Posted on 07/13/2025 12:31:26 PM PDT by Libloather
One thousand hours outdoors? That's the ambitious goal of a homeschool mom of five. Michigan mom Ginny Yurich, M.Ed., spoke with Fox News Digital about her work in inspiring families to turn off the screens and spend more time outdoors and away from technology.
Yurich is the founder of "1000 Hours Outside", advocating for families to aim for their children to spend approximately the equivalent of about six full weeks outside each year.
Yurich said her work"is meant to bring back the balance between real life and virtual life, which is completely needed right now."
"The average kid in America is outside for four to seven minutes a day, but on screens for four to seven hours," Yurich said.
Her work began as a struggling mother with young children trying to make it through long days.
"A friend of mine told me about this woman named Charlotte Mason, who was actually from the 1800s, who said kids should be outside for four to six hours a day whenever the weather is tolerable, and it changed my life," Yurich recalled.
Everything changed from that point.
"We went outside one time in September of 2011, from 9 in the morning till 1 in the afternoon. And the amount of peace that I felt in relief and joy, it was astronomical," she said. "I never felt like that before. It was the best day I've ever had. It was [the] first good day I had as a mom."
Yurich spoke about the importance of children spending time outside on their overall development, saying it boosts everything from emotional regulation to physical strength, from mental cognition to spiritual growth.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
“ I don’t think there are more kid snatchers today than when we were kids”
That is not my experience at all. I don’t think that’s true
I went to school w baby boomers. Near New York City Everyone had at least 6 siblings in our school other schools, public, private, reform, and so cognitively or physically - no school. Which were about none. Zero.
We were outside all day running into people. Talking to, avoiding or running away from. Later we were out til midnight at house parties of hundreds of kids
We had extensive networks of cousins.
We were very very aware of what was going on.
We knew who the creepy dads were and the boozy moms
Right now, I wouldn’t let anyone out of my house to walk down and get the mail
I now live in flyover I have heard of kids getting snatched out of their own back yards.
It’s not so much about spending time outdoors.
It’s more important for kids to spend time in a variety of places and engage in stimulating activities.
“ We were always outside as kids....”
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Until dark… and then being outside frequently continued but in the back yard with family.
bttt
My childhood was spent in inner-city Milwaukeestan! Amazingly, there were still some ‘green spaces’ back then and those were what all of us kids were drawn to. Climbing trees, building forts, etc.
And no one died and no one was abducted by weirdos and our parents didn’t tell us NOT to. ;)
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