1000 hours outside... Is this even possible with British weather?!

[Moonandstarzz]

Dc aged 11 & 9... Aiming to do the 1000 hours outside challenge! Is it possible or am I just setting ourselves up to fail?!
Since Monday we've managed 5 hours, have a little printable tracker from the website..

There is no end to the things people can invent to cause stress and added shite to the lives of other people who feel they are failing if they don't do all these things.
And the sentence " We are an outdoorsy family".....I hate that sentence.

@InTheFutilityRoomEatingBiscuits - well, it's quite easy.

I walked into town and back today, and hung the washing out in the morning. That's a total of 70 minutes outside.

If I don't have anywhere to go - or if I'm going somewhere far enough to want the car - it won't even be that. Some days I don't go outside at all.

And I'm not even trying ;-)

🤷🏼‍♀️ noone's coming to your house to make you do it, it seems like until this moment you didn't even know it existed so it's hardly a burden.

It's a nice social media account by a woman with 5 kids who wanted to get them off their phones a bit, not a state-sanctioned order.

Me and my toddler like colouring our hours in on the little chart and it helps me get outside with her when the weather's shit and I need an extra push. It's really no big deal.

@Kitcaterpillar I enjoy colouring the hours in too even though I've only 5😅

How does anyone, outdoorsy or not, summer or winter, manage to do only 30-60 minutes outside in a day?

I work from home and on certain days have no reason to leave the house. So if it’s cold/wet I probably won’t.

Fuck that. I hate and have always hated the outside. Much more of a reading inside kind of a person.

I walk my dog for two hours every day without fail and that brings me nowhere near that total.

If the aim is to be off screen, a bit of reading wouldn't go amiss. A lot actually.

That would be over 30 hours a day and there's only 24 hours in a day 😁

They are not made of sugar. Just have them sleep out as often as possible.

How does anyone, outdoorsy or not, summer or winter, manage to do only 30-60 minutes outside in a day?

Some people have jobs that keep them busy indoors then have to commute on public transport or in a car and fit a domestic cooking/clearing up shift in too.

We do this challenge. I don’t actually aim to get the full 1000 really as someone else said it isn’t really about that, more about encouraging you to simply spend more time outdoors.
I think last year we got to about 700 hours although I forgot to track in December and this year we will hopefully do a bit more. I quite like tracking the hours on the sheet and use a different colour for each month. My dc do love any kind of tracking/challenge type thing and it’s interesting to look back at previous years.

When they were at primary school we would rack up 2 hour 3 times a week in the park after school, an hour to school walkingand back 5 times a week, 6 hours at the weekend outside some weeks a lot more (2 hours football matches, 2 hours rugby 2 hours dog walking or park. then add in the garden.
You have to get used to being out in the rain, snow, wind etc and dress accordingly.

I think it's a horrible challenge designed to put more pressure on mums (because frankly you never hear of dad's doing this kind of thing).

Spending more time outside is brilliant, but this 'challenge' is so restrictive that it's almost impossible for most families that with drunk time, to manage. Eating outside doesn't count. The school run doesn't count. Organised sport doesn't count. Its unstructured play time outside.

Their breakdown for June suggests 5 hours. IF you go and spend 30m at the park before school (who does that, lol) and you pick them up at 3.30, get home at say 3.45, that means staying outside until 8.15pm. If they wolf down dinner in 15m, they can come in to start homework/reading/relaxing/going to bed, at 8.30.

If because you work, your doing get home until 5.30, including dinner they wouldn't be in until 10pm.

No swimming lessons, no clubs, nothing.

Yes, you could do more at the weekend to knock a couple of hours off, but what a lot of pressure.

Its viable for non napping toddlers and preschoolers. That's about it.

Its more manageable if you break the rules and include all outside time, but i guys it wouldn't be a challenge then...

@Mysleepisbroken my DH thinks it's insane but he's the least active out of us so imo it's the kick up the arse he needs!

We also do this challenge. It’s harder in winter but in summer I try to get the kids out as much as possible. They go to school/nursery but they have a big outdoor focus (outdoor classrooms, lots of outdoor activities at nursery etc). In the summer- have picnic lunches in the garden. Lots of time in the paddling pool. Reading in the garden.
mine are younger than yours (5 kids aged 9yrs to 5 months). But I try to set up activities outside- I’ve stuck their easels outside with paint, mini football goals etc. make outdoor time the focus of days out- beach, NT type places etc. we went to an outdoor comic-con a few weeks ago.

That gives you 730 hours even if you never, ever leave the house except for dog walking. But presumably you do occasionally leave the house without the dog...so you're probably up there actually. Certainly not 'nowhere near'.

This is a ridiculous challenge designed to get likes on Instagram and usually for parents of pre schoolers. I am really passionate about getting kids outside and the benefits that brings but I just don't feel this challenge achieves this properly.

My kids play football, hockey, fell run, surf, climb, tennis, wild swim, hike etc but some of that is with school/ clubs etc so wouldn't count on your challenge? That's not including the time they spend playing out with their friends, rising bikes etc so also not with me. Why does eating outside not count?

What are you actually trying to achieve from this? What's the actual motivation? Be more outdoorsy? Adventurous? Loose weight? More quality time? Less screens? Better connection to nature. Maybe look at that first and go from there. It's a really great thing to want to get more outdoorsy with your kids, I just think at your kids ages this challenge might not be the best way.

@TotheAlps I follow the hashtag on Instagram & it seems very popular with the homeschooling community..

Yes, I bet it does... The homeschool kids are out racking up all these hours outside but break time, after school club, p e lessons, after school sports etc don't count. They aren't the right sort of outdoors....

My kids get between 10-15 hours a week outdoors at school minimum (junior state primary) Then after school activities on top (football, running, netball, hockey etc are all played right through the winter)

Look at what you are trying to achieve for your family and fit your goals round that. Not an Instagram hashtag.

1000 hours a year? So 1000/365 = 2.73 hours a day.

That’s not ridiculous if you’ve got a dog that needs walking, a toddler that needs exercising or have a job that takes you outside. Easier in summer than winter, granted, but that’s where the extra incentives (toddler, dog, job) come in!

I started this challenge in January last year and hated it. We racked up a miserable number of hours in Jan/Feb because it was so dark, wet and cold and we have work and school. Then in summer it was too hard to keep track because we would be in and out constantly for 15 minutes here and there. I decided life's too short for worrying about counting ten minutes here and not counting that five minutes we were inside at the toilet etc.

It's a bit like starting a diet to eat healthier. You can become obsessed with counting calories to the point where you actually make unhealthier choice that are just harder work (I am thinking of some of the slimming world tweaks here!)

Possibly I should have made more of what I think is as important as 2.73 hours a day outside and that is more reading. I don't need correcting on my perception of what is nowhere near - I didn't set the browbeating target - up there with 10,000 steps. And it is browbeating - get on that website and see the outdoors predicated by the promoter of this ostensibly reasonable endeavour. I'd like to see some account taken of busy urban lives or those where "nature" is at a premium.

It’s possible to go out walking in a gale, storm or blizzard but I wouldn’t do it for pleasure.

Even an hour outside together will make a big difference : well done!

I wouldn't worry about the hours so much. I started the challenge and then realised I just prefered being outside with the kids without thinking about the time. The time seemed a pressure whereas now we are just out for as long as we want.

It’s summer! Surely walk to school and back plus it’s light all evening surely they can be outside from after school til bed. There’s no bad weather just wrong clothing.