Focus on the Family Parenting Podcast

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John Fuller: Thanks for joining us today on Focus on the Family Parenting Podcast. I'm John Fuller along with Dr. Danny Huerta, who leads our parenting team. Danny, you love the outdoors. I do too. Share a little bit about the importance of having your hands in the dirt. A few episodes ago, you talked about worms. You've done bees and worms and flowers. You've done a lot of things outdoors.

Dr. Danny Huerta: Gardening, I've loved that. I remember learning about gardening with my grandpa when we moved to the United States that summer. He only spoke English, I only spoke Spanish, and I got to just spend time with him in the garden. I've noticed the therapeutic benefits to my own mental health and spiritual health being outdoors.

It really connects me to having prayer time with my Heavenly Father and helps realign my perspective that I am co-creator with Him. He's inviting me into something that He's already created and I get to be a part of that. He's created miraculous things within His creation from seed to tree, from giant rocks that we get to enjoy and look at and know that we are tiny little people, yet we are masterpieces of God's creation. He cares deeply for us and we're part of this creation.

When we go out and breathe deeply in God's creation, when we interact with His creation outdoors, research consistently confirms that there are many benefits mentally, emotionally, and physically to our bodies when we do so. One recent one said that 17 minutes spent outdoors daily has tremendous benefits to a person's mental health. They drilled it down to just 17 minutes. Obviously, more is better, but 17 minutes is kind of the secret sauce if you can spend that time outside enjoying and just relaxing in the outdoors.

John Fuller: And that's 17 minutes that, theoretically, you're not on a phone. That's a win right there. Well, let's go ahead and turn to a wonderful conversation that Focus on the Family President Jim Daly had with Amanda Dykes about letting, helping, and facilitating your children and the outdoors.

Jim Daly: Let me talk about the benefits of nature. Actually, I'll ask you to talk about it because you mention that in the book, just the qualities that God has put in this. You recognize nature, you breathe better, you do so many things physiologically better. Describe the research that universities and others have done in this space.

Amanda Dykes: Well, there's so much research just about even sunshine and Vitamin D, what it does for us, the health benefits about it, balancing us. I think honestly what happens is mentally we get outside of ourselves. We step into something that's bigger than us. We step into God's creation and it makes room for us to see life is bigger and hope is bigger than whatever I'm facing.

When you look at the majesty of what God's created, we see His power and we're reminded that's the power that's fighting for me and carrying me in what I'm doing or what I'm facing. So things begin to fall away. We start to see ourselves a little bit smaller, and I don't mean that in a demeaning way. It's almost comforting just to go, "I'm one person on this great big planet."

It's humbling and also exhilarating when you think, "I'm one person, but God came for me." I'm just one small person and His creation proclaims that. It proclaims the glory of God and it brings us outside ourselves again.

Jim Daly: Right, but even recovery from surgery and other things, the medical field now is recognizing that being in nature or taking walks actually helps you to recover faster, right?

Amanda Dykes: Yes, absolutely. And there's science behind even what happens in your brain when you're walking because you're engaging both sides of your brain. So it helps you work out problems because you're engaging everything and think creatively in a way you might not if you're just sitting stagnantly.

Jim Daly: But again, the irony that God has this put forward and if we do it His way, I mean, even physical benefits being in nature, observing nature, being at peace, breathing a little deeper out there. I mean, it's awesome that God has given us that. We look at children today, young people. The CDC, Center for Disease Control, they do a lot of research and children are struggling right now.

I think I saw something from the CDC that 50% of kids between the ages of 15 and 24 have really high depression and anxiety right now, as much as 50%. So when you look at those kinds of things, do they have a benefit if we can get them outdoors and learn some of these things?

Amanda Dykes: Yes, absolutely. There's even emerging research about where this is stemming from, where the anxiety is coming from, and so much of it is tied to the increasing presence of screens in our lives and in kids' lives. It's getting introduced to them earlier and earlier. When you think of what they're meant for, which is deep experience and real things, it's not just that they're staring at a box.

It's not just that they need to be unboxed. It's what are they missing out on? What is this robbing them of? It's robbing them of discovery, of joy, of hands-on learning. These lessons we learn in nature about how things are going to be okay even when there's turmoil, even when there's hard seasons or storms. Creation is laden with these metaphors that we can learn from and draw strength from.

When kids don't have that opportunity to experience it, they're left to whatever is in their head when they start facing the hard things and it closes in on them. So of course it breaks our hearts to hear that and to hear these statistics coming out. The solution is so beautiful and it's so simple because it can feel intimidating like this Goliath thing that we're facing.

But what defeated Goliath? It was one small stone and a great deal of faith. So when we take these small moments, like the small stones, in our faith and we offer it and we invite kids into it and we just kneel down to wherever they are and we look at things together and we learn, we just approach it with an openness of spirit.

We offer them a balance that they can draw from in their own spirits when they start to feel that pressing in of anxiety or depression or just the thoughts they don't know what to do with.

John Fuller: Danny, that last line from Amanda, that small step, it really does begin with just go for 5, 10, 15, or 17 minutes outdoors as you said. You see a quality of life in yourself and your children when you get outdoors with them and experience nature. There's something perspective-setting about recognizing the vastness of God and His amazing creation and the smallness of our lives.

Dr. Danny Huerta: We took some hikes early on when the kids were little and just spent some time listening. We'd say, "Everyone just listen. Let's be quiet for a moment. Try to listen to God's voice." We began having devotions like that at least once a year where we'd get out on a hike and the kids would take their journal and I'd take my journal. We would just sit and listen and read God's Word for a few minutes, 10 or 15 minutes, and then come back together. "Did you hear anything?"

It's something that was resetting for us. The kids at a younger age sometimes would get distracted during that time. That's totally fine. It was just setting a rhythm and over time they looked forward to that. Now my college-aged daughter does that on her own. My son doesn't go out in nature and do that. They're different in that, yet they both love Jesus, they both love the outdoors, and they do feel connected to Him there and see the vastness of God's creation.

With kids in my practice that have been used to being on their phones all the time, that are addicted to screens, or have other issues like anxiety or depression, there's a common thread: learning to be outdoors and active without the screens, being able to just take some deep breaths and just breathe and know that it's going to be okay. Being still and knowing that He is Lord and He is with you has created a tremendous benefit to those individuals that decided to take that on as one of the rhythms throughout the week.

I'd encourage you as a family to try it out. See what benefit you get and all your different temperaments in your home will interact with the outdoors differently. That's the beauty of it. Maybe stop and smell some of the flowers this summer and see the fragrance that God has created. Look at all the rocks and the insects and everything along your hikes. You'll see they may go slower, but you'll notice more and your kids will begin to show you other pieces of God's creation. Enjoy it.

John Fuller: I appreciate that so much. We've got a great book to reinforce this episode. It's written by Amanda Dykes called A Pocketful of Wonder: 50 Hands-On Adventures for Kids to Discover. Make a donation to support this show and the ministry of Focus on the Family today. We'll send a copy of that book to you and it'll help you be on your adventure to see God's creation.

Also, when you're online, see our Seven Traits of Effective Parenting assessment. It's free. Danny, the seven traits that it covers are really going to unlock parenting in a special way for moms and dads.

Dr. Danny Huerta: The assessment gives you some strengths and then how to use those in a practical way in your home, and then opportunities for growth and how to use those and how to grow in that. They are in an order that's very intentional. It starts with adaptability, goes to respect, then intentionality. When you've done those three, then there's steadfast love that you're building.

From those four, then boundaries and limits make sense. Then from all that, when you're trying to do the boundaries and limits, then you have grace and forgiveness, where you've got to repair, and then gratitude to reset your mind to be more adaptable. So those are the seven traits. Make sure you check out the assessment. It'll give you a good starting point.

John Fuller: And it's totally free. The link is in the notes. Well, next time Rob and Amy Reno share about having God's perspective for your family. In the meantime, on behalf of Dr. Danny Huerta and the entire team, I'm John Fuller and thanks for joining us for the Focus on the Family Parenting Podcast.