Into the Great Outdoors: The Benefits – and Challenges – of Getting Outside

By Erin Marteal

As director of Ithaca Children’s Garden, a busy nonprofit that inspires environmental stewardship by embracing the outdoors, I welcome the colder months to take a timeout from the relentless activity of the growing season to reflect, dream and plan.
This year I am fortunate to be able to share my monthly reflections with Tompkins Weekly readers – which I hope will inspire you, and the kids in your lives, to make time for that important activity which we all know deep down is good for us. I’m not talking about eating healthy or hitting the gym; I’m talking about playing outside. It sounds simple enough, yet each year the call of the outdoors seems to grow a little more distant.

I got into this line of work – garden-based learning – because I love gardening, hiking, camping, working and playing outside. I love it so much that in college I stowed my tent and sleeping bag (and a case of Sprite) in the trunk of my car so I could spontaneously head to the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains any night of the week on a whim, and be back for my first class the next day. I loved being outside so much that I spent three summers living out of a tent in Glacier National Park as a young adult. I still love it so much that of all the ways I could have celebrated my 40th birthday, I found heaven in a week-long solo hiking expedition in the Adirondack High Peaks this past September.
In spite of my deep love of the wilderness, nature, and garden-based pursuits, my daily reality – ironically – finds me most frequently behind my computer screen. Long workdays often flow straight into home obligations and when all the chores are done, I’m ready to put my feet up. And hey, the outdoors will still be there tomorrow.
And as I behave, I model for my children, who aren’t so little anymore. My two boys are teenagers now – my oldest heads off to college in August. When they were small, it was easier to implement my own agenda – I would bundle them up and off we’d go. We did plenty of hiking, camping, and playing outdoors. When they became old enough to pursue their own interests, it became more of a challenge to spend time together outside. With not even a year at home left for my oldest son, I want him to launch with lasting memories of spending time enjoying the outdoors as a family. And, I want to be sure I get the dose of outside time I crave, in spite of numerous forces that conspire to keep me in.
This year, I decided to give myself the gift of the outdoors, with a personal commitment to spend at least 30 minutes, and ideally an hour or more outside every day, no excuses (OK, free pass if I’m sick).
So far (it’s only been a week, but I believe in celebrating small successes) I have spent time each day walking, exploring and photographing – even today when it rained all day. I successfully wrangled the whole family outdoors on two separate occasions – once for a family jog around a small pond at my mother-in-law’s house in Virginia, and the other for a fantastic sledding trip at Cornell Botanic Gardens that included an epically ridiculous snowball fight. There were 101 other things that were calling our attention: We had just gutted the bathroom – spontaneously in the process of chasing a leak – and were expecting out-of-town company. The cupboards were mostly bare and the laundry was mounded on the dining room table. But somehow, after a certain amount of requisite cajoling, we all managed to get out the door. Once we were out, time slowed and cares slid away, and serenity and joy overcame us as we hurled snowballs at each other.
Our friends who visited us from Brooklyn to celebrate New Year’s shared that while their kids love being and playing outside, it is often a herculean effort to get them there. Sawyer, age 6, tells me he absolutely loves to spend time outside. Yet his parents tell me he drags his feet every time. When I asked Sawyer what he would tell a reluctant friend to convince him or her that going outside was fun, he responded, “I’d tell him that we would go to the candy store afterwards.”
Whether you employ bribery from time to time or it is strictly off limits in your household, one conclusion is clear. Even though we often drag our feet to cross the threshold, we always feel better, happier, and more alive when we get outside.
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Erin Marteal has served Ithaca Children’s Garden as its executive director since 2011, and feels most alive when she pulls herself away from the computer screen to appreciate the majesty of nature, whether it is at Ithaca Children’s Garden or Glacier National Park, her two most beloved places on earth. She would love to hear from you: What is your favorite way to play outside with your family? Send your story to erin@ithacachildrensgarden.org.