An ambitious new project is based on a straightforward and very attainable goal: to help kids spend as much time outdoors as they do in front of screens
The average American child between the ages of 8 and 12 spends 1,200 hours a year in front of screens. That’s about four hours a day of being sedentary, slack-jawed, and glassy-eyed. And while screens aren’t inherently bad—they help kids connect with distant relatives and complete schoolwork—too much screen time can lead to less sleep, reading, physical activity, and time outdoors. Screens, in other words, often rob children of the things that help them thrive. This has been a growing concern for years, but it’s become acute during the pandemic.
As parents, we’re bombarded with warnings about the dangers of excess screen time. But rarely are we presented with concrete solutions to combat it.
That’s why I’m such a fan of the 1000 Hours Outside project. The brainchild of a Michigan mom named Ginny Yurich, the premise of 1000 Hours Outside is simple and straightforward: if your kids can spend four hours a day in front of screens, they can spend a roughly equal amount of time outside. Yes, even if both parents work. Even if you live in a place with gray, freezing winters. And even if you’re “an overweight mother with a pile of laundry” who “belly-flopped into motherhood,” which is how Yurich described herself to me over the phone earlier this month.
