22 | Less Stress, More Dirt: A Realistic Plan for Nature Time With Kids & Why It's Always Worth It (Part 2)

In this down-to-earth and inspiring episode of Intentional Motherhood, host Kelsey Redd continues her nature series with a raw, real look at what it actually takes to get kids outside—and why it’s so worth it. From screaming toddlers to poopy diapers and forgotten wipes, Kelsey shares a hilarious and heartfelt story of a nature outing gone sideways, and how even that became a moment of emotional reset, connection, and growth.

You'll discover:

• Why nature is the ultimate emotional regulation tool for both kids and moms
• The science behind how even 10 minutes outside can reset your nervous system
• Tips for making outdoor time simple, fun, and low-pressure
• How unstructured play in dirt, grass, and rocks rewires your child’s brain for calm, not chaos
• Ideas for starting family nature rituals that build connection
• A sneak peek at Kelsey’s upcoming nature-based retreat for moms this September in the Utah mountains

Whether it’s a barefoot backyard moment or a messy river adventure, this episode will inspire you to ditch perfection, embrace the mud, and find healing in the beauty of the outdoors—even if you’re carrying a baby in one arm and dragging a scooter in the other.

🌿 Nature doesn’t have to be perfect to be powerful.

 Let this episode remind you: Mother Nature has your back—even when it’s messy.

Mentioned in the episode:

• Kelsey’s 2-minute guided nature imagery (from Part 1)
• Upcoming Fall Retreat – Info in show notes & on IG: @creating.intentional.mothers

Subscribe now, share this show with a mom friend, and join the conversation! 

Episode Freebie! Must Have List for Outside Time with Kids

Find out more about my upcoming Women's Retreat

Connect with Kelsey:

Grab Your Guides

 @creating.intentional.mothers

Episode Transcript

Kelsey (00:07):
Doctor. Hey moms, and welcome back to Intentional
Motherhood, the podcast for stayat home moms juggling a bunch of
tiny humans, big dreams, andtrying to keep it all together.
I'm your host, Kelsey Redd, amom of four kids, six and under,
and this is part two of ourseries on nature and how nature

(00:30):
can be the emotional anchor inyour family. Today, we're gonna
get real about getting your kidsoutside, mud, meltdowns, and
all, and why it is so worth itfor you and for them, even
though it feels like so mucheffort sometimes. And if you

(00:52):
missed part one, we dug into whynature heals us emotionally,
some of the history and scienceabout how nature is actually so
healing and emotionallyregulating for adults and
children.
So wherever you are, grab yourwater bottle, hide in the pantry

(01:13):
for a second if you have to, andlet's talk realmomlife when it
comes to getting out intonature. I know that as a stay at
home mom, some days feel like weare just surviving. Surviving
the spills, surviving thetantrums and the cleaning that
never ends. Getting outside canfeel like just one more thing to

(01:34):
do, but I'm telling you, it'slike hitting the reset button on
the whole household. Moods,tempers, emotions can all be
reset by a little bit of naturetime.
Even just spending five minutesbreathing the fresh air outside
while your kids run around canmake you feel human again. And

(01:54):
don't forget about my two minutenature imagery, just imagining
being in nature, a meditationthat I did for you on the last
episode, part one of this natureseries. So I'm not talking about
always, you know, workingtowards the Instagram perfect
hikes. It might just be sittingout on your back step, feeling

(02:17):
the breeze, feeling the warmthof the sun and letting your
toddler pick grass or throwsticks. Even just that much can
make a difference.
A study in 2020 out of theUniversity of Colorado shows
that just a short time in naturelowers stress and clears our
mind. So imagine the benefit forboth moms and kids if you can

(02:42):
just spend a short time innature allowing your mind to
clear a little bit, yourtoddler's attention to refocus
and regulate rather than beingoverstimulated all the time. So
for those of us moms who arechasing this idea of calm,
regulated nervous systems,nature is the gold standard. And

(03:04):
just for fun, let's dream for asecond. Imagine a weekend
retreat in the mountains, nodiapers, no dishes, just you,
some amazing, ambitious, highvibe women holding you and
supporting you and laughing withyou.
And spoiler alert, I have thisexact opportunity coming up for

(03:27):
you this September in themountains of Utah. I'm working
on a retreat for amazing momsand women just like us to just
soak in that deep nature healingalong with energy work,
reconnecting with your innerknowing and allowing you to

(03:47):
choose to step into the lifethat you've been dreaming of.
It's the kind of reset thatbrings you back to your family
grounded and ready to shine asthe best version of yourself you
can be. That's just a littleteaser about what's coming. And
if you want more information onthe upcoming retreat, go into
the show notes or find me overon Instagram creating.

(04:11):
Intentional. Mothers to find outmore about this retreat. But for
now though, let's just focus onstealing those small moments
outdoors in real life with ourkids. Okay, let's talk about
getting your young kids outside.It's not always feeling magical.
Sometimes it is dragging ascreaming three year old away

(04:34):
from PAW Patrol, dealing withmuddy shoes all over your car
and realizing you forgot thesnacks, right? So let me tell
you a story about one of mynature activity adventures that
went so wrong and yet was stillworth it. I thought it was gonna
be horrible and still at the endof it, was like, Oh, I'm so glad

(04:57):
I did that. But let me just tellyou the story. So I decided to
load up all my kids.
We were gonna pack a bunch ofsketchbooks and coloring pencils
and crayons so that we could goout next to a river, lay out a
picnic blanket and just hang outfor as long as possible.

(05:18):
Literally, I never, I try to notput time limits on these because
I just love to be out for hourson end and to allow my kids to
get really deep into the boredomand then all the way into the
creativity and imagination. Sothis was the plan and I, well,
first of all, one kid refused tocome, just utterly refused to
leave the house and he had tostay home with dad because it

(05:40):
just wasn't I couldn't fight thebattle. But the rest of us
loaded up, drove down to thetrail where we were gonna walk,
pushing the baby in the strollerdown until we found a really
nice little beachy area of theStream River that we could hang
out down next to. Turns out wewent the wrong direction on the

(06:02):
trail and there are no nicepaths down to a beachy area of
the river.
So instead it was likebushwhacking down a steep
ravine, holding the stroller inone arm, trying not to let that
take off down into the riverwhile restraining my little

(06:22):
toddler behind me so that shedidn't fall straight down the
cliff. And we're making our waythrough this ravine. We
eventually get to a little pathand an area where we could
access the really slow movingshallow riverbank. And there's
no sand though, it's only rocks.So I'm like, okay, well, you
know, whatever, we're just gonnalay on the rocks, that's fine.

(06:44):
I realized by this point that mybaby has pooped in his diaper
and I'm like, oh, that's fine.Except I don't have any wipes. I
have an extra diaper, but Idon't have any wipes. Why did I
not bring wipes on a riveroutdoor adventure? I don't know.
If you know me, it tracks.Always bring wipes when you're

(07:07):
going on your nature adventures.It's just good protocol. But I
didn't have any. So I'm like,okay, well, I was planning on
being here for hours.
How long can I reasonably let mybaby sit in this poopy diaper?
Or maybe I just take the diaperoff and wash his bum off in the

(07:27):
river? I'm not going to tell youwhich one I did. I didn't wipe
it in the river though, okay?That's gross.
I wasn't going touch it. Iwasn't going to contaminate the
river water. I don't know ifpeople drink that down the
river. So we knew our time wasgoing be cut short because I
felt so bad for my little babyand his poopy bum. But we had a
great time.
It was exactly what I imagined,minus the nagging stress over

(07:51):
the poopy diaper. And after anhour or so of letting my kids
just wander and explore andthrow rocks and color in their
sketchbook, we loaded back up. Ihad to now push the stroller
back up the ravine whiledragging my toddler who was
slipping and sliding on thesandy, you know, cliff up the

(08:13):
river bank. But I was soimpressed. And I attribute this
to the time in nature that mysix year old daughter
volunteered to carry as much asher cute little arms could carry
as we trudged back across theriver.
We had had to cross the river tofind the flat ground to lay on.

(08:33):
We had to trudge back across theriver and she's carrying as much
as she can while I'm carrying atoddler in one hand and a baby
in the other hand. And we getback to the stroller and we're
pushing it up the ravine andshe's being so helpful. I just
think this is the kind ofemotional regulation that we
came out here for. Then we hadabout a half mile back walk on

(08:54):
the trail to get to the car.
And again, her and her sisterwere just getting along so well.
Their teamwork, holding aginormous branch that they have
decided to bring with us on thistrail. One of them holding it on
a scooter, the other holding theother end on their bike, working
together to get back to our car.And I just thought, oh yeah,

(09:16):
this is why I do this. This wasso hard.
This was such a disaster. Itripped and like, I had scraped
my shin on the stroller on theway down the ravine. I was
carrying my kids across theriver. I had a poopy diaper
baby. And at the beginning I wasjust like, why?
It's not worth it. Why did I dothis? Why do I do this to

(09:39):
myself? That's what I ask myselfalmost every time I go on these
adventures is why do I do thisto myself? But then at the end
and when they're in the justrelaxed regulated state of being
in nature, I have to remindmyself it's worth it.
It's worth it. And I have toremember this the next time I'm

(09:59):
trying to load screaming kidsinto the car to do this, that it
will be worth it. And I reallydo feel that way, it is. So
let's talk about how do we makethis work in RealMomLife. First
of all, start by keeping itsimple.
At the beginning especially, aimfor fifteen to thirty minutes
outside at a park, in yourbackyard even. No fancy gear,

(10:27):
just you and your kids,hopefully some grass and dirt,
maybe even a bucket, but it'snot worth But don't feel like
you have to make this bigadventure plan. It's worth it to
just get outside for a fewminutes. My next tip for you is
just embrace the mess, embracethe chaos. Let your toddler

(10:47):
splash in mud, dig in dirt,chase ants and bugs.
It's okay. I'm sure you've seenthis going around Instagram, but
are we saying no because it'sdangerous? Or are we saying no
because it's inconvenient to us?Stick a towel in your trunk and
then you don't have to worryabout the mess they're making. I
love seeing the way that kidslearn to play and the sensory

(11:12):
experiences that they're gettingwhen they're in nature, like in
it, like in the dirt.
This is where they calmthemselves and they get
creative. So speaking ofsensory, sensory play is so
important. Young kids thrive ontouch and sound and smell. Hand

(11:33):
them a stick and just let themplay with that for twenty
minutes. Let them feel the grasson their bare feet.
Let them listen to the wind.This is what is the difference
between overstimulation ofscreens and technology versus
regulating stimulation throughnature's sensory experiences.

(11:54):
This stuff wires their brainsfor calmness, not chaos like
screens do. My next tip is ofcourse the freedom. Freedom with
boundaries.
This unsupervised time forlittle ones means that you're
close, but not hovering, right?I like to have a blanket that I
hang out on while I let my kidsroam around the area as far as

(12:18):
they can reasonably within wherewe can still see each other and
where I maybe tell them don't gopast this point. But I love to
sit back and let them figure itout. We've talked about
independent play and this is socritical for social and
emotional development. When kidshave the space to figure things

(12:41):
out on their own, they're gonnafigure out what feels safe to
them.
They're gonna figure out how tointeract with other kids.
They're gonna figure out how toteamwork on building a teepee or
a fort in nature. And those aresuch gifts to give your kids.
And my last tip is as much asyou can, make time for your

(13:03):
whole family to be in naturetogether. It's kind of part of
that family culture where youcan have these memories that are
connected to both a nature andadventure and family
connectedness.
That to me is ultimate. That'sjust my heaven right there. Of
course, it's not always perfect.Of course, hikes become

(13:29):
struggles, but it buildsconnection. And our family, my
kids are learning that this iswhat we do.
This is what our family is allabout. We are an adventurous
family, and I want that to bepart of our whole family
culture. So as much as we can,we involve dad and all the kids
when we can. So I know it can behard to get out the door, but

(13:51):
when you see your kid in aweover a caterpillar that they
found, or you feel your ownstress melt away when you're
listening to a babbling brook,it is so worth it. So I hope
you're getting a sense of whateven little doses of nature can
do for you.
I know it's not superconvenient, but these moments

(14:13):
are gold for kids emotionalregulation and for your sanity.
So here's your plan. And I wantyou to see if you can commit to
this over the next week or so.Get ten minutes of outside time
daily for yourself and yourkids. Maybe you're just sitting
on the grass breathing and letthe kids play around you.

(14:36):
Try to have your kids getfifteen to thirty minutes of
free playtime outside, whetherit's at a park or your backyard
or in nature, embrace the mess.Just let it happen and let them
be unsupervised as much as youcan. Maybe even start a family
nature ritual, a weekly walkoutside, maybe in these

(15:00):
beautiful summer nights, you'reheading out late to see the
stars. It doesn't have to befancy or perfect, but start some
sort of ritual that your familycan all engage in together. And
to help with the commitment, Ineed you to come up with a why.
Write down one reason why naturetime matters to you and is

(15:22):
important to you and why you'recommitting to it. Maybe it's
seeing your kids thrive, ormaybe it has to do with the calm
you feel. Maybe it's becausenature helps connect you to your
creator, and it's a spiritualpractice. Whatever it is, give
yourself a why so that when itis hard and when you're you're

(15:43):
struggling to get out of thedoor and into the car to load up
to go to nature, you canremember, this is why I'm doing
this. It's going to be worth itin the end.
Lastly, one last quick teaserabout my retreat that I'm
planning for women and moms justlike you, a weekend to just soak
in the healing power of nature,water, high vibe women around

(16:07):
you, reconnecting with yourpurpose and come back to your
kids and your family refreshedand rejuvenated. Find out more
on my link in my Instagram biocreating. Intentional. Mothers
or in the show notes below. Andwhile you're over on my
Instagram, I would love to hearabout your real outdoor nature

(16:30):
moments with your kids.
Make a post and tag me so that Ican hear how it's going for you.
I would love to find thiscommunity of amazing women who
are giving our best at beingintentional mothers and building
a family full of love andconnection and growth. And don't
forget that mother nature hasgot your back even when it's

(16:53):
messy. Keep showing up dirt andall because you're doing an
amazing job. I'll see you nexttime on Intentional Motherhood.