The Outdoor Families Magazine Facebook page is a busy place. Parents, educators, and outdoor industry experts share their thoughts on posts related to kids and the outdoors. Several weeks ago we posted a blog entry by Frugal Fanatic about "10 Things Moms of Boys MUST Know," and did you ever respond! One parent, Claudia Keating, sent us this essay. Have something to say? Send … [Read more...]
Going Green All Year: St. Patrick’s Day suggestions for sustainable living
by Mae Kiggins Even simple holidays can teach kids the value of giving back. Take St. Patrick?s Day, for example. This year, my children and I are learning how to be ?green? in an effort to live a more sustainable life, and we started with the basics: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Reduce.?In our consumer-driven world, parents often feel the need to give their children … [Read more...]
SubUrban Outdoors: The Small family explores a new way of living
by Elizabeth Small Note: Elizabeth will be sharing her family's journey with Outdoor Families Magazine readers each month in a new column titled "SubUrban Outdoors." We hope you find her daily struggles and triumphs to be both enlightening and inspiring, and perhaps even humorous. ~Erin Kirkland, editor My husband recently confessed that he decided to marry me … [Read more...]
My Outdoor Family: “Just Like Daddy”
by Andy Hawbaker Outdoor adventures have always been an important part of my life. Childhood memories are full of car camping, family bike rides, and annual road trips to the mountains. During young adulthood, I assumed having kids would put a damper on all that fun. How wrong I was. Adventures during my wife?s pregnancies were definitely shorter and less intense, but … [Read more...]
Finding Nature in Urban Spaces
by Shanti Hodges I still remember the ?Oh, no? look in my husband?s eyes when the doctor confirmed a June due date for our son?s delivery. I knew Mark?s mind immediately skipped from ?We?re having a baby!? to ?We?re going to miss out on a whole summer of mountain biking and rafting.? And so there it was, the reality of a summer spent within concrete confines of Portland, … [Read more...]
Providing Kids an Outdoor Sense of ‘Place’
by Erin Kirkland The scent of ponderosa pine and drying hay greeted me with shocking familiarity as I climbed out of my parents? car. Memories became a flood of both sorrow and joy as I planted my feet upon pastureland that had been such a part of my childhood years; if given more time, I think I might have grown roots like those of tenacious grasses that waved at … [Read more...]
