Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: There’s No Such Thing as Bad Weather
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://rainorshinemamma.com/
CITY:
STATE: IN
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: Swiss
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in Sweden; married; children: two.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Freelance journalist, photographer, and blogger. Rain or Shine Mamma blog, creator and writer.
WRITINGS
Contributor of articles to periodicals, including BonBon Break, Outdoor Families Magazine, and Childhood 101.
SIDELIGHTS
Swedish-American freelance journalist, photographer, and blogger Linda Åkeson McGurk writes about natural parenting and outdoor play. Her articles have appeared in various outlets, including BonBon Break, Outdoor Families Magazine, and Childhood 101. In her childhood, McGurk was told to play outdoors because it was good for her. When she came to America, she noticed that American children seemed to lack a meaningful connection with nature. In 2013, she started writing the blog Rain or Shine Mamma to promote outdoor play regardless of the weather. She encourages children to jump in puddles, catch bugs, climb trees, and dig for worms. Drawing on that work, she published There’s No Such Thing as Bad Weather: A Scandinavian Mom’s Secrets for Raising Healthy, Resilient, and Confident Kids (from Friluftsliv to Hygge) in 2017. McGurk grew up in Sweden and now lives in Indiana.
McGurk’s part memoir, part parenting guide is an antidote to the over-scheduled, standardized-tested, extra-electrified American childhood. Shocked that playgrounds are deserted and that she was fined for letting her children play in a local creek, McGurk turned to her own childhood playing outdoors year round in cold Sweden, and the Swedish adage: “There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes.” She proposes that a nature-centric parenting philosophy produces healthier, resilient, and confident children. One observation about Swedish parenting McGurk told Mark Dunbar online at Indianapolis Monthly: “There is no striving for kindergarten readiness or pushing kids to start to read and write early, because people are more concerned that the kids just get to be kids and play. Research supports that young children need physical, unstructured activity to grow up healthily.”
McGurk introduces the Scandinavian concepts of friluftsliv (“open-air living”) and hygge (the coziness of home), and provides information on the latest research on the importance of outdoor play, fresh air and exercise, and the ability of nature to foster child development. For example, playing in dirt helps prevent development of childhood asthma and allergies, because the Mycobacterium vaccae microbe found in soil has the ability to trigger serotonin production. Katherine Martinko declared online at Treehugger: “We can challenge the fear-based approach that is driving parents to hold onto their children far too tightly and prevent them from growing in healthy ways. McGurk’s book can play a major role in helping this to happen.”
To test whether children in Sweden today have rejected the outdoors as American children have, McGurk took the opportunity of visiting her sick father in Sweden to spend six-months investigating parenting strategies between the two countries. She found that in Sweden, school children have multiple recess periods to play outdoors, engage in many outdoor sports like sledding and skiing, and attend nature schools where they learn respect for nature and preservation. By contrast, in the United States, many outdoor sports are deemed too dangerous for children, who spend their school time learning academic drills. McGurk “effectively shows the many ways American parents can learn from their Scandinavian counterparts, and she provides numerous tips and techniques to help parents incorporate these ideas into their daily lives,” according to a writer in Kirkus Reviews.
Encouraging American parents to let children play more outside will be a challenge. McGurk told Dave Baldwin on the Fatherly Website: “It will be crucial to get the educational institutions on board…It’s vital to get this mindset into the curricula of the schools and preschools, and to get the teachers on board. And I know that’s a tall order, those are not institutions that change easily.” She added: “It has to start with parents’ expectations and parents’ desire for their kids to play outside more.” A contributor to Publishers Weekly noted: “McGurk’s work will be encouraging to like-minded parents who feel American culture excessively emphasizes risk avoidance.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2017, review of There’s No Such Thing as Bad Weather: A Scandinavian Mom’s Secrets for Raising Healthy, Resilient, and Confident Kids (from Friluftsliv to Hygge).
Publishers Weekly, July 17, 2017, review of There’s No Such Thing as Bad Weather, p. 214.
ONLINE
Fatherly, https://www.fatherly.com/ (October 10, 2017), Dave Baldwin, author interview.
Indianapolis Monthly, https://www.indianapolismonthly.com/ (October 18, 2017), Mark Dunbar, author interview.
ABOUT ME
I’m a journalist and photographer who grew up in Sweden, approximately on the same latitude as the Gulf of Alaska. When I spend time in nature with my two young daughters, I’m also known as a worm-digger, frog catcher, splinter remover, tree identifier, mud cleaner-upper, tent raiser, band aid provider, and fire builder-in-chief.
So why “Rain or Shine Mamma”?
When I grew up I was taught to go outside every day, rain or shine, because it was “good for me.” At the time, I probably didn’t even realize how true that was. I was quite contented making mud cakes and building forts in the woods.
After becoming a mother I noticed that many American children seem to lack a meaningful connection with nature, and I started this blog in 2013 as a way to inspire outdoor play and adventure every day, regardless of the weather. I want my children to be able to explore the wonders of the natural world the way I did, and if I can inspire others in the process, it will be well worth it.
As Richard Louv so aptly puts it: “Every child needs nature. Not just the ones with parents who appreciate nature. Not only those of a certain economic class or culture or gender or sexual identity or set of abilities. Every child.”
Go Outside! A Swedish Mom Extols the Benefits of Raising Outdoor Kids
The author of 'There's No Such Thing as Bad Weather, Only Bad Clothes' explains why kids need to be outside every damn day.
By Dave Baldwin Oct 10 2017, 5:37 PM
SHARE
Linda McGurk never considered herself the outdoorsy type. She didn’t rock climb after work or kayak on the weekends. There were no epic backpacking treks into the wild every summer. But growing up in Sweden, where kids play outside, snow or shine, for large chunks of the day, she developed an unwavering love of nature. And, after she had kids, she wanted to make sure they did too. The problem? McGurk was raising her children in the United States, where parents put more of an emphasis on early academic development and less on running around in fields. The common Swedish maxim “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes” sounds, in English, like a one-liner. In Swedish, its meaning is far clearer. It means “Go outside.”
Longing to share her Scandinavian upbringing with her children, not to mention return to a place where kids play outdoors even when the mercury dips, the freelance journalist moved back to Sweden for six months and wrote a book about the experience and the virtues of raising outdoorsy kids. It’s fittingly titled There’s No Such Thing as Bad Weather: A Scandinavian Mom’s Secrets for Raising Healthy, Resilient, and Confident Kids (from Friluftsliv to Hygge). It is, for lack of a better word, good.
ADVERTISEMENT
Fatherly spoke to McGurk from her home in Indiana about the book, the importance of outdoor play, differences in American and Scandinavian parenting, and the most vital piece of outdoor clothing your kids can own. (Hint: It’s not gloves.)
You are a Swedish-born writer living in rural Indiana. Where in Sweden are you from? Where in Indiana do you live?
I am from the town of Dalsjöfors in southern Sweden, a 45-minute drive from Gothenburg. And now I live in Covington, Indiana. Long story short, I met my American husband in Australia when we were exchange students. He is from Covington and we moved there partly to be closer to his family and partly because he wanted to work in the family business.
Must Reads
1
2
Covington has less than 3,000 people. It’s small. Dalsjöfors is very similar in size, but that’s about where the similarities end. It was a pretty different childhood. Like most kids in Sweden, I grew up playing outside a lot. And not just at home but also at school. About 20 percent of the day is outdoor recess in Sweden. It’s an important parenting foundation in Scandinavia.
So that philosophy, “there’s no such thing as bad weather” is, obviously, the premise of the book. But what’s the story about? How did you come to write it?
At preschool, the kids were busy learning all these academic skills. To me, preschool was supposed to be about playing outside, climbing trees, digging holes to China, and looking for earthworms. And, instead, they were teaching them how to read and write and pushing these academic skills which was so different from what I had expected. By elementary school, I noticed there was a lot less recess, longer school days, and so many standardized tests. Americans put a lot of pressure on their kids. Pressures you just don’t have in Scandinavia. Kids there have more freedom in childhood. They get more time to figure out who they are and what they want to do.
I realized these were things from my childhood that my kids were missing, and so I decided to take my daughters to Sweden for six months. A contributing factor, I should note, was that my dad got cancer and so I also wanted to spend some quality time with him. That said, the three of us headed over, and I enrolled the kids in school. The book follows our journey back to Sweden and what we experienced over there, contrasted with what it was like to come back to Indiana.
What grades were your kids in when you did this?
My youngest turned five while we were over there. She would have been in preschool had we stayed in the U.S. My oldest was in second grade.
Linda poses with daughter Maia (Facebook / Rain or Shine Mamma)
What is the argument in favor of the Swedish approach? There’s an obvious appeal for those of us who like being outside, but not everyone does and learning to read certainly isn’t bad. What the best argument for ‘Go play outside’?
There are just so many benefits to outdoor play for kids ⏤ physical skills that they build, and social skills, and cognitive skills. And since parents, educators, doctors, and nurses, everybody in Scandinavia is on board and understands that, it’s become this mantra: Hey, we got to go outside even if it’s just for a little bit. It’s refreshing. It’s good for the body and soul. And we’ve adjusted accordingly ⏤ all kids are expected to dress for the weather, with their rain gear when it’s rainy and snowsuits in the winter.
Swedes are very connected to nature. It plays a huge part in our lives. A Swedish author once wrote that trying to get a Swede to explain why they love nature so much is like asking them why they want to have children. It’s just so obvious that there’s no explanation for it. So we raise kids to be connected to nature.
So the goal in Sweden is to get the kids outside every day?
Yes, very much so. But parents in Sweden also get more help; they don’t have to do it all by themselves. I like to say that it takes a village to raise an outdoor child and it starts with the preschools where kids will be outside for hours. It partly originates in the concept of Friluftsliv, which I talk about in the book, and has been around for about 150 years or so. It a philosophy that revolves around immersing yourself in nature, and enjoying nature for what it is without competition. It can be simple things like going for a walk around the neighborhood or the woods. Or it could be foraging for berries. Who knows. There are a lot of different aspects of Friluftsliv, and the government encourages it because it’s good for public health. It’s good preventive medicine.
How about the parents, how do they benefit from Friluftsliv?
I work in front of a computer screen all day and by the end, my brain isn’t exactly at the top of its game. I need to get out to recover and refresh and recharge my batteries. Not only that, but just like outdoor play for kids helps prevent obesity, it helps us stay in shape too. If we as parents go out there with them and run around, go for walks, or hikes, etc. there’s really no downside to it.
In addition to some of the mental and physical benefits you mentioned, are there any other positives of this parenting philosophy?
There’s a huge benefit that’s not directly manifested on a physical level, but it’s got more to do with developing a love for nature. Ultimately, you have to have a connection to nature early in life to develop the desire to protect nature later in life. The kids who don’t have that connection, it’s going to be hard for them to relate when the woods are being chopped down. They’re probably not going to care as much. The most important thing for a young child is to foster an emotional attachment to nature because that is something you can build on. So I think it’s important for the future of the planet, as well as the kids’ health, to get them out there.
Similarly, I think Scandinavian parents really try to make sure kids get this nature connection early in life so that once they reach the tween years, and electronics are starting to become more a part of daily life, the kids are still very much rooted in nature. They’re comfortable recreating in nature and they already have that need for being in nature.
If you have a parent who hears about your book and says I love this idea, what’s the easiest way to get started? Just go for a walk?
With little kids, a lot of times it’s just about having a place where they can explore freely without being driven by an agenda. Just because you might have this great three-mile hike in mind doesn’t mean they’re onboard at all. And if you try to set the pace and stick to a specific timeline, it could be quite disastrous.
If I was going to give one piece of advice, it would be to find something both you and your kids sort of enjoy doing, and start with that. Then you can branch out and try other, more difficult activities. Again, hiking isn’t necessarily the easiest thing to start with even though it might feel like it because you don’t need a whole lot of equipment. Motivating kids to hike can be hard. Starting with free play is crucial. Kids are usually able to entertain themselves.
How do you convince parents who aren’t necessarily outdoorsy themselves to get on board with outside parenting?
I didn’t consider myself that outdoorsy before moving to the U.S. I was not one to go backpacking or do hardcore outdoor stuff. I just appreciate nature on a very basic everyday level. You don’t have to be an outdoor nut to give your kid that kind of childhood.
As I mentioned, you don’t have to spend hours outside every day. Maybe you enlist the help of other people. If there’s a grandparent who loves fishing, they take the child out out. Or maybe you’re lucky enough to have a forest school or a nature preschool nearby. I know in Sweden, there are a lot of parents who are not outdoorsy themselves but want that experience for their kids. They solve that issue by enrolling them in a forest preschool where the child gets to play outside all day. Unfortunately, forest schools aren’t common in the U.S. yet, but they are becoming more so. And I’m hoping we’ll see more of them in the future, because they’ll really help parents who don’t feel like they have the skillset or interest themselves.
What’s it going to take to get the children-and-nature movement to catch on in the U.S.?
It will be crucial to get the educational institutions on board. I’m a working mother, and I know what it’s like to finish your work day and have to pick the kids up from school and make dinner, and they’ve got homework and you’ve got all these things you have to do. It’s not always easy to get outside, especially during the work week.
It’s vital to get this mindset into the curricula of the schools and preschools, and to get the teachers on board. And I know that’s a tall order, those are not institutions that change easily. It may be easier on the preschool level than on the elementary school level, but still, even preschool has become so academic these days that it will be a slow ship to turn around. It has to start with parents’ expectations and parents’ desire for their kids to play outside more. It’s going to take those parents asking for that from their preschools or daycares.
Quick, what’s the single most important piece of winter clothing?
You can’t pick just one. Oh gosh, I do want to stress boots. It’s important for kids to wear boots that can both keep your feet warm and dry. Waterproof and warm in the winter.
There’s No Such Thing as Bad Weather: A Scandinavian Mom’s Secrets for Raising Healthy, Resilient, and Confident Kids (from Friluftsliv to Hygge)
Now, you’ve been living outside of Sweden for 15 years. You went back for six months. Did you want to stay?
I have to think carefully about how to answer that one, I don’t want to put people off. There are definitely some things that I really miss and wish that my kids would be able to experience in Sweden. For now, we’re staying in the U.S., but I could definitely see myself spending more time in Scandinavia in the future just to make sure my kids are still rooted in that culture. That said, I don’t miss the weather.
And finally, you stress that kids should “run wild and get dirty.” Why is that so important?
In the U.S., I’ve found that parents are afraid to let their kids get dirty, or even their clothes dirty, because it’s seen as unsanitary. But it is good for kids to get dirty on a regular basis. There are good microbes in the soil that strengthen the immune system, for example, and it can also help prevent allergies. You can go a little lighter on the hand sanitizers, it’s okay. If they happen to put some dirt in their mouths, it’s not the end of the world. It can actually be pretty good for them.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Quick Q&A: Linda Åkeson McGurk
The secret to raising a healthy child? This author, and mother, emphasizes the importance of outdoor play.
October 18, 2017Mark Dunbar0 Comments
Linda Akeson McGurk, a photographer and writer from Sweden, lives in Covington, Indiana, with her husband and two daughters. Her first book, There’s No Such Thing as Bad Weather: A Scandinavian Mom’s Secrets for Raising Healthy, Resilient, and Confident Kids (TouchStone Books) just came out last week amid an increasing amount of scientific research indicating the importance of outside free-play for children. American kids are spending less and less time playing freely outdoors, choosing instead to spend their days inside staring at screens or outside in highly controlled environments. There’s No Such Thing as Bad Weather is a deeply personal argument against the current trends of “helicopter parenting” and the “professionalization of childhood.”
Mud play
LINDA AKESON MCGURK
A big part of your book is comparing child-rearing practices in Sweden and America. What are some of those differences, and why do you think they exist?
One big difference is that Scandinavian kids play outside in all types of weather, hence the title of the book. It’s just something we grow up with there. Adults and kids go outside every day; it’s considered healthy to go outside and get fresh air, and exercise. You dress for the weather and go outside even if it’s raining or snowing or sleeting. That’s a big part of growing up.
In Scandinavia, being outside is something that’s not only pushed by parents, but preschools, too. Doctors also recommend it. It’s supported by all of our society. We even let our babies nap outside, even in the freezing weather.
The early years of childhood are sacred as far as play goes. There is no striving for kindergarten readiness or pushing kids to start to read and write early, because people are more concerned that the kids just get to be kids and play. Research supports that young children need physical, unstructured activity to grow up healthily. All preschools in Sweden take the kids outside every day for child-led activities with no push to get them to learn academic facts early on.
Yeah, we saw that in a documentary.
Yes, it’s something we do, especially for daycares and places where there are a lot of kids in small spaces. The more time the kids spend outside, the less risk of infection.
We’re curious about the psychological impact of being outside more. Depression is a serious issue in the U.S., and some of that’s brought on by how we handle bad weather. It seems like a lot of people just treat winter like a catastrophic event they’re meant to survive. Do you think Scandinavia’s approach has an impact on depression there?
While I don’t have the statistics on that, I do know that it’s important to get outside to counteract seasonal affect disorder. The problem is that, in Scandinavia, we’re so far north that, even if you do go outside, it’s often very dark.
You still get the benefit of fresh air, but when it comes to season affect disorder, the light has a lot to do with it. If you can get outside in the middle of the day, that definitely helps.
It’s interesting that you brought that up, however, because there is evidence that teenagers and young adults are suffering from depression at a much higher rate in the U.S. because they’re so engrossed in electronics and don’t have the freedom to play like they used to. We tend to think of play as something frivolous, but for kids it’s really essential. It’s how they learn and figure things out. It’s essential to well-being.
In the book, you discuss a time you and your two little ones got in trouble for playing in a creek. Could you tell us about that incident?
We were wading in a stream at a nature preserve here in Covington. The Boy Scouts used to own the property and camp out there, but it’s a nature preserve now, which means it’s highly regulated. The locals around here have made a habit of letting their kids go into the creek, and I had, too. It never even occurred to me that we would be breaking any rules, but I found out one day that wading in the stream was against the rules, so we got slapped with a fine and told that the only thing you’re allowed to do at the preserve is walk the trail, which was devastating to me.
How does one strike a balance between nature preservation and allowing children (and adults) to experience those spaces?
There’s a very fine line. I understand that there are national parks in this country that see millions of visitors every year and it’s important to protect those areas from problematic behavior. There are areas that need those extra protections, but those are not the areas that kids typically frequent.
That prohibitive attitude has spilled over and applies to children’s play areas and nearby nature, too. A national park is not typically where kids go to play. The green spaces close to home are where we really have to make accessible to kids. Places where they can have hands-on activities, where they can use all their senses, because that’s how children best interact with nature. Nature can withstand that, too. Kids being able to do those things in nature is what makes them care about it later in life, and that’s more important than avoiding a little bit of damage when they play. What nature can’t take is all this industrial pollution that is caused by adults.
Akeson McGurk stresses the importance of outdoor play on adolescents.
Have you noticed how the media represents this unhealthy relationship we have with nature? If you think about sitcoms, for example, there are rarely scenes in nature—and in movies, if you’re in the woods, you’re probably about to be murdered.
That is definitely something that thinkers in children-in-nature-movement point out. My family often DVRs nature shows, and they’re so sensationalized. It is all about the biggest predators, killing, and danger. It’s all drummed up to show nature as a violent place. Yes, nature is full of life and death as part of the life cycle, but these programs give kids a stilted idea. We need more shows geared towards a slower, more peaceful narrative.
In America, we have a doomsday fear about nature, often brought about by our mistreatment of the environment, but then we’re also often very dismissive of environmental problems. Is there anything comparable to that duality in Sweden?
In Scandinavia, it’s different because children grow up with a close relationship with nature, fostered by trips into the woods with their parents and teachers, where they learn to cohabitate with nature. They learn from a very early age that they are part of nature, and that is the big difference between Scandinavia and the U.S. In the U.S., there is more of a human-centered view of nature that considers it an entity to extract resources from. Something that is separable from humans. The other view here is that humans are stewards of nature, which we take care of it. Both are opposed to the dominating view in Scandinavia: that we’re just part of nature.
End on an easy question: What’s your favorite warm-weather activity and cold-weather activity to do with your kids?
For warm weather, I have to say the beach. Summers are hot here in Indiana, so we stay close to the water during that time. In the winter, we all enjoy downhill skiing—which is missing in Indiana—but we also enjoy sledding.
Tags: Writer, Author, Q&A, parenthood, Mother, Linda Akeson McGurk
4/23/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1524523791812 1/4
Print Marked Items
The Hatred of Literature
Publishers Weekly.
264.48 (Nov. 27, 2017): p51+.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Hatred of Literature
William Marx, trans, from the French by
Nicholas Elliott. Belknap, $29.95 (240p)
ISBN 978-0-674-97612-2
If this complex and frequently funny exploration of literature and its foes had a subtitle, it might well be "In
Praise of Banned Books." Marx, a professor of comparative literature, delivers an impassioned broadside
bibliophiles will find inspiring during the next national conversation about appropriate reading material.
The premise: a 2,500-year-old battle still rages over who controls the written word. Marx introduces the
somewhat vague concept of "antiliterature" as the antagonist: the idea that literature is dangerous and
should be constrained (traced back here to classical Greece). He introduces in detail exemplars of
antiliterature, from Plato to Nicholas Sarkozy, and then demolishes their arguments with a curious mixture
of vehemence and erudite nonchalance. For example, in response to Sarkozy's attack on reading
requirements for civil service exams, he speculates that "international conventions will soon ban obligatory
reading of masterpieces as inhumane and degrading treatment." His arguments invite controversy, as when
Marx glibly reduces centuries of Christian thought to "an irrepressible inferiority complex" in relation to
pagan culture. He's also very entertaining: his introductory recap of the Iliad is so slyly hilarious that it
alone is worth the price of admission. All of this makes for a persuasive case for literature's value as "the
ultimate illegitimate discourse" and for a witty attack on censoriousness. (Jan.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"The Hatred of Literature." Publishers Weekly, 27 Nov. 2017, p. 51+. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A517575697/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=29b61650.
4/23/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1524523791812 2/4
Accessed 23 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A517575697
4/23/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1524523791812 3/4
McGurk , Linda Akeson: THERE'S NO
SUCH THING AS BAD WEATHER
Kirkus Reviews.
(Aug. 1, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
McGurk , Linda Akeson THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS BAD WEATHER Touchstone/Simon & Schuster
(Adult Nonfiction) $24.99 10, 3 ISBN: 978-1-5011-4362-5
A Swedish woman contrasts child-raising styles in the United States and Sweden.Growing up in Sweden,
McGurk, who runs the blog Rain or Shine Mamma, spent much of the day outside, regardless of the
weather. So when she moved to a small town in the Midwest and had two children of her own, she expected
them to be as enthusiastic about the outdoors as she was. Unfortunately, that was not the case. This led her
to wonder whether it was just in America where children have little contact with nature or if the Swedes had
also turned their backs on the outdoors. When her father became ill, McGurk took her children to Sweden
for six months and spent the time examining the differences in child-rearing styles between the U.S. and
Sweden and, more generally, Scandinavia. The author expertly combines personal memories of her
childhood and that of her children with scientific data and research to show the significant disparities in the
way children interact with nature in each country. In Sweden, infants are left to sleep outside, even in cold
weather (bundled up), as the fresh air is good for them. Preschoolers and school-age children have multiple
recesses per day and are encouraged to engage in sledding, skiing, ice skating, and other activities, many of
which are deemed too dangerous in the U.S. Scandinavian children often attend nature schools where they
learn to use knives and axes, build fires, identify edible plants, and develop an awareness of their natural
surroundings; this fosters a deep desire to protect and preserve these areas. The author effectively shows the
many ways American parents can learn from their Scandinavian counterparts, and she provides numerous
tips and techniques to help parents incorporate these ideas into their daily lives. The glossary of
Scandinavian terms, from hygge to solfattig ("sun poor"), is also helpful. A fascinating exploration of the
importance of the outdoors to childhood development.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"McGurk , Linda Akeson: THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS BAD WEATHER." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Aug.
2017. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A499572654/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=e1142abd. Accessed 23 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A499572654
4/23/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1524523791812 4/4
There's No Such Thing as Bad Weather:
A Scandinavian Mom's Secrets for
Raising Healthy, Resilient, and Confident
Kids (from Friluftsliv to Hygge)
Publishers Weekly.
264.29 (July 17, 2017): p214.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
There's No Such Thing as Bad Weather: A Scandinavian Mom's Secrets for Raising Healthy, Resilient, and
Confident Kids (from Friluftsliv to Hygge) Linda Akeson McGurk. Touchstone, $24.99 (304p) ISBN 978-
1-5011-4362-5
Journalist and blogger McGurk explores U.S. and Scandinavian cultural differences through her experiences
raising young children in this thoughtful memoir. Born and raised in Sweden with an ingrained appreciation
for the outdoors, she feels out of step with American culture when she tries to reproduce that childhood for
her children in Indiana. Amusing interactions, such as one with a concerned motorist who passes her
pushing her daughter in a stroller and walking her dog in midwinter, pepper the story. There are also
unhappy experiences, such as when officials fine her for allowing her children to wade in a local stream.
These incidents inspire McGurk's lengthy return trip to Sweden. She enrolls her children in class there,
leading her to interesting comparisons with American norms; Swedish schools, McGurk discovers, still
emphasize outdoor play over screen time. Each chapter concludes with a "Scandinavian Parenting Tip"
("Refuse to give in to the culture of fear that has quashed outdoor play as we used to know it") and a
suggestion for further reading. McGurk's work will be encouraging to like-minded parents who feel
American culture excessively emphasizes risk avoidance. Those enamored of all things Scandinavian will
also enjoy the glossary of terms at the front. (Oct.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"There's No Such Thing as Bad Weather: A Scandinavian Mom's Secrets for Raising Healthy, Resilient, and
Confident Kids (from Friluftsliv to Hygge)." Publishers Weekly, 17 July 2017, p. 214. General
OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A498996981/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=8c9bb21d. Accessed 23 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A498996981
Written by one of my favorite bloggers, this new book will inspire and guide readers to instill a love for nature in their children.
"There's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes." This phrase hails from Scandinavia, where it's a common mantra repeated by parents who insist that their children spend time outdoors every day. Sadly, it's the opposite in the United States, where the slightest sign of inclement weather is an excuse to stay inside and even good weather fails to lure children out to play.
This stark difference in parental attitudes came as a shock to Linda Åkeson McGurk, a Swedish woman who married an American and moved to Indiana to start a family. Quickly she realized that the nature-centric parenting philosophies she'd taken for granted as a kid in Sweden were not the norm in the U.S. and that many factors, from the emphasis on standardized tests to overly-packed schedules to ubiquitous smartphones to lack of playmates, conspired to make getting outside a real challenge.
McGurk refused to give in to the American way of doing things and fought daily to make the outdoors a regular part of her daughters' life. Several years ago she started a wonderful blog called Rain or Shine Mamma (which has inspired many a post on TreeHugger), and has now published a book, titled There's No Such Thing as Bad Weather: A Scandinavian Mom's Secrets for Raising Healthy, Resilient, and Confident Kids (from Friluftsliv to Hygge).
In the book, McGurk documents her parenting journey, which starts in Indiana but then moves overseas to Sweden, when she takes her girls for a six-month stay. There, she's immersed in a child-raising approach that's both familiar, from her own childhood, and foreign, after 15 years of living on American soil. But it doesn't take long for both of her daughters to flourish in their Swedish school settings, where time spent in nature and 'free-range'-type independence are top priorities.
The book is not all personal anecdote. It is chock-full of the latest research on the importance of outdoor play and the ability of nature to foster child development all around -- academically, emotionally, physically. For example, McGurk writes about the value of dirt in boosting children's health and combating the high rates of asthma and allergies that now affect 40 percent of U.S. kids. I was intrigued by the mention of Mycobacterium vaccae, a microbe found in soil that has the ability to "trigger our serotonin production, effectively making us happier and more relaxed."
kids lying in a mud puddle
© Rain or Shine Mamma/Facebook
She talks about the importance of outdoor free play to develop crucial physical skills. Kids spend so much time indoors these days that they fail to build strength in the most basic of ways, like holding a pencil or being able to lift with their upper bodies.
Letting kids move freely outdoors makes them better at assessing risk. They learn that the world isn't eternally cushioned for every fall, which in turn builds the grit and resilience known to be key to professional success. In Sweden, the parental attitude is one of "freedom with responsibility," where kids are expected to learn boundaries, but as they demonstrate maturity, those boundaries expand.
The book is a great read that I devoured in a weekend and it has been on my mind ever since. What particularly resonated was McGurk's point that we have limited years of influence on our children. She writes of her oldest daughter, Maya:
"Somewhere deep inside I felt a gnawing urge that now was the tie to cement her love for nature, nurture her sense of outdoor adventure, and help her to form memories that would last a lifetime."
If you have any regular interaction with children, then please read this book. Allow it to be your guide to another way of doing things, where nature is used as a wholesome tool to entertain, teach, calm, and delight children. The book has certainly affected me. I'm now looking into a local forest school for my kids to attend once a week and planning to buy a year-long membership to a local provincial park for more frequent hiking and camping.
Together, we can change the parenting narrative within the U.S. and Canada, where I live. We can challenge the fear-based approach that is driving parents to hold onto their children far too tightly and prevent them from growing in healthy ways. McGurk's book can play a major role in helping this to happen.