Michigan: A tired mother of five children in Michigan has launched a global movement to get modern kids outdoors.
Ginny Yurich, 43, found herself in a desperate situation as her children were young. She initiated the “1000 Hours Outside” campaign for other families. The concept is simple: record 1000 hours of outdoor activities within a calendar year to combat the harmful effects of excessive screen time.
Today, millions of children have joined in and benefited from breaking free from the trap of indoor phones and electronic devices.
Yurich, a full-time mom who is also a writer, speaker, and podcaster, mentioned that her ideas were considered absurd by many in the beginning. However, over time and through trial and error, the concept gained traction and has spread globally. More than 150,000 families are using the “1000 Hours Outside” app, with over 1 million families downloading a tracker specifically created for the project to monitor their outdoor time.
“It’s amazing how effective this parenting method is throughout childhood,” Mrs. Yurich told Epoch Times.
“Some families follow it for a year and it changes their lifestyle, they learn a lot. And then there are some families who do this throughout their children’s childhood – that’s what we are doing. Nature is so powerful and healing.”
This all started with the struggles of a former high school math teacher in Ann Arbor, just west of Detroit, who had five children.
“We have five kids,” Mrs. Yurich said. “When the oldest was still young, their ages were very close. We had three under 3, and I was really struggling.”
Despite her love for children and excitement about being a mother, Mrs. Yurich’s daily life was challenging.
“I felt like I was drowning,” she said. “I was very frustrated because the kids would cry frequently, and I felt like I could barely get through a day with them and meet all their needs.”
Feeling like a failure, Mrs. Yurich enrolled her three older children in various programs to pass the time; this inevitably involved a lot of running around. She tried a small daycare program once a week where her children could go for a few hours, but nobody settled down.
An unexpected discovery greatly changed her situation.
When a friend told her about Charlotte Mason, a 19th-century British education philosopher who advocated for children to spend four to six hours outdoors every day, Yurich thought it was absurd.
“I thought it was a dumb idea,” she said. “I mean, who has four to six hours every day, without toys or crafts, what would the kids do during that time? But this friend asked us to give it a try, so we did.”
On a morning in September 2011, they met at a local park in Farmington, Michigan.
“Autumn here is beautiful, we planned to meet at 9 a.m. and stay until 1 p.m.,” Mrs. Yurich said, expecting the day to go poorly, with her kids complaining non-stop and her feeling completely exhausted.
However, that day changed her life.
Two moms brought a picnic and laid out blankets, while four toddling toddlers ran around playing, eating, and drinking.
“We each had a baby, with the babies nursing, sleeping, lying in our laps, or on the picnic blanket. The kids were so happy, playing on this grassy field, with no playground equipment, just grass and a safe shallow riverbed,” she said.
Mrs. Yurich seemed to feel her blood pressure drop for the first time in her life; she enjoyed easy, carefree conversation with a friend.
“It was my first good day as a mom,” she said. “I had been a mom for three years and was struggling every day.”
As she started intentionally making time for her children to go outside, Mrs. Yurich began to see them change in very tangible ways. Aside from looking happier and healthier, they “slept better, ate better, and got along better.”
Inspired by what she saw and experienced, the young mother began more in-depth research. She was shocked to find that in the U.S., children on average spend 4 to 7 minutes outdoors each day, while their screen time stretches from 4 to 7 hours.
Reflecting on this severe imbalance, Mrs. Yurich believed that if children could match the time spent on electronic devices with freely playing in nature, it would have a tremendous impact.
“It’s a simple change, but the impact is profound,” she said.
The couple felt that the 9-hour school day was too long for their young children (the bus arrived at 8 a.m. and returned at 4:45 p.m.), so they decided to homeschool their five children – Jackson, 16; Vivian, 14; Charlie, 13; Brooklyn, 11; and Winnie, 8.
Looking back, this was a decision they never regretted.
“We had so much time with our kids growing up,” Mrs. Yurich said.
Mrs. Yurich and her children, along with their “outdoor family” – like-minded parents and their children – take turns exploring the favorite things in their area. A day’s activities might include hiking, building forts at a creek, or visiting a farm or nature center.
The mother notes that the benefits of outdoor activities lie in the fact that “children are naturally fascinated by waterfalls, mushrooms, lizards, scorpions, snakes, birds, butterflies, and squirrels. There are so many things outside to captivate children, and if you’re willing, you can turn it into a small research project.”
If they are willing, older children can engage in more challenging activities like whitewater rafting, but self-guidance is key.
“That way, the pressure is off,” she said.
One question Mrs. Yurich is often asked is about the difficulties of living in a city rather than a rural environment. To this, she says every place has its pros and cons, but it’s important to choose to live in a walkable area with access to parks and green spaces.
All this is done to create memories, promote development, and address common modern parenting issues. Besides avoiding the screen time battle, the Yurich family’s children are used to “no electronic toys, using their imaginations.”
Mrs. Yurich often posts upcoming events on her Instagram page, acknowledging that parenting today is challenging.
“I think it’s really hard to parent in this day and age,” she said. “There’s a lack of support, and the pressure is immense.”
Mrs. Yurich mentioned she often receives messages and feedback from families using her app. Many times, parents share that academically, they and their children are under a lot of pressure, leading them to say no to all extracurricular activities. She believes that childhood nowadays is more about preparing kids for college.
“Parents have a lot of fear,” she said. “So, I think the most important thing is overcoming fear.”
To help other families overcome fear and challenges, the “1000 Hours Outside” team offers podcasts and several books written by Yurich, including: “Until The Streetlights Come On,” “1000 Hours Outside Activity Book,” and “1000 Hours Outside: Activities to Match Screen Time With Green Time.”
Now that their children are older, the Yurich family tries to incorporate outdoor activities in “small chunks of time.”
“But we really prioritize it,” Mrs. Yurich said. “So even if we can only go out for an hour or 25 minutes, we still go out. Sometimes we just take a walk around the neighborhood after dinner, and we find it really worthwhile. Getting our kids off the screens is a good thing.”
She believes that playtime is a key to a successful life and can address many modern parenting issues.
“But ‘kids playing outside’ doesn’t bring in money for businesses,” she said. “From those children who are addicted to screens, love video games and watch ‘online scrolls’ all the time, they can make a lot of money, which has become a very powerful industry.”
Mrs. Yurich said that disconnecting from the digital world and reconnecting with nature is one of the best things you can do for your children.
“My advice is to try it out with another family or find a friend to have a few hours of little adventures near your home. Get out, see how your children react, and as a parent, you’ll feel a huge sense of relief,” the mother of five children said.