There's No Such Thing as Bad Weather

Book Review: 5/5 stars

I chose this book for Leland and I to read together. I'm glad I did because we both loved it and learned a ton.

The basic premise of the book comes from the quote "There's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes." The author is from Sweden and is now living in the US raising children. She compares parenting between the two places as well as school systems and just lifestyles in general. It was really interesting and even though it's not Leland's typical type of book, he liked it too. Maybe even more than me. :)

So as the cover suggests, the author points to lots of studies that indicate that spending time in nature and unstructured play are what make kids healthier, smarter and more resilient like the children in Scandinavia are. Along with sharing parenting experiences with her own children, she gives a lot of great and practical tips on how to get your kids outside more and on screens less. I have been telling Leland for years that I want our kids to love the outdoors and finally after reading all the research presented in this book he believes me and is on board with that goal.

This book was very validating to me in my parenting too. I realized I'm not actually crazy for wanting to go on walks with my babies in the middle of winter, or in my goal to have my kids play outside everyday, preferably for hours. I guess it confirmed that I was just born in the wrong country haha.

After reading it I found Free Forest School to start taking the kids to, as I wrote about in my last post. And it's been easier for me to suck it up and drag all the kids for an outing to the park because I more fully realize how important it is for their mental and physical health. As the cold weather creeps upon us I have also been trying to invest in warm and durable clothes for the kids (and me) so we'll all be able to spend more time outside.

So yeah, I loved the book. 100% recommend for all parents to read. Has anyone else read it?