The 'Great' Outdoors

I think I missed a memo somewhere along the line; I may be one of the few parents that did not attend the seminar about "Why kids MUST go outside". What's wrong with being inside??
Paul is a big Outdoors Guy. He likes the kids to be outside. It's like an obsession with him. For years he would get home from work and we would have the following conversation.

Paul: "Why are the girls inside?"
Me: Because they live here???
Paul: They should be outside getting fresh air. When I was a kid I was outside all the time. We would wake up, have breakfast, then go outside until lunch. Then back outside until dinner. We did not come in until the street lights came on...
Me: hmmmmm

Apparently during this wonderful 'time outside' they had adventures in the ravine, they played in the creek, they tobogganed, they bicycled... blah, blah. Once they even saw a coyote! If I put my 9 and 5 year-olds outside and did not know where they were for several hours during the day while they frolicked in the ravine child protective services would be at my door. Kids drown in creeks!
Mind you, this is the same man who suggested we go winter camping (hello.... have we just met? I don't like camping in the summer, I am certainly not doing it in the snow) and who wanted to sleep with the window open in February when we first got married.
Saturday afternoon, Paul will usually get the girls all bundled up in their snowsuits and send them out to play. They roll around in the snow banks, play with their shovels. Some days he gets all dressed up too and they head for the tobogganing hill. They come back with big smiles and rosy cheeks and Paul says: "you should have come, babe. It was fun." Oh yeah, cold weather, snow, sitting on the ground, jarring bumps on my spine -- sorry I missed that!!
For me being outside is a necessary evil -- or a punishment. If I send the girls outside it is usually it is at the end of the day when I am tired and they have been arguing for the past 20 minutes. At that point I snap and say "If you girls don't cut it out you are going to have to play outside." Will they be fighting outside? Probably, but I don't have to listen to it. Here's your hat, what's your hurry? Nowadays, if Paul comes home and the girls are playing outside he knows that it has not been a good day.
Remember high school they used to do aptitude tests to help you make career choices? One of the first questions was always: "would you like to work indoors or outdoors?" I always thought that it was the strangest question. Who in the world would choose to work outdoors? For 6 months of the year that would seriously suck. Yet, the man I married could not imagine working indoors. To him it would be a punishment (most likely because he was brainwashed by all of that outdoors time as a kid).
For some reason, the "outdoors guys" seem to gravitate to me. I think they see me as some sort of project. One guy I dated in university lived on campus. Before I go any further, I need to explain that the university I attended had a complete underground tunnel system so if you lived on campus, and you played your cards right, you could get through the full winter without EVER GOING OUT IN THE COLD. To me it was a dream come true. On a typical weekday I would spend at least 2 hours on a drafty bus or freezing my butt off at the bus stop. Meanwhile, he could roll out of bed wearing shorts and walk through the tunnel to class.
But he didn't. Each day, no matter how cold he was he would get up, put on boots, a coat, a hat and mitts and walk through the snow across campus. It was nonsensical to me! What fresh air!? It is minus 30 out there! You have a choice -- what are you thinking?
Today I am a partial convert. Now that I am a runner I enjoy it when the weather over 10 degrees Celsius. I think to myself 'this is nice weather for a run' and I actually get a little excited about it. I like to cycle and I am thrilled when I get an opportunity to get my bike out for a ride when the weather co-operates. But, I also have a gym membership so I can use the treadmill or spin bike if the weather is miserable.
Let's hear it for the great indoors!!