Keep Going Outdoors with Your Kids

AI tools and video content are taking over our time. This is our present reality.

“Don’t just tell your children about the world, show them” -Penny Whitehouse

We could spend endless time browsing and keeping up to date with the latest news in tech, social media, and show business, not to mention the old-fashioned television channels and video games.

I love all the AI advances and tech news, don't get me wrong. I am studying to become a developer, mid-career change, and excited about it all. I have always been passionate about everything techy and its relation to our ways of life. But that's another story to tell.

Today I was alone with my three kids. We looked for a playground close to the house we’re renting for a working holiday. We wandered the streets of the new town where we were staying for the week. We were all excited to explore.

Explore the world.

And then it dawned on me.

Technology is driving kids inside the house, luring them towards devices and screens more and more.

It is so difficult to keep our position as parents and be careful about the amount of screen time we allow.

They see and hear from other kids about video games. Meanwhile, we encourage documentaries and language learning.

Our kids are only 2, 5, and 7 years old! Video games at 7? Minecraft is all we hear from our eldest. We got him Minecraft books: he is learning the strategy from books and sometimes YouTube videos. The game is recommended to be played from 12 years old!

We do not own a television. Nor do we pay for video streaming services anymore. We stopped our subscriptions to Netflix and Disney because we were spending more time outside than inside anyway.

This week we are exploring the Lake Balaton in Hungary and going on hikes. The boys are super excited about doing the whole Blue Trail with their dad over a few years span. Maybe this will lead to some new articles about outdoor unschooling and learning about endurance and love for nature. The boys are motivated to make the 50km sections and get the stamps and badges.

What does being human mean?

"to be human is to be at the centre of our own universe, to experience life in all its colours and all its potential. This is what we want to celebrate with Being Human — the awe of being alive and the thrill of discovering what it means to be us, the greatest wonder in the world." BBC Earth

BBC Earth is conducting a Being Human campaign. This campaign is led by Sophia, a lifelike robot who is developing her own intelligence. How many years until she is fully developed to sound, think, and feel human?

Here you can check Sophia’s intro to Being Human.

So how do we teach our kids to keep being human?

1. By being more in touch with nature

• Hiking with kids: The boys are doing the National Blue Trail in Hungary.
• Long walks in the forest to experience the changes of the seasons (we live in a temperate zone)
• Look for outdoor playgrounds to spend a few hours playing, climbing
• Having a picnic outside as a family
• Thermal water parks in summer — Hungary is famous for thermal waters
• Going fruit picking in orchards
• Planting on our balcony greens, and flowers and taking care of them together

2. Having meals together

Cooking together and sitting down as a family for dinner, talking, without any devices on

3. Going to museums, castles, zoos, botanical gardens

Our kids love natural history museums, where the diversity of life and development of various species are beautifully rendered

4. Reading books

Non-fiction and fiction for kids, comics. We’ve been reading together since they were babies. Our eldest is reading novels already and learning his third language.

5. Travel

We travel every year to different countries, to experience new cultures, nature, and fauna. This year we visited a bit of Portugal by car. Exposure to a different way of life is teaching us and our kids to be open to change and embrace diversity.

6. Sports

Our boys are taking swimming and karate lessons during the school year. The schools they are attending are also encouraging daily physical education classes and activities in nature. In summer they like sports camps, going to adventure parks, and hiking with us.

These are activities we usually do with our kids to teach them that life is life.

So I leave you with this phrase that makes one wonder.

We may be the last of our species to be fully human as bio-technology and artificial intelligence take over. BBC Earth

How are you teaching your kids to keep being human?

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***I originally published this story on Medium.***

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