mother of three, practicing physician, writer,
Speaker 3: and course creator. We are two working parents who love
Speaker 3: our careers and our families.
Speaker 2: Welcome to best of both worlds. Here we talk about
Speaker 2: how real women manage work, family, and time for fun.
Speaker 2: From figuring out childcare to mapping out long term career goals.
Speaker 2: We want you to get the most out of life.
Speaker 1: Welcome the best of both worlds. This is Laura.
Speaker 2: This episode is airing in late October of twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2: I am going to be interviewing Sarah McCarty about getting
Speaker 2: kids outdoors. Sarah is the founder of an organization called
Speaker 2: Run Wild My Child, which has lots of editorial content
Speaker 2: and other things about getting kids outdoors. We had been
Speaker 2: wanting to do a show about this topic for a while.
Speaker 2: There's various ideas out there of various adventurous things you
Speaker 2: can do with your kids. I don't know if you
Speaker 2: wish to hike the Pacific Crest Trail with your kids
Speaker 2: or something like that, but for those of us looking
Speaker 2: for a little bit more entry level outdoor activities.
Speaker 1: Her ideas fit better with that.
Speaker 2: So, Sarah, what are your general feelings about the great outdoors?
Speaker 3: Uh, We're not the world's most outdoorsy, and I guess
Speaker 3: that's a little bit probably of a disappointment to my
Speaker 3: younger self imagining what life would be like with kids
Speaker 3: tramping around in fields or doing all sorts of nature
Speaker 3: centered activities. I would say the majority of our outdoor
Speaker 3: time is like on the sidelines at soccer games, or
Speaker 3: maybe at the pool, since swimming is always an easy
Speaker 3: way to stay cool in the summer and just something
Speaker 3: to do. We've had a couple of travel experiences that's
Speaker 3: centered around more adventurous outdoor stuff and honestly haven't been
Speaker 3: our favorites. However, the one exception would be skiing. I
Speaker 3: think that strikes a nice balance for us between enjoying
Speaker 3: being outside and fresh air, but then also like a
Speaker 3: specific activity.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I don't know hiking with kids as hard. We've done
Speaker 2: a few good hikes, I mean with my older three kids.
Speaker 2: A couple of years ago we did like a six
Speaker 2: mile hike in Yellowstone that went quite well, and there
Speaker 2: was a little bit of whining in the middle of it.
Speaker 1: But we made it. We saw stunning vistas and all
Speaker 1: this other stuff.
Speaker 2: But yeah, with little kids, I mean they don't really
Speaker 2: walk briskly from point A to point B all that well.
Speaker 2: But you know, we've had a good We're getting outside
Speaker 2: with bikes. Biking around our driveway in the neighborhood has
Speaker 2: been a fun thing to do, you know. I yeah,
Speaker 2: I probably should be outside more like being outside.
Speaker 1: It's a little harder to involve the whole family.
Speaker 2: But Sarah McCarty not hard anger, but the other Sarah
Speaker 2: is about to share some great ideas, so please give
Speaker 2: it a listen well, Sarah, as in Sarah Hartunger and
Speaker 2: I are delighted to welcome Sarah McCarty to the program.
Speaker 2: Sarah is the founder and editor of Run Wild My Child,
Speaker 2: which is a magazine, website, et cetera devoted to getting
Speaker 2: kids outside. So Sarah, welcome to the show.
Speaker 1: Hi, thank you so.
Speaker 4: Much for having me. I'm honored to be here today.
Speaker 4: Like you said, I am the founder of a company
Speaker 4: called Run Wild My Child. This started off as just
Speaker 4: a blog, a website basically for getting kids and their
Speaker 4: parents off screens and outdoors. So I am an attorney
Speaker 4: by trade, and back when I was a baby lawyer,
Speaker 4: I decided that I would run a marathon, and I start.
Speaker 4: I did a website and a blog all about writing
Speaker 4: about marathon training, which sounds awful, but I realized I
Speaker 4: quickly loved writing a whole lot more than the running portion.
Speaker 4: So the writing continued through wedding planning and some infertility,
Speaker 4: and then kids came along and it was all things
Speaker 4: kids and babies. And as my kids got older, I
Speaker 4: realized that there was this magical thing called the outdoors
Speaker 4: that made kids act better, eat better, sleep better, get
Speaker 4: along better. And I just couldn't believe that every parent
Speaker 4: in the world wasn't shouting from the rooftops about just
Speaker 4: getting outside with their kids. And I started writing about
Speaker 4: my adventures with our kids and how much better it
Speaker 4: made me feel as a parent, how much better my
Speaker 4: kids were doing, and all the things that we were doing,
Speaker 4: hiking and fishing and camping, and I couldn't believe the
Speaker 4: response that I was getting from parents, just how do
Speaker 4: you do this? Where do you go? What gear do
Speaker 4: you use? I want recommendations. I think there were a
Speaker 4: lot of parents out there that wanted to give their
Speaker 4: kids the type of childhood that they grew up having,
Speaker 4: you know that like go outside until the street lights
Speaker 4: come on kind of childhood. But things are different and
Speaker 4: there are these things called screens, and it was just
Speaker 4: so much harder to get kids interested in going outside
Speaker 4: or to figure out how just to get to the park.
Speaker 4: And there were websites about hiking the Appalachian Trail with toddlers,
Speaker 4: but there was nothing like how did just get out
Speaker 4: the door with your sanity intact and kids wearing shoes
Speaker 4: and snacks. So I decided, well I could do that.
Speaker 4: So I started writing about runwot like our adventures. I
Speaker 4: called it Run Wild My Child, and it just kind
Speaker 4: of exploded. And I think it was just a lot
Speaker 4: of good timing on my part, right before COVID, before
Speaker 4: the world shut down and everybody wanted to be outside.
Speaker 4: And then we have gone on to launch a podcast
Speaker 4: in a magazine, and we still have the website and
Speaker 4: we have a community, and it's just grew in a
Speaker 4: way that I never could have imagined.
Speaker 1: Awesome.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm very curious, I mean, what is it about
Speaker 2: being outside? I mean, obviously there are degrees of this.
Speaker 2: I mean, if it's like one hundred and ten degrees outside.
Speaker 2: I'm not you know, kids are not necessarily better behaved outside,
Speaker 2: whether it's terrible.
Speaker 1: Sorry, I've had had.
Speaker 2: Some whining myself in that situation, but in general, I mean,
Speaker 2: if the weather is pleasant, what is it about being
Speaker 2: outside that seems to make people more agreeable?
Speaker 4: I think part of it is taking away this structure.
Speaker 4: You've probably heard the saying like, you can't bounce off
Speaker 4: the walls if there aren't any walls. So getting kids
Speaker 4: outside and giving them the ability to dictate their own play,
Speaker 4: to come up with their own ideas or things that
Speaker 4: they have to do. Is this magical thing called unstructured
Speaker 4: free play where they are in charge and it's a
Speaker 4: sensory experience. It's foster's creativity. It makes them curious about
Speaker 4: the things around them. They have to pay attention, They
Speaker 4: have to figure out what to do and how to
Speaker 4: climb these things. And you know, if they find a stick,
Speaker 4: what they have to turn it into a wand or
Speaker 4: a sword or something, and just it really opens kids'
Speaker 4: eyes to imaginative play and unstructured free play gives them
Speaker 4: the power to control the things that they're doing. They
Speaker 4: have to make up the rules, they have to communicate.
Speaker 4: It's a little different than playing with toys inside because
Speaker 4: a lot of times those toys have specific purposes and
Speaker 4: there's one right way to play a board game, you know,
Speaker 4: there's one right way to play with a truck. But
Speaker 4: if you go outside, you kind of take away all
Speaker 4: the rules and kids just come alive. And sometimes it
Speaker 4: takes time, and it's not the thing that happens within
Speaker 4: the first minute or two. And I think sometimes parents,
Speaker 4: especially if they're just getting started with kids getting outside,
Speaker 4: can get a little discouraged because they'll go out and
Speaker 4: they're like, fifteen minutes later, like, why aren't they playing?
Speaker 4: Why are they still clinging to me? But I've read
Speaker 4: somewhere that it takes sometimes twenty to forty minutes for
Speaker 4: kids to really get actively involved in outdoor play, unstructured,
Speaker 4: freakly on their own. So it just takes time and
Speaker 4: patience and persistence and making this a priority, and then
Speaker 4: you will really see your kids start to thrive outdoors
Speaker 4: because there are so many health benefits and you know,
Speaker 4: all kinds of just magical things that happen for kids
Speaker 4: and adults, and you'll start to feel better too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was gonna say, let's talk about the adults,
Speaker 2: because I mean, I may not be engaging in much
Speaker 2: unstructured flee play outside I have to I'd say, I'm
Speaker 2: not really climbing that many trees these days. But what
Speaker 2: I mean it tends to put adults in a better
Speaker 2: mood as well.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I think that a lot of that is,
Speaker 4: you know, it's the fresh air, it's the sunshine, it's
Speaker 4: getting outside and having some kind of white space around
Speaker 4: you to think, to process, to work through things. I
Speaker 4: just always feel like, not only am I do I
Speaker 4: feel better, but I'm a better parent when I'm outside
Speaker 4: because I'm not constantly like, stop doing that, No, don't
Speaker 4: climb the walls, don't jump on that thing. You know,
Speaker 4: like all the things that the distractions that are inside.
Speaker 4: I'm constantly cleaning and finding things that I have to do.
Speaker 4: You take all that away when you're outside and you
Speaker 4: give yourself some space to really think and breathe and relax,
Speaker 4: and it just, I don't know it you magically feel better.
Speaker 4: There's plenty of research to prove it.
Speaker 1: Awesome.
Speaker 2: Well, we're going to take one quick ad break and
Speaker 2: then we will come back and talk about some practical
Speaker 2: ways to start building an outdoor habit. Well, I am
Speaker 2: back talking with Sarah McCarty of Run Wild My Child,
Speaker 2: a website about getting kids outdoors. So, you know, let's
Speaker 2: get to the practicalities here, because, like you said, you
Speaker 2: know what entry level getting outside. We're not hiking the
Speaker 2: Appalachian Trail here, We're just looking to get outside for
Speaker 2: a little bit. But we've got a lot of very
Speaker 2: busy families listening to this show. You know, two jobs,
Speaker 2: kids and a lot of activities. What are some practical
Speaker 2: ways to start building this into our lives.
Speaker 4: Oh, it's such a great question, and I want to
Speaker 4: emphasize that having parents who are working in kids in
Speaker 4: traditional schools and sports and activities does not prohibit anybody
Speaker 4: from still being outdoorsy. I think sometimes the outdoor kid
Speaker 4: industry really supports like homeschooling families and parents maybe that
Speaker 4: stay home, but everybody is welcome outdoors and everyone become outdoorsy,
Speaker 4: and I think really the first thing to do is
Speaker 4: just decide that it's going to be a priority, and
Speaker 4: sometimes that means putting in on the schedule. I live
Speaker 4: by my schedule, by our calendar, so sometimes I've got
Speaker 4: that scheduled into our day that we need to get
Speaker 4: outside and then trying to figure out what it is
Speaker 4: to do with them. So we have a huge list
Speaker 4: of activities and parks and places to go and things
Speaker 4: to do around us, and that will eliminate some of
Speaker 4: that stress about like, well I don't know what to
Speaker 4: do once we get out there, or where do we
Speaker 4: even go? So I would start with making a huge
Speaker 4: list of everything that you can do within fifteen minutes
Speaker 4: of you and when you have some free time and
Speaker 4: you get to that time of scheduling, like that's what
Speaker 4: you do, You go out there, you do the thing.
Speaker 4: Some of the times, it's great to revisit things that
Speaker 4: you've already done. Don't feel like you always have to
Speaker 4: try something new. There's so much benefit of going to
Speaker 4: the same places over and over again. The seasons change,
Speaker 4: things in nature change just naturally, so revisiting similar places
Speaker 4: or the same place again and again is don't feel
Speaker 4: like everything has to be a new adventure. And go
Speaker 4: with them. I think, especially when they're little, you have
Speaker 4: to be the one to get out there with them
Speaker 4: and kind of model the behavior and what you want
Speaker 4: them to do. If you're outside with them, but you're
Speaker 4: checking your phone every few minutes, or you're distracted, or
Speaker 4: you don't want to be there, or you're complaining about
Speaker 4: the weather, like they're going to pick up on that
Speaker 4: they don't want to be out there if you're miserable,
Speaker 4: So model that you're having fun. So just you gotta
Speaker 4: fake it till you make it. If you're not outdoorsy
Speaker 4: like kind of you have to pretend for a while
Speaker 4: until they can kind of figure out how to get
Speaker 4: outside and how much better it makes you feel. And
Speaker 4: it may surprise you and you may even become outdoors
Speaker 4: by spending some time outside.
Speaker 2: Well, when does this happen in your family schedule? I
Speaker 2: mean you said, you know it's busy, you put it
Speaker 2: on the calendar. What does that actually mean? Like in
Speaker 2: the McCarty family schedule.
Speaker 4: So, my kids go to traditional schools, so we do
Speaker 4: outdoor time after school, and sometimes that means we come
Speaker 4: home and the kids ride their bikes to friends' houses
Speaker 4: or just up and down the street around the neighborhood.
Speaker 4: We kind of push back on homework or anything that
Speaker 4: kind of comes with school until you know, we give
Speaker 4: them at least an hour to get outside and play
Speaker 4: kind of running around and get some of that energy out.
Speaker 4: We schedule on weekends. We're both working parents, so weekends
Speaker 4: are coveted for us. That is our family time together.
Speaker 4: So we do sports and all the kids have their
Speaker 4: own activities, but we try to find those pockets of
Speaker 4: time or the weekends that we have off where we
Speaker 4: can really get outside and do some more adventurous things.
Speaker 4: We always have gear in our car, so if we've
Speaker 4: got time in between two baseball games or in between activities,
Speaker 4: we've got our fishing poles and in the back of
Speaker 4: the truck will just stop somewhere and fish for an hour.
Speaker 4: We've got our hiking clothes, so we can just jump
Speaker 4: out and you know, at the park and take a
Speaker 4: walk around. We try to find pockets of time wherever
Speaker 4: we can and fit that in, even if it just
Speaker 4: means taking a walk while someone's at practice. You know,
Speaker 4: everybody else takes a walk around the block or around
Speaker 4: the track, and really just trying to make sure that
Speaker 4: you have opportunities, that you can take advantage of the
Speaker 4: opportunities that you have.
Speaker 2: And you mentioned earlier, I mean one of the barriers
Speaker 2: you were talking about parents like, well, I'm not going
Speaker 2: to go hike the apple a tintral. I'm just trying
Speaker 2: to get people out the door. I wonder if there
Speaker 2: are more any sort of hacks you have about getting
Speaker 2: small children out the door easier. There's always a lot
Speaker 2: of shoes, and if you're in somewhere that's cold, like
Speaker 2: Saint Louis, I imagine there are boots and hats.
Speaker 4: And there's always one mitten that there's.
Speaker 1: One man missing. So let's talk about that missing mitten
Speaker 1: and how we make that not a barrier.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I think the winter definitely adds an entire new
Speaker 4: element to getting outside. And sometimes it will take you
Speaker 4: longer to find all of the things and get dressed,
Speaker 4: and it actually the kids will are willing to spend outside.
Speaker 4: So I think that you just kind of have to
Speaker 4: plan ahead of time and know what you're going to do.
Speaker 4: So if you know you're just going to go outside
Speaker 4: in the front yard, having a place where all of
Speaker 4: your gear lives and it stays there, and that means
Speaker 4: it's easy for the kids when they walk in the
Speaker 4: door and they start shedding layers and stripping and throwing
Speaker 4: things that it all can stay in one place. So
Speaker 4: kind of think of the layout of your house and
Speaker 4: how when and where the kids come in and where
Speaker 4: things tend to gather and if you can put something there.
Speaker 4: We have this giant rubber maid that has three drawers,
Speaker 4: and so each kid has a drawer and that's where
Speaker 4: they're gloves and there's arts and their hats and everything
Speaker 4: goes there. And the rest of the year, when it's
Speaker 4: not winter, that lives in the basement, so we don't
Speaker 4: ever have we don't have to see it, but then
Speaker 4: we pull it out every winter and it's there. And
Speaker 4: then just having things ready to go. I always have
Speaker 4: like a box in my car full of things that
Speaker 4: I think I need, which means like a change of
Speaker 4: clothes for everybody, because you may just happen a pond,
Speaker 4: a creek, or a mud puddle that the kids feel
Speaker 4: like they have to explore and they have to get into.
Speaker 4: And I can't even tell you how many times we
Speaker 4: have driven home with all the kids completely, you know,
Speaker 4: with no clothes because they just got so wet and
Speaker 4: money and had fine, but it was worth it. I
Speaker 4: would rather be the mom that says, yes, you can
Speaker 4: get money and not worry about it than try to
Speaker 4: keep them from having fun and playing because they didn't
Speaker 4: have a change of clothes. Now I'm a little bit
Speaker 4: better prepared.
Speaker 1: Have some towels in the car. Yeah, always a good death.
Speaker 1: I'm wondering about.
Speaker 2: Obviously it's fun to go somewhere, but I imagine a reasonable
Speaker 2: amount of ones outdoor time could just happen in your yard.
Speaker 1: For our listeners who are.
Speaker 2: Sort of standard suburban folk and have a quarter acre
Speaker 2: lot or whatever it is, I wonder if there are
Speaker 2: things you would recommend having for your house, outdoor toys,
Speaker 2: outdoor equipment, things like that that would make your yard
Speaker 2: competitive with YouTube shorts.
Speaker 4: Oh totally, okay. So a slack line, it's a great
Speaker 4: addition to any backyard. We have one set up just
Speaker 4: out there year round and the kids go out on it.
Speaker 4: They bounce, they flip, they do all kinds of things.
Speaker 4: So we have paired our slack line with like a
Speaker 4: ninja course, like so we've got the one the slack
Speaker 4: line on the bottom that they can walk across, but
Speaker 4: then they've got these like almost like an obstacle course
Speaker 4: that they can have to hang on as they on
Speaker 4: the top. So they loved that. We had for years.
Speaker 4: My kids have finally gotten to the point where they
Speaker 4: just absolutely destroyed it. But it was an outdoor clubhouse.
Speaker 4: I think we got it at Sam's or Costco or something,
Speaker 4: and it was a kind of a cedar wooden plank
Speaker 4: like little clubhouse. And that clubhouse lasted years and it
Speaker 4: took a beating. My kids climbed on it. They played restaurant,
Speaker 4: they played shop like. They would just sit in it
Speaker 4: when it rained and watch the rain. They made it
Speaker 4: an igloo in the winter. They put fairy lights in it.
Speaker 4: Like so many stories and like cute things happened in
Speaker 4: that tiny little clubhouse. Other things. A little red wagon
Speaker 4: is just a great addition. My kids have used that
Speaker 4: for karting anything and everything and each other all around
Speaker 4: the yard. I'm a huge fan of bikes and scooters
Speaker 4: and anything that kind of gets them moving and going
Speaker 4: and giving them a little bit more of a thrilling sensory.
Speaker 4: As kids get older, they really try to seek those
Speaker 4: thrills and find fun and exciting things to do. So
Speaker 4: if you give them things like bikes and scooters, and
Speaker 4: they just love that stuff. If you live on a
Speaker 4: we live on a cold sax, so our street is
Speaker 4: really accessible and easy for them to kind of just
Speaker 4: you know, we don't have a lot of traffic, so
Speaker 4: they run the entire neighborhood.
Speaker 2: Do you think it's easier for kids to get out
Speaker 2: if they are in that kind of neighborhood or I mean,
Speaker 2: is it something that our urban dwelling listeners can also
Speaker 2: access pretty easily.
Speaker 4: I think having other kids is so enticing for kids,
Speaker 4: and that is one of the biggest things that I
Speaker 4: would tell parents. If you've got other kids around, talk
Speaker 4: to the other parents and see if there's something that
Speaker 4: you guys can collectively do to get more kids outside.
Speaker 4: Because I can have all of the toys and the
Speaker 4: gadgets and the fun stuff outside, but my kids would
Speaker 4: pick playing with other kids outside over anything I can offer.
Speaker 4: So if there are other kids, that is a lot
Speaker 4: more fun than whatever I can give them. And luckily,
Speaker 4: like most parents right now really do want their kids
Speaker 4: to spend time outside, and they're willing to post the
Speaker 4: little backyard playdate today if you host tomorrow, or let
Speaker 4: your kids come over and jump on the trampoline or
Speaker 4: whatever it is. Like most of the time, parents are
Speaker 4: pretty willing and it's a great way to get to
Speaker 4: know your neighbors and then your you know, your kids
Speaker 4: have built in friends on the street. And I think
Speaker 4: we're very lucky living in a city. I grew up
Speaker 4: in the middle of the country, which I feel like,
Speaker 4: would we have a you know, getting outside and being
Speaker 4: accessible to the woods in nature was so easy, but
Speaker 4: I had nobody to play with. So I feel like
Speaker 4: my kids are growing up in this amazing situation where
Speaker 4: maybe they don't have a woods and a pond and
Speaker 4: all of the amazing things I had as a kid,
Speaker 4: but they have other kids, which is a whole nother thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I'm just pondering another barrier that's going to
Speaker 2: be coming up for my family fairly soon. You know,
Speaker 2: we're in Pennsylvania, which is on the Eastern time zone,
Speaker 2: and we're on the eastern part of the Eastern time zone,
Speaker 2: which means that in approximately a month after this episode airs,
Speaker 2: it will be dark at four forty five PM, right,
Speaker 2: so there's not a whole lot of daylight.
Speaker 1: Can you still have fun in the dark?
Speaker 4: Oh, that's even more fun. As your kids get older,
Speaker 4: they're going to find ways to have fun outside at night.
Speaker 4: And it is so much fun watching this happen. So
Speaker 4: I would start with if you've got little kids or
Speaker 4: you need to keep them close and safe and watch,
Speaker 4: start with creating a space in your own yard that
Speaker 4: is lit up, that is fun and exciting for them.
Speaker 4: So if you've got the toys in the seleck lane,
Speaker 4: in the clubhouse and everything out there, or a playground
Speaker 4: like a playset, swing set, put some fairy lights out.
Speaker 4: I mean it doesn't take much. Get some with the white,
Speaker 4: little twinkly lights and put them around your bench, or
Speaker 4: decorate the swing set or the clubhouse with fairy lights,
Speaker 4: and that is a huge draw. Kids are going to
Speaker 4: immediately want to go out there and spend more time
Speaker 4: out there. And then if you've got other spaces that
Speaker 4: are safe for your kids, think about things like the
Speaker 4: glow in the dark sports things. So there's like glow
Speaker 4: in the dark, Capture the Flag. There are glow in
Speaker 4: the dark footballs and baseballs. There's glow in the dark
Speaker 4: stomp rockets, glow in the dark basketballs, so all kinds
Speaker 4: of glow in the dark stuff. They're so fun for kids.
Speaker 4: And it's sometimes the novelty wears off after a little while,
Speaker 4: but at least those first few months or two when
Speaker 4: it's starting to get dark. They really like those things.
Speaker 1: Awesome.
Speaker 4: Give them a head lamp or a flashlight and go
Speaker 4: for walks or try to find some outdoor spaces that
Speaker 4: are well lit. We've got things some parks and playgrounds
Speaker 4: that stay open later and they're well lit. We've got
Speaker 4: tennis courts and basketball courts are usually lit up later,
Speaker 4: outdoor skating ranks and things like that where you can
Speaker 4: go and it's public places where you can be outside
Speaker 4: and still be safe and well lit.
Speaker 1: Amazing.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, we're going to take one more quick
Speaker 2: ad break and we will be back talking a little
Speaker 2: bit more about getting kids outdoors. Well, I am back
Speaker 2: with Sarah McCarty of Run Wild My Child. We've been
Speaker 2: talking about ways to get outdoors even if it happens
Speaker 2: to be dark, even if you need to bundle your
Speaker 2: children up in various mittens and hats and all those things. So, Sarah,
Speaker 2: we've been mentioning a lot of products that might help
Speaker 2: make the outdoors as enticing as YouTube. But as we're
Speaker 2: coming into the holidays, I wonder if there are some
Speaker 2: go to outdoor related gifts that you think maybe we
Speaker 2: should consider adding to the gift list.
Speaker 1: For kids this year.
Speaker 4: Oh, where do we even start? There's so many good
Speaker 4: wines we actually have. Every year we put together a
Speaker 4: huge gift guide that's geared specifically towards outdoor kids and
Speaker 4: outdoor toys outdoor gear. So I would say a few
Speaker 4: things to add to Christmas lists if you don't already
Speaker 4: have one. A bike is a great, just a really
Speaker 4: all around great gift. If you can find some things
Speaker 4: to make your yard a little more enticing, make sure
Speaker 4: to add those to your list. If your kids are
Speaker 4: in need of gear, consider like wool layers, a new
Speaker 4: pair of boots, any kind of headlamp or flashlight or something.
Speaker 4: Kids love. Gear and gadgets, Toys, classic toys like I mentioned,
Speaker 4: like a wagon or something a hammock, a backpack if
Speaker 4: you hike so they can carry their own gear. There
Speaker 4: are so many fun things that the kids can that
Speaker 4: you can add your kids Christmas list that will help
Speaker 4: them spend more time outside.
Speaker 2: I love that you mentioned a hammock because outdoor time,
Speaker 2: I mean it often is active time, especially if they're
Speaker 2: little kids, because that's just what they do. They have
Speaker 2: constant energy. But it doesn't have to be so if
Speaker 2: you have a kid who is maybe more of a
Speaker 2: like bookworm type, they can still get outside and read
Speaker 2: on a hammock that would still count as outdoor time.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, absolutely. And there's a lot of things that
Speaker 4: you could get for kids who aren't necessarily wanting to
Speaker 4: be super active. Like I mentioned that the slack line.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's active, but it's not like you're working
Speaker 4: up a sweat on that. Things like fishing pools that
Speaker 4: you don't have to be super active when you're fishing,
Speaker 4: like a pocket knife you could have for an older child.
Speaker 4: There are games and things you could do outside that
Speaker 4: are you know, outdoor TikTok toe games and the clubhouse
Speaker 4: that I mentioned, all good things for kids who may
Speaker 4: not be as active.
Speaker 2: And one other topic I wanted to bring up is
Speaker 2: outdoorsy trips because of course, obviously if kids are in
Speaker 2: school and activities, parents are working. One of the major
Speaker 2: times that people do have together is vacations. So if
Speaker 2: we're looking for sort of accessible, outdoorsy type vacations, one
Speaker 2: could take what are some places that you would recommend
Speaker 2: looking into.
Speaker 4: Well, everyone's going to recommend national parks, and while I
Speaker 4: think national parks are amazing, I wouldn't overlook your local
Speaker 4: state parks. I think state parks are really underrated and
Speaker 4: have some just absolutely amazing facilities and options for families
Speaker 4: that don't want to spend quite so much traveling to
Speaker 4: some of these kind of exotic locations. I mean, here
Speaker 4: in Saint Louis, we don't really have a lot of
Speaker 4: national parks or easy access, so we really rely heavily
Speaker 4: on our state parks and they're sometimes just as spectacular.
Speaker 4: Going camping at state park, I mean, is quite the
Speaker 4: amazing experience for kids, And I would say if you
Speaker 4: want to do any other types of traveling, really think
Speaker 4: about your interests in your kids interests based on how
Speaker 4: old your kids are. If they're little, then I would
Speaker 4: pick things that are a little bit more focused towards
Speaker 4: your interests or things that they can do. You know,
Speaker 4: beach trips are great for little kids, but once your
Speaker 4: kids get a little bit older, think about the things
Speaker 4: that really excite them. If you've got kids into mountain biking,
Speaker 4: consider going some players like Ventonville, Arkansas, that has absolutely
Speaker 4: amazing mountain biking. If you've got a kid who really
Speaker 4: wants to learn how to ski, then you may need
Speaker 4: to travel a little further west, but you know, someplace
Speaker 4: like Big Sky would be amazing to take kids skiing.
Speaker 4: If you are looking for fishing, you could do saltwater fishing,
Speaker 4: or you could go up north into Michigan or Minnesota.
Speaker 4: And fishing is just absolutely a great outdoor sport for
Speaker 4: kids and can be done in just a lot of
Speaker 4: different various locations. But I would really consider what you
Speaker 4: guys like doing together as a family and try to
Speaker 4: find a place that will offer you some kind of
Speaker 4: new and exciting things to do related to those interests.
Speaker 2: Awesome, well, Sarah, this has been great. We always end
Speaker 2: with a love of the week, so this is something
Speaker 2: that is exciting for you this week. And I will
Speaker 2: go ahead and throw out one that my listeners have
Speaker 2: heard me talk about in the past, and we call
Speaker 2: it toad time and our family and you know, it's
Speaker 2: getting darker here in this part of the world, but
Speaker 2: toad means time outside after dinner, and so I love
Speaker 2: that there's a getting outside before dinner sort of seems obvious,
Speaker 2: but time outside after dinner always feels like a little
Speaker 2: bit of a bonus, a bit of a stolen time
Speaker 2: into the evening. So the kids are definitely loving running
Speaker 2: around in the yard before it gets dark, or maybe
Speaker 2: it'll be after it gets dark pretty soon, but how
Speaker 2: about you, Okay.
Speaker 4: My favorite thing that I have right now is my
Speaker 4: e bike, so I got last year. I got an
Speaker 4: e bike. And I have never really been a biking person.
Speaker 4: I don't know, and maybe because I grew up in
Speaker 4: the country, we didn't really have like a lot of
Speaker 4: access to bike trails or anything, so a biking was
Speaker 4: just never really my thing. But now that I'm in
Speaker 4: the suburbs, I kept thinking, like, that might be nice
Speaker 4: to have a bike, but also an e bike would
Speaker 4: yoube even better? And I finally I got one last year.
Speaker 4: It's a Radio Flyer and it has this little seat
Speaker 4: on the back so I can put two kids on
Speaker 4: the back, and I have a basket up front so
Speaker 4: I can go to the grocery store, I can go
Speaker 4: to the library, I can do like I can pick
Speaker 4: the kids up from school. I use this thing way
Speaker 4: more than I ever thought I would, and it is
Speaker 4: so much fun. I have a total blast riding it
Speaker 4: around town. Kids love it. They put on their like
Speaker 4: they have like this wu face that like every time
Speaker 4: we get out of they're like, whooh, it's just it's
Speaker 4: so much fun. I We're just absolutely loving it.
Speaker 2: E bikes are pretty amazing. It's like the fun of
Speaker 2: a bike, but also not as much of the work.
Speaker 4: Sometimes it's fantastic.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't have to pedal up that giant hill.
Speaker 2: You go up it as if you were Superman. So
Speaker 2: that's always fun. Well, Sarah, why don't you let our
Speaker 2: listeners know where they can find you?
Speaker 4: Yeah? So online, we're at runwildmchild dot com on Instagram
Speaker 4: where at run wild dot my child And we have
Speaker 4: a brand new printed hold It in your Hand magazine
Speaker 4: that is coming out seasonally and it is filled with
Speaker 4: adventure stories and misadventure stories, you know, adventures gone wrong,
Speaker 4: seasonal activities. Every season has a theme and a challenge.
Speaker 4: We have a kids section in there with chokes for
Speaker 4: kids and nature like nature facts, and we have recipes
Speaker 4: all kinds of amazing things. Just this is all for
Speaker 4: outdoorsy moms and it is for everyone, and it's just
Speaker 4: to help you feel supported in prioritizing outdoor time and
Speaker 4: getting outside and it's there to hold your hand and
Speaker 4: encourage you to make getting outside with your kids a
Speaker 4: priority and not on a screen right right, which is amazing.
Speaker 4: It really supports our cause we started it digitally and
Speaker 4: after two or three issues we're like, we have to
Speaker 4: get this printed. It's so nice to hold it in
Speaker 4: your hands.
Speaker 1: Awesome, all right, Sarah, Well, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: joining us.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Well, that was great.
Speaker 2: Lots of tips and gift ideas for the holidays. Hopefully
Speaker 2: people were writing those down as they are making those
Speaker 2: shopping lists for the next few months.
Speaker 1: So Sarah, our question this week.
Speaker 2: This listener writes in that I feel like every year
Speaker 2: I order a Halloween costume and then my kid changes
Speaker 2: as mind any tips or ideas.
Speaker 1: Has this ever happened to you?
Speaker 3: I think we have had it happen a couple of
Speaker 3: years in the past. Halloween is not like my favorite,
Speaker 3: but I guess maybe as such, we treat it fairly
Speaker 3: low key. Usually there's one trip to Spirit Halloween or
Speaker 3: like one Amazon order and just kind of get it
Speaker 3: all done. And my two thoughts are I generally am
Speaker 3: not interested in buying two costumes. Like, we have a
Speaker 3: lot of random costumes around the house as it is
Speaker 3: between the three kids, and that's something that tends to
Speaker 3: not get thrown out, but get kept because you never
Speaker 3: know when it could be a fun play activity. So
Speaker 3: you get one purchase costume, and then if you would
Speaker 3: like to pivot, then the house is your oyster, do
Speaker 3: I wyatt, do whatever you want, but we're not going
Speaker 3: to necessarily make another shopping trip. And the other thought
Speaker 3: is that if you delay that purchase, there is less
Speaker 3: time to pivot. So let them pivot in their head.
Speaker 3: But then when you shop, you know, two days before Halloween,
Speaker 3: then hey, that's probably going to be the costume you
Speaker 3: end up with just a couple of days later.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I it's we've sort of evolved on the
Speaker 2: Halloween things. So my first few years of parenthood, I
Speaker 2: would sort of forget that Halloween is coming up because
Speaker 2: if the kids aren't talking about it, if you got
Speaker 2: like toddlers, it's not like they have any concept that
Speaker 2: there's a Halloween holiday coming.
Speaker 1: Up, And so I'd forget.
Speaker 2: And I remember I sent Jasper to daycare like not
Speaker 2: in a costume when he was like I don't know,
Speaker 2: I guess he would have been eighteen months and everybody
Speaker 2: else was in costume or something, and it was just
Speaker 2: I was like, Okay, next year, I'll put it on
Speaker 2: the calendar, like October five. We're going to think about
Speaker 2: it and order the costumes. And the upside of October
Speaker 2: five is you can order long lead time stuff.
Speaker 1: You know, you don't have to order from Amazon. You
Speaker 1: could order from other places.
Speaker 2: But as the kids have gotten older, the problem of
Speaker 2: ordering at the beginning of October is, yes, you know,
Speaker 2: people change their minds where they find out their friends
Speaker 2: are going as something else or whatever. You know, So
Speaker 2: we've sort of made our piece that it probably is
Speaker 2: going to be an Amazon order. Now, Amazon does out
Speaker 2: of stuff, so probably around October ten to twenty it
Speaker 2: was the right range for setting a date where you're like, okay,
Speaker 2: this is where we lock it in. I will order
Speaker 2: you something if you have decided on it at this point.
Speaker 2: But past that, I mean you can always, yeah, make
Speaker 2: a run to Spirit Halloween. They might be out of
Speaker 2: your kid's size, but I guess that's the way it is.
Speaker 1: You can all have something. They'll have so much stuff.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so maybe they'll change their minds of what exactly
Speaker 2: they want to be. But I guess pick and eight
Speaker 2: stick with it one costume. Past that, the kid can
Speaker 2: be creative as they wish and figure out how to
Speaker 2: make their own eminem costume or whatever.
Speaker 1: It is you said, eminem i. The wrapper is a
Speaker 1: Mathers too if you'd like, But that's what you may
Speaker 1: also be a green eminem many many, many options. All right, well,
Speaker 1: this has been best of both worlds.
Speaker 2: We've been talking how to get outside with kids with
Speaker 2: Sarah McCarty of Run Wild My Child. We will be
Speaker 2: back next week with more on making work and life
Speaker 2: fit together.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening.
Speaker 3: You can find me Sarah at the shoebox dot com
Speaker 3: or at the Underscore Shoebox on Instagram, and you.
Speaker 2: Can find me Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. This
Speaker 2: has been the best of both worlds podcasts. Please join
Speaker 2: us next time for more on making work and life
Speaker 2: work together.