{"id":70487,"date":"2025-06-10T15:06:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T19:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/?p=70487"},"modified":"2025-06-10T15:06:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T19:06:13","slug":"kris-corner-the-power-of-the-outdoors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fireflyin.org\/cnh\/resources\/news-library\/kris-corner-the-power-of-the-outdoors\/","title":{"rendered":"Kris’ Corner – The Power of the Outdoors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back when my biological kids were toddlers, someone very wise told me that when the kids are dysregulated (often in the window after nap but before dinner) you should take them outside or put them in water. To be clear, she didn\u2019t use the word \u201cdysregulated\u201d because that wasn\u2019t in our verbiage at the time. But when I heard this advice, I kind of thought that was weird so I did not intentionally try it, until one day when we went outside in the afternoon (because I couldn\u2019t stand having them in the house any more!), I noticed the power of the outdoors.<\/p>\n

It helped. Like, it REALLY helped! So I began trying it in all sorts of environments: cold weather, warm weather, hot weather, rain or sunshine. It all helped! And it\u2019s not even that it has to be for hours and hours. Sometimes 15 minutes is enough to turn things around.<\/p>\n

I also noticed that not only did it work on my children, it also worked for me. Taking the dog for a walk, or going for a hike or bike ride, tending my garden, or even just sitting outside\u2026there\u2019s something rejuvenating about it. I\u2019m not going to get into a whole spiritual side of it, but honestly, I don\u2019t think we were meant to spend nearly as much time indoors as we often do.<\/p>\n

In fact, research studies have shown that there is a connection with being outside and decreased anxiety and stress levels, a lower risk of depression, as well as increased focus and concentration.<\/p>\n

But you obviously aren\u2019t reading this to learn about me and my biological kids; you\u2019d probably like to know if this works on kids from trauma. And I am also here to report my findings from a sample size of one: it has also helped with my kiddo from hard places, with a caveat – for him, at least, the outdoors does have its limits.<\/p>\n

A big part of this has to do with the fact that this child has the THICKEST hair I have ever seen in my life, and it really holds in the heat. So even though it\u2019s cute when it\u2019s long (he\u2019s got amazing curls as well), along about April, we do a \u201csummer cut,\u201d which is one step away from my military buzz, and that does help keep him cool. If I don\u2019t, he will get overheated much faster and it\u2019s game off and his dysregulation might be (read: will be) even worse. So, our window for outside activities is often somewhat limited (unless it involves water, which I will discuss next time.)<\/p>\n

Obviously I don\u2019t know that this will be the case for your kiddo, but I am simply using it as a cautionary tale; in my experience, kids with trauma have a smaller bandwidth in general and being outside is no exception so you\u2019ll need to keep an eye on such things to learn your own kiddo\u2019s ability to tolerate temperatures.<\/p>\n

As an aside, my son LOVES the cold and snow and often appears to be under-dressed for it, but again, because he often \u201cruns hot\u201d he never feels cold even when it\u2019s cold.<\/p>\n

So you might be wondering what exactly should they be doing outside. Honestly, whatever they want (within reason, of course). But here are a few non-competitive suggestions for you to consider:<\/p>\n