HELLO THERE!
Hi and welcome to RUN WILD MY CHILD, your one-stop shop for all things kid-friendly and outdoorsy. This website is dedicated to getting kids (and parents) outside and back into nature, one adventure at a time. Whether it’s through family travel, nature crafts, forest school lessons or outdoors games and activities, we know that kids are happiest and learn best when they’re outside, exploring and getting their hands dirty.
There’s no denying that children benefit greatly from being outdoors. Kids need fresh air and exercise, room to explore and a connection with nature. We all do. Families who find ways to be outdoors together nurture not only their bodies, but their connection to life and each other. Research shows that kids who spend time outside in nature are happier, healthier and calmer. Playing outdoors builds confidence, encourages creativity and teaches responsibility.
We also believe that as parents and educators, we can teach children invaluable lessons with and through nature, but we also know that it’s not always (or maybe ever) easy. Our goal is to encourage you to get outside with your kids and help them connect with nature in fun new ways, even if you’re not “outdoorsy.” And if you want to learn how to be “outdoorsy,” we’ll show you how! (or at least how to fake it ’til you make it.) We want to be your main resource for outdoor family inspiration and help you find new ways to encourage your child to run wild.
I’m Sara and I’ll be your tour guide. My husband Ryan and I are both attorneys in St. Louis, MO, have two children and share a love for the outdoors. I grew up in the country and did lots of camping, canoeing, creeking, hunting and exploring the woods when I was little. While Ryan was raised in the city, he developed a passion for fly-fishing, snorkeling and skiing at an early age and his deep love for all things nature-based turned him into a biology major in college.
Together we’ve hiked an active volcano, swam with sharks, explored ancient Mayan ruins, fly fished mountain streams, skied black diamonds, climbed waterfalls in a bamboo jungle, rafted through underground caves and camped in the snow…just to name a few of our outdoor adventures. But our biggest adventure by far has been parenting two wildlings!
Our little wild ones, affectionately nicknamed Mac (almost 5) and Mim (almost 3) are both happiest when they’re outside. Whether they’re fly fishing in a frigid trout stream, hiking through the woods, geocaching in a local park or camping in the backyard, we try to get them outside as much as possible. We’re committed to raising our kids to respect and appreciate nature and we put a huge emphasis on making sure our “city kids” get plenty of sunshine on their faces, fresh air in their lungs and dirt under their fingernails. The fact that they actually like bugs and worms is just an added bonus!
Where we adventure
While we love opportunities to travel to exotic places like beaches and national parks, most of our adventures take place in and around the area where we live (the good ole, land-locked Midwest) – making them doable, affordable and practical for parents everywhere. Whether you live in a rural area, the mountains, close to the beach or in the middle of a city, we want to make getting outdoors fun, easy and accessible for everyone.
We’re excited to share tips, advice and encouragement on outdoor activities, nature crafts, educational lessons and family adventures. We’ll let you know what works for us (and what doesn’t work), lessons we’ve learned along the way and all the funny and unexpected stories that inevitably happen with two small kids in tow. We hope this will be a place where you feel inspired, supported and encouraged to get yourself and your kids outside, no matter where you live!
Coming soon to the website
I’m so excited that you’re here and hope you’ll stick around for the ride. This website has been in the works for a long time and is a passion project of mine (one of the many). We might not have new content daily, but we’ll try to keep you consistently entertained and inspired. While I’ll be your main source of info as we get started, we’ll soon feature some incredible adventures, advice, trips, outings, projects and tutorials from parents all over the country (and hopefully worldwide). We’re currently accepting guest posts, so if you have a fun outdoor adventure you’d like to share here, just click that CONTRIBUTE link up top.
Feel free to poke around on the website and follow us across all social media channels. Bookmark our site or add us to your blog reader. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date on all happenings and be automatically entered to win an amazing nature-inspired prize pack!
And now that you know a bit about me, please tell me about yourself in the comments below! I’d love to hear from you!