Mood – In the winter months we tend to feel a little less happy, and a little bit more tired and lethargic. By getting outside, we increase our endorphins and therefore we feel happier and more relaxed. We start to forget about the troubles of the week we have just had and just enjoy the natural surrounds that we are in and the people who we are with.
Burn Energy - Children will burn more energy running around outside, than they will playing on the tablet or watching tv. You will get them in to bed a little earlier that night and they may even go to sleep a little quicker. (Of course, there is no guarantee, lol).
Entertainment – Your children are less likely to turn to you and say “I’m bored” if they are outside on a Family outing than if they are at home with you all weekend. A Family outing is fun and adventurous and usually something that your family loves doing regularly, OR, it might be something new that you have never done before. How exciting is that?!!
Fitness and Strength – Getting out and about with your Family helps you all to keep active, especially during a time of year when we tend to be less active in general. Choose somewhere that you can take a walk or let the kids climb a tree, explore rock pools, run around or even go for a bike ride.
Bonding – Build a bond and relationship with your children. We spend so much of the week rushing around from one activity to another, getting all the household chores done and races to and from school/kinder/childcare. Sometimes we just MISS, spending that quality time with our kids. Yes, they get a cuddle at bed time and we tell them we love them, but it’s short and we are thinking about how nice it’s going to be in 10, 20, 30 minutes time, when we can finally sit down and relax in peace and quiet. It’s not the time that they need from us. And if we were at home on the weekend, we would always find something to do. There is always washing to fold, food to cook, the house to clean, lawns to mow. The list is never ending!
How often do we just spend quality time with the kids when we stay at home on the weekends? If we are away from the house, then we do. We focus solely on them!
Family Memories – It’s just great to spend time with your family. Every outing you have together creates memories for your kids to be able to look back on in years to come and say Mum and Dad always did THIS with us, Mum and Dad loved spending time with us one the weekend, we know Mum and Dad worked hard during the week, but when the weekend came around, they just loved spending time with US!
And isn’t that the way we want our kids to remember their childhood? Isn’t that the way WE want to remember our parenting and how we spent time as a family?
Just because it’s turned a little cold, don’t forget to spend some quality time together with your kids and your family and get outside to help you feel happy, relaxed and a little bit more energetic in these colder months! Have a great time in the great outdoors!