11 Subjective Rules for Raising Outdoorsy Kids

These work for me...

We are less than a month out from the launch of Everyone is Lying to You. That means I have to ask everyone to get those orders in!

You get this substack for free for a year when you do!!! A truly excellent deal for about $15 plus a book.

This is a list of purchasing options, but it is also available at a lot of indie bookstores and you can get signed copies mailed to you here and here. Tour stops are here!

As I write this my kids are naked and filthy and digging in some dirt outside the window from where I am tapping away on my lap top. This makes me very happy. I have not always been an outdoorsy person. In fact for most of my life I was a very indoorsy person until I met Nick Aster and began hiking and camping.

back in my indoorsy days. I don’t know why Jenny McCarthy is there.

I like it. Being outdoors is great for my mental and physical health. I am genuinely a better person outdoors and I want my kids to feel the same way. So we are attempting to raise outdoorsy kids.

One of my first hikes with Nick Aster. Yes, I agreed to date him when he had that haircut.

It’s not always easy but here are my totally subjective rules and tips without any of the judgement all those free range influencers give.

1. Don’t bitch about the weather yourself.
Kids mimic you. If you moan about a rainy day they will moan about a rainy day. We were literally talking about camping this morning and Nick said maybe we wait for the weather to get nicer this week to which I interjected, WE CAMP IN ALL WEATHER.

2. Free range is great, but so is guidance.
I want my kids to roam free in the woods and the yard and in the messy ass playroom we made them, but sometimes they need a little guidance because they are so young. I found a bug encyclopedia this morning, threw it on the table and said “find me as many of these bugs as you can. Here’s a jar. Also draw them. Maybe we can paint them later.” And then I left.

3. Make them work.
I made them stack wood this week and even though my eight year old bitched and moaned, my five year old LOVED it.

Much like dogs, kids want to be useful (this was a direct quote from my friend Casey this morning).