The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast

A child who struggles to sit still may actually need more movement, not more discipline. And a child who struggles to read may be facing developmental challenges that have little to do with intelligence. Sally Goddard Blythe, author of The Well-Balanced Child, joins Ginny Yurich to explore the remarkable connections between physical development, learning, behavior, and emotional well-being. Drawing from decades of working with children, Sally explains why balance matters for concentration, how early academic pressure can undermine confidence, and why something as simple as singing may help prepare a child's brain for reading. She also shares the unforgettable story of a boy who had no idea his visual experience was different from everyone else's. From crawling and climbing to music and imaginative outdoor play, this conversation offers a compelling reminder that children don't need more expensive enrichment. They need time, movement, and the freedom to develop at their own pace. Get Sally's book here! ** A huge thank you to our sponsors! Check them out below:  TalkBox.Mom is offering their $35 phrasebook for free with your first Box for a limited time-  just visit talkbox.mom/outside, choose your language, and your free phrasebook will automatically be added to your order with your first Box. HeyPolo - Protect your loved ones without spying on them. Go to https://heypolo.com/1000hours  or use code 1000HOURS and get 70% off your first year! My Green Mattress: Visit www.mygreenmattress.com  and save 15% on your order during their Labor Day Sale. Plus, use code 1000hours for an additional $10 off your cart total when you purchase any mattress. BetterHelp: Visit  www.BetterHelp.com/1000HOURS  today to get 10% off your first month. Quince - Visit www.quince.com/outside and get free shipping and 365 day returns IXL Learning - Head to www.ixl.com/1000hours to get an exclusive 20% savings on your membership Whisker - Take care of your cats while taking an additional $50 off bundles with code 1000HOURS when you shop www.whisker.com/1000HOURS  Looking for guided adventures that will blow you away with their attention to detail? Head to www.exploreworldwide.com and tell them 1KHO sent you! Muzzle Sleep Tape - Go to MuzzleSleep.com and use code 1000HOURS for 10% off.  Boll & Branch - Get 15% off your first order plus free shipping at BollAndBranch.com/1000hours  with code 1000hours Ka’Chava - Go to https://kachava.com  and use code 1000HOURS for 15% off your first order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The way you spend your money can shape your life and Crystal Paine wants us to make sure it’s shaping a life we actually want. Crystal is back for the third time to talk about her new book, The 7 Habits of Financially Healthy Women. Her new book is about so much more than making a budget. Crystal shares what she learned from surveying nearly 4,000 women about their fears around money. She encourages the listener and reader to “start with what you have” and explains how tiny everyday choices compound over decades. You'll learn about why paying with cash changes the way we spend and if you hate budgets... your can call it a spending plan instead and us it as an opportunity to determine what your family values most. Listen in as they talk grocery bills, raising financially capable kids, inexpensive family adventures, and Crystal’s hilariously impressive couponing years. Find Crystal at CrystalPaine.com and MoneySavingMom.com, and check out two resources mentioned in the conversation, The Koerner Office and Plandy Mandy. ** A huge thank you to our sponsors! Check them out below:  TalkBox.Mom is offering their $35 phrasebook for free with your first Box for a limited time-  just visit talkbox.mom/outside, choose your language, and your free phrasebook will automatically be added to your order with your first Box. HeyPolo - Protect your loved ones without spying on them. Go to https://heypolo.com/1000hours  or use code 1000HOURS and get 70% off your first year! My Green Mattress: Visit www.mygreenmattress.com  and save 15% on your order during their Labor Day Sale. Plus, use code 1000hours for an additional $10 off your cart total when you purchase any mattress. BetterHelp: Visit  www.BetterHelp.com/1000HOURS  today to get 10% off your first month. Quince - Visit www.quince.com/outside and get free shipping and 365 day returns IXL Learning - Head to www.ixl.com/1000hours to get an exclusive 20% savings on your membership Whisker - Take care of your cats while taking an additional $50 off bundles with code 1000HOURS when you shop www.whisker.com/1000HOURS  Looking for guided adventures that will blow you away with their attention to detail? Head to www.exploreworldwide.com and tell them 1KHO sent you! Muzzle Sleep Tape - Go to MuzzleSleep.com and use code 1000HOURS for 10% off.  Boll & Branch - Get 15% off your first order plus free shipping at BollAndBranch.com/1000hours  with code 1000hours Ka’Chava - Go to https://kachava.com and use code 1000HOURS for 15% off your first order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Five years can change everything. In 2021, M.P. Woodward was an Amazon executive who had never published a novel. Today, he's writing Tom Clancy thrillers like The Handler and collaborating with bestselling author Jack Carr on The Fourth Option. His remarkable reinvention is a reminder that it's never too late to pursue something you've always wanted to do. In this conversation with Ginny Yurich, the former naval intelligence officer shares more than his unexpected path to becoming a novelist. He explains why his characters gravitate toward painting, philosophy, and analog living in an increasingly digital world, and how these pursuits teach us to notice what others overlook. He also explores the extraordinary ways ordinary people's decisions have shaped history, sometimes preventing unimaginable disasters. From the surprising connections between ancient water systems and modern artificial intelligence to the importance of honor over ambition, this conversation is about paying attention, choosing courage, and recognizing how much can change. ** A huge thank you to our sponsors! Check them out below:  TalkBox.Mom is offering their $35 phrasebook for free with your first Box for a limited time-  just visit talkbox.mom/outside, choose your language, and your free phrasebook will automatically be added to your order with your first Box. HeyPolo - Protect your loved ones without spying on them. Go to https://heypolo.com/1000hours  or use code 1000HOURS and get 70% off your first year! My Green Mattress: Visit www.mygreenmattress.com  and save 15% on your order during their Labor Day Sale. Plus, use code 1000hours for an additional $10 off your cart total when you purchase any mattress. BetterHelp: Visit  www.BetterHelp.com/1000HOURS  today to get 10% off your first month. Quince - Visit www.quince.com/outside and get free shipping and 365 day returns IXL Learning - Head to www.ixl.com/1000hours to get an exclusive 20% savings on your membership Whisker - Take care of your cats while taking an additional $50 off bundles with code 1000HOURS when you shop www.whisker.com/1000HOURS  Looking for guided adventures that will blow you away with their attention to detail? Head to www.exploreworldwide.com and tell them 1KHO sent you! Muzzle Sleep Tape - Go to MuzzleSleep.com and use code 1000HOURS for 10% off.  Boll & Branch - Get 15% off your first order plus free shipping at BollAndBranch.com/1000hours  with code 1000hours Ka’Chava - Go to https://kachava.com and use code 1000HOURS for 15% off your first order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Even if you spend every possible moment with your children, you'll still grieve how quickly they grow up. That sadness isn't proof you missed something. It's part of loving someone who is constantly changing. Dr. Ann Welsh, psychologist, coach, and author of Ambitious Mother, joins Ginny Yurich for a hopeful conversation about the surprising ways motherhood changes us. Welsh explains how becoming a mother can strengthen our ability to lead, prioritize, connect, and even think creatively—and why playing with our children may develop skills we carry into the rest of our lives. They also explore the enormous amount of invisible work mothers perform, why the village we need rarely looks like the one we've imagined, and how our ambitions can change without disappearing. From stepping away from a dream job at Harvard to redefining what a successful life looks like, Welsh offers a refreshing perspective on motherhood, identity, and the freedom to grow through every season. Get Dr. Welsh's book here! ** A huge thank you to our sponsors! Check them out below:  TalkBox.Mom is offering their $35 phrasebook for free with your first Box for a limited time-  just visit talkbox.mom/outside, choose your language, and your free phrasebook will automatically be added to your order with your first Box. HeyPolo - Protect your loved ones without spying on them. Go to https://heypolo.com/1000hours  or use code 1000HOURS and get 70% off your first year! My Green Mattress: Visit www.mygreenmattress.com  and save 15% on your order during their Labor Day Sale. Plus, use code 1000hours for an additional $10 off your cart total when you purchase any mattress. BetterHelp: Visit  www.BetterHelp.com/1000HOURS  today to get 10% off your first month. Quince - Visit www.quince.com/outside and get free shipping and 365 day returns IXL Learning - Head to www.ixl.com/1000hours to get an exclusive 20% savings on your membership Whisker - Take care of your cats while taking an additional $50 off bundles with code 1000HOURS when you shop www.whisker.com/1000HOURS  Looking for guided adventures that will blow you away with their attention to detail? Head to www.exploreworldwide.com and tell them 1KHO sent you! Muzzle Sleep Tape - Go to MuzzleSleep.com and use code 1000HOURS for 10% off.  Boll & Branch - Get 15% off your first order plus free shipping at BollAndBranch.com/1000hours  with code 1000hours Ka’Chava - Go to https://kachava.com and use code 1000HOURS for 15% off your first order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Childhood was never meant to be a race. Bestselling author and Slow Movement pioneer Carl Honoré returns to The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast for a conversation about what happens when we stop rushing our kids and ourselves through life. Carl and Ginny talk about why boredom matters, how overscheduling can turn childhood into a race for perfection, why some of the best conversations with our kids happen when nobody is watching the clock, and the power of the small things like family meals, puzzles, books, nature, sleep, and simply having nowhere else to be. They also explore slow schooling, homeschooling, our complicated relationship with screens, and Carl’s beautiful book Slow Adventures, which invites children to experience the world at a more human pace. Find Carl, his books, courses, and videos at CarlHonoré.com, explore In Praise of Slowness, watch his TED Talk In Praise of Slowness, and watch his free How to Slow Down TED course. ** A huge thank you to our sponsors! Check them out below:  TalkBox.Mom is offering their $35 phrasebook for free with your first Box for a limited time-  just visit ⁠www.talkbox.mom/outside, choose your language, and your free phrasebook will automatically be added to your order with your first Box. My Green Mattress: Visit ⁠www.mygreenmattress.com⁠  and save 15% on your order during their Labor Day Sale. Plus, use code 1000hours for an additional $10 off your cart total when you purchase any mattress. BetterHelp: Visit  ⁠www.BetterHelp.com/1000HOURS⁠  today to get 10% off your first month. Quince - Visit ⁠www.quince.com/outside⁠ and get free shipping and 365 day returns IXL Learning - Head to ⁠www.ixl.com/1000hours⁠ to get an exclusive 20% savings on your membership Whisker - Take care of your cats while taking an additional $50 off bundles with code 1000HOURS when you shop ⁠www.whisker.com/1000HOURS⁠  Looking for guided adventures that will blow you away with their attention to detail? Head to ⁠www.exploreworldwide.com⁠ and tell them 1KHO sent you! Muzzle Sleep Tape - Go to ⁠MuzzleSleep.com⁠ and use code 1000HOURS for 10% off.  Boll & Branch - Get 15% off your first order plus free shipping at ⁠BollAndBranch.com/1000hours⁠  with code 1000hours Ka’Chava - Go to https://kachava.com and use code 1000HOURS for 15% off your first order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When life suddenly stops feeling safe, the people around us may be our greatest protection. Dr. Raj Panjabi is a physician, the former White House national security official, the co-founder of Last Mile Health, and one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People. He joins Ginny Yurich to share what he has learned about navigating uncertainty from an extraordinary life that began when he fled civil war in Liberia as a nine-year-old refugee. Drawing from his new book, Safer, Raj explains why waiting for certainty can be dangerous, how “normalcy bias” caused him to miss the frightening signs of his own young daughter’s heart failure, and why our instinct to pull inward during hard times may be exactly backward. This conversation moves from his father’s unforgettable mantra of “no condition is permanent” to the science of resilience, the power of asking for help, and the surprising truth Raj has seen everywhere from remote communities to the White House Situation Room: our greatest protection isn’t isolation, it’s connection. Links: Dr. Raj Panjabi · Safer · Last Mile Health ** A huge thank you to our sponsors! Check them out below:  TalkBox.Mom is offering their $35 phrasebook for free with your first Box for a limited time-  just visit talkbox.mom/outside, choose your language, and your free phrasebook will automatically be added to your order with your first Box. HeyPolo - Protect your loved ones without spying on them. Go to https://heypolo.com/1000hours  or use code 1000HOURS and get 70% off your first year! My Green Mattress: Visit www.mygreenmattress.com  and save 15% on your order during their Labor Day Sale. Plus, use code 1000hours for an additional $10 off your cart total when you purchase any mattress. BetterHelp: Visit  www.BetterHelp.com/1000HOURS  today to get 10% off your first month. Quince - Visit www.quince.com/outside and get free shipping and 365 day returns IXL Learning - Head to www.ixl.com/1000hours to get an exclusive 20% savings on your membership Whisker - Take care of your cats while taking an additional $50 off bundles with code 1000HOURS when you shop www.whisker.com/1000HOURS  Looking for guided adventures that will blow you away with their attention to detail? Head to www.exploreworldwide.com and tell them 1KHO sent you! Muzzle Sleep Tape - Go to MuzzleSleep.com and use code 1000HOURS for 10% off.  Boll & Branch - Get 15% off your first order plus free shipping at BollAndBranch.com/1000hours  with code 1000hours Ka’Chava - Go to https://kachava.com and use code 1000HOURS for 15% off your first order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The history of ticks in the United States is far stranger and more disturbing than many of us realize. Award-winning science writer Kris Newby, author of Bitten The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons and senior producer of the Oscar-shortlisted documentary Under Our Skin, joins Ginny Yurich to uncover the documented Cold War programs that experimented with weaponizing ticks, fleas, and mosquitoes. Kris shares her own family's devastating experience with Lyme disease, the years she spent investigating scientist Willy Burgdorfer, the open-air tick releases she uncovered, and why she believes we still don't know the whole story. But this conversation isn't meant to scare families indoors. It ends where parents need it to with information on how to take ticks seriously, what to do when you find one, and how to keep giving our kids the childhood outdoors they need. Learn more about Kris and her work at Kris Newby and watch Under Our Skin. ** A huge thank you to our sponsors! Check them out below:  TalkBox.Mom is offering their $35 phrasebook for free with your first Box for a limited time-  just visit talkbox.mom/outside, choose your language, and your free phrasebook will automatically be added to your order with your first Box. HeyPolo - Protect your loved ones without spying on them. Go to https://heypolo.com/1000hours  or use code 1000HOURS and get 70% off your first year! My Green Mattress: Visit www.mygreenmattress.com  and save 15% on your order during their Labor Day Sale. Plus, use code 1000hours for an additional $10 off your cart total when you purchase any mattress. BetterHelp: Visit  www.BetterHelp.com/1000HOURS  today to get 10% off your first month. Quince - Visit www.quince.com/outside and get free shipping and 365 day returns IXL Learning - Head to www.ixl.com/1000hours to get an exclusive 20% savings on your membership Whisker - Take care of your cats while taking an additional $50 off bundles with code 1000HOURS when you shop www.whisker.com/1000HOURS  Looking for guided adventures that will blow you away with their attention to detail? Head to www.exploreworldwide.com and tell them 1KHO sent you! Muzzle Sleep Tape - Go to MuzzleSleep.com and use code 1000HOURS for 10% off.  Boll & Branch - Get 15% off your first order plus free shipping at BollAndBranch.com/1000hours  with code 1000hours Ka’Chava - Go to https://kachava.com and use code 1000HOURS for 15% off your first order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here is a message worth here hearing over and over again: you were already worthy before you accomplished a single thing. Artist, author, speech therapist, and homeschooling mom Tabitha Paige returns to the 1000 Hours Outside Podcast for a conversation that goes much deeper than her children's books. Tabitha shares how her son Declan, who was born with a rare genetic syndrome and significant disabilities, changed the way she understands love, worth, and what makes a life valuable. Those messages are woven into her deeply personal new book, I’ve Loved You From the Start. Tabitha also tells the remarkable story of illustrating the book after a traumatic brain injury left her struggling to see, forcing her to wrestle with the very question she was writing about: Would I still have worth if I could never create again? Ginny and Tabitha talk about raising children in an achievement-obsessed culture, homeschooling without fear, choosing a different path for your family, keeping creativity alive into adulthood, and Tabitha's beautiful new Winnie-the-Pooh projects. This one is a reminder for parents and children alike: love isn't something we earn, and there isn't just one right way to build a meaningful life. Find everything Tabitha has created here!! There are so many wonderful gift ideas for the holidays. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if theology isn’t just for scholars and pastors, but something that can transform the way we live, parent, and connect with God? Beloved author and Bible teacher Lisa Harper returns to the podcast to discuss her new book, Theology For the Rest of Us, which makes 50 theological concepts accessible, engaging, and deeply relevant to everyday life. In this warm, humorous, and thought-provoking conversation, Lisa and Ginny explore the relationship between faith, actions, and emotions, why biblical context matters, and how the Sabbath was intended as a gift rather than a burden. Lisa also shares her remarkable journey of becoming a mother through adoption, earning her doctorate in her sixties, and helping her daughter understand God's love beneath a sky full of stars. This episode is an invitation to embrace lifelong learning, ask deeper questions, and discover how meaningful conversations about faith can enrich family life at every age. Get Lisa's book here! ** A huge thank you to our sponsors! Check them out below:  My Green Mattress: Visit www.mygreenmattress.com  and save 15% on your order during their Labor Day Sale. Plus, use code 1000hours for an additional $10 off your cart total when you purchase any mattress. BetterHelp: Visit  www.BetterHelp.com/1000HOURS  today to get 10% off your first month. Quince - Visit www.quince.com/outside and get free shipping and 365 day returns IXL Learning - Head to www.ixl.com/1000hours to get an exclusive 20% savings on your membership Whisker - Take care of your cats while taking an additional $50 off bundles with code 1000HOURS when you shop www.whisker.com/1000HOURS  Looking for guided adventures that will blow you away with their attention to detail? Head to www.exploreworldwide.com and tell them 1KHO sent you! Muzzle Sleep Tape - Go to MuzzleSleep.com and use code 1000HOURS for 10% off.  Boll & Branch - Get 15% off your first order plus free shipping at BollAndBranch.com/1000hours  with code 1000hours Ka’Chava - Go to https://kachava.com and use code 1000HOURS for 15% off your first order. Hey Polo - Protect your loved ones without spying on them. Go to heypolo.com/1000hours or use code 1000HOURS and get 70% off your first year! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does it mean to truly know that you are loved? New York Times bestselling author Stasi Eldredge joins Ginny Yurich to discuss her new book, The Ladder of Love: A Pathway to Emotional Healing and Spiritual Intimacy with Jesus. Drawing from her own story of childhood wounds, struggles with shame, depression, and healing, Stasi shares how our understanding of love can be restored—and how a deeper relationship with God can transform the way we see ourselves and others. Together, Ginny and Stasi explore the different ways we experience God—as potter, shepherd, father, mother, friend, and more—and what each reveals about His character. They talk about learning to trust again, embracing childlike wonder and play, extending mercy to ourselves and our children, and finding freedom from shame. It’s a hope-filled conversation about healing, identity, faith, and discovering that even the most difficult parts of our stories are never the end. Get Stasi's Book HERE! ** A huge thank you to our sponsors! Check them out below:  My Green Mattress: Visit www.mygreenmattress.com  and save 15% on your order during their Labor Day Sale. Plus, use code 1000hours for an additional $10 off your cart total when you purchase any mattress. BetterHelp: Visit  www.BetterHelp.com/1000HOURS  today to get 10% off your first month. Quince - Visit www.quince.com/outside and get free shipping and 365 day returns IXL Learning - Head to www.ixl.com/1000hours to get an exclusive 20% savings on your membership Whisker - Take care of your cats while taking an additional $50 off bundles with code 1000HOURS when you shop www.whisker.com/1000HOURS  Looking for guided adventures that will blow you away with their attention to detail? Head to www.exploreworldwide.com and tell them 1KHO sent you! Muzzle Sleep Tape - Go to MuzzleSleep.com and use code 1000HOURS for 10% off.  Boll & Branch - Get 15% off your first order plus free shipping at BollAndBranch.com/1000hours  with code 1000hours Ka’Chava - Go to https://kachava.com and use code 1000HOURS for 15% off your first order. Hey Polo - Protect your loved ones without spying on them. Go to heypolo.com/1000hours or use code 1000HOURS and get 70% off your first year! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Love and Logic changed the trajectory of my family, and getting to sit down with Dr. Charles Fay for this conversation was an emotional, full-circle for me. I discovered the Love and Logic principles when I was just starting out in teaching. The principles allowed me to practice an entirely different way to interact with kids that eventually translated into my parenting. I was able to learn how to do it all without yelling, nagging, rescuing, or controlling. Love and Logic entails more empathy, strong boundaries, natural consequences, and a deep trust that our kids are capable of figuring things out. In this episode, Dr. Fay shares incredibly practical language parents can use when kids are bored, whining, fighting, forgetting responsibilities, making poor choices, or pushing our buttons. We talk about why kids need to make mistakes while the price tag is still small, why boredom is training for life, how to step out of power struggles, and the deceptively simple question that gives a problem back to a child: “What do you think you’re going to do?” We also dive into his new book, Raising Spiritually Strong Kids, and why raising children of deep faith and character has far less to do with controlling their behavior than we may think. I’ve carried this parenting framework with me for decades, and I cannot recommend this conversation enough. Please share with a friend! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sometimes the best thing we can do for our kids is not rush in to help. Magalie Del Angel joins Ginny Yurich to share what she’s seeing firsthand at TimberNook Kauai, where kids climb trees, get covered in mud, work through disagreements, make friends, take risks, and discover just how capable they really are. Magalie shares the unforgettable story of a little girl who kept calling for help from a tree until she figured out how to get down by herself and a boy who spent days on the edges of play before finding his way into the group. We talk about why adults often step in too soon, what children learn when we give them time to struggle, and how outdoor play creates so many opportunities for confidence, resilience, problem-solving, and independence that are increasingly hard to find in childhood. Magalie also shares how she discovered TimberNook through the 1000 Hours Outside Podcast and turned that inspiration into a thriving program for families on Kauai. This one is such a good reminder: our kids are capable of far more than we realize. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kids are struggling in numbers we’ve never seen before, and Dr. Robert Melillo believes we’re missing a crucial piece of the story. In one of the most fascinating conversations I’ve had, we talk about what’s happening inside the developing brain, why movement and sensory experiences matter so much, the surprising importance of primitive reflexes, what crawling and other early milestones have to do with later development, and why screens may interfere with processes the brain desperately needs. Dr. Melillo has spent more than 30 years studying children with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, learning challenges, and developmental delays, and his work offers parents something deeply needed: hope. I took 15 pages of notes on his book Disconnected Kids before this interview, and I truly believe this is information every parent and educator should know. Learn more about Dr. Melillo at DrRobertMelillo.com and pick up a copy of Disconnected Kids Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices