Make the Outdoors a Priority
I was recently talking to a friend of mine about the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. Every Memorial Day our family celebrates with a trip to northeast Iowa…God’s country. I couldn’t pick a better place to reflect on that holiday! Northeast Iowa is the most overlooked part of the state in terms of history and beauty…so many of my friends in central Iowa have never seen this part of Iowa so I feel obligated to introduce as many of them as possible.
This year, in addition to some newbies we invited, I invited a buddy and his family for a return trip. A couple of months ago it was all green lights but rainy, spring weather caused a few baseball games to get cancelled which opened the door to make-ups during the holiday weekend. I understand the dilemma but it forced me to really think a bit more about their situation and how I might react when our kids have activities that conflict with trips outdoors.
Where in the quest to have our kids become top-notch athletes did the outdoors get lost? I know the outdoors isn’t for everybody but you’d be surprised at how many of my friends who love at least one outdoor activity fail to make time for themselves and their kids outdoors. Why? I think with respect to sports, so many of them are team sports that bring a feeling of obligation to be at every practice and every game. While I admire the commitment, have you seen the schedules of some of these sports? Right now baseball season has kids at practice or games 5 days a week. As a father of three girls, gymnastics isn’t much better with two of our girls going to practice three times per week at a couple of hours a pop.
So the question I have is why don’t more parents simply say “not this weekend”, or “not today”? Right now my girls are learning all about sports, school and the outdoors. We make time for all three and I don’t want to put them into a position where they feel obligated to ditch a outdoors tradition because of sports. It’s a really complex issue that has to factor in committing to activities you’ve enrolled in and taking into account our kids desire to do other things. It’s a complicated balancing act…I realize that. But it seems that in this always on, go-go-go world we live in the outdoors always gets a back seat.
All I can tell you is that statistics suggest participation in organized sports all but disappears from our lives after high school. The outdoors is something often enjoyed throughout life. If you and your kids love the outdoors but find it hard to make time for it, it might be time for a change.
I totally agree Tony. Although sports are important, they seem to be taking a higher and higher priority in kids’ lives as well of the lives of their parents. I feel that time spent with family and friends (especially camping) is every bit as important and is probably what most kids will remember most from their childhood.