Outdoor Kids in an Inside World: Getting Your Family Out of the House and Radically

This book made me excited to start a family. I like Steve's stuff, but my wife is not familiar with his writing. We read this together and she is constantly saying how she likes his writing style and how his humorixed with education is easy to listen to. Great book 👍

This book is easy to read and has a lot of common sense answers to problems kids are going through these days. Could relate to a lot of it. Parents, ENGAGE with your kids and don't be afraid to put limits on their social media!!! The sooner the better.

Full disclosure: I am an @stevenrinella superfan. Going all the way back to his pre-fatherhood early work, and continuing through today, reading his books, watching his shows, listening to his podcasts, and I even met the man in person once.In his most recent release, Outdoor Kids in an Inside World, the fellow native Michigander once again brings his signature flavor of direct yet nuanced articulation of maintaining a practically biophiliac lifestyle. With his mountain-man-meets-Hemingway persona, Steve prioritizes a connection with nature as the main thrust for his day-to-day life. He wrote this book as a result of becoming a father of 3 over the last decade and quickly recognizing that even for an avid outdoorsman, getting children away from the living room and bedrooms, where technology abounds, outside and engaged with the natural world presents a list of challenges that grows longer with every new device, video game, and app update.Steve takes you step by step through various levels of introducing children to interactions that help bridge the ever-expanding gap that accompanies industrialized first-world life. A dislocation wherein there has occurred an extinction of sorts, between people and our connection with nature. Interactions that, until only fairly recently in terms of human history, were a requirement for basic survival. He covers every barrier - conquering fears, tolerance for dirt, getting comfortable being uncomfortable, grappling with the possibility of failure as well as the reality of life and death and the true cost of how we obtain food. All geared towards safe and sustainable interactions with the outdoors. Steve understands what all of us as parents are chasing - to raise independent, knowledgeable, and confident children. Something as simple as starting a vegetable garden (Chapter 4: Tending the Soil) installs in kids a sense of ownership and responsibility, rewarding satisfaction in the cultivation of their own food, while also introducing them to the realities of life’s impermanence and frailty.This book covers it all! Highly recommend to all parents who want to get their kids off the screens and in to the woods.

I struggle to find the balance with time indoor and outdoor for my children. Time constraints that most of us face being a huge factor. This book helped give me ideas of activities to try and also elevate the anxiety of a outdoor lifestyle for younger children.

As an environmental educator and parent of two young kids, I was inspired both professionally and as a father. Steve Rinella has a very inviting way of writing that softens the "us" vs "them" vibe that seems to permeate so many other spaces these days. He is able to contextualize our connection with the natural world in a matter-of-fact and very humanizing way while still allowing room for the reverence and respect that the topic deserves. As a family, we've always been into foraging, hiking, gardening and fishing. The book helped me realize that I had a block about taking the family camping. Something about not wanting the kids to be uncomfortable. Reading this gave me the inspiration I needed to take the risk of camping. We went out for two nights, saw epic fireflies, hiked, caught crayfish in the creek, cooked outdoors with friends and made some wonderful memories. Now everyone is ready for our next camping adventure. Great book. Worth your time, especially if you have an interest in nature, food and family.