In his fourth appearance on The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast, Thomas Kersting—licensed therapist, author, and former school counselor—returns to share what he’s witnessed over 25 years on the front lines of youth mental health. From skyrocketing anxiety levels since 2012 to rising oppositional behavior and sleep deprivation, Kersting explains how screens, social conformity, and parental fear have reshaped childhood—and not for the better. But he also offers hope: the solution is far simpler than m...
Jun 26, 2025•58 min
What if healing, purpose, and joy could all begin with a walk—and a willingness to connect? In this powerful episode, Mark and Ksenija Ostach open up about their journey toward living a life anchored in intentional connection, even in the midst of grief, distraction, and digital overload. From their blind date beginnings to creating a family culture rooted in presence over pixels, they share how storytelling, faith, and slowing down became transformational tools in their home. Together, they’ve ...
Jun 25, 2025•55 min
What if your child’s screen time is causing permanent damage—and you don’t even know it yet? In this compelling episode, Ginny Yurich sits down with Clare Morell, public policy expert and author of The Tech Exit: A Practical Guide to Freeing Kids and Teens from Smartphones . Together, they unpack one of the most startling screen-related health issues facing kids today: chronic dry eye. Once seen only in the elderly, dry eye is now affecting children as young as eight—often irreversibly—due to re...
Jun 24, 2025•58 min
When Barbie Rivera’s six-year-old son came home from school, she was told he was mentally disabled and would need psychotropic medication for life. But he was just a bright, bilingual little boy who confused his sixes and nines. In this gripping episode, Barbie shares her powerful story—one that exposes the systemic pressure to medicate children, the brokenness of early childhood education, and what happens when we ignore developmental phases in favor of compliance and convenience. Host Ginny Yu...
Jun 23, 2025•51 min
What do you do when it feels like your work, your prayers, your dreams—are going nowhere? In this soul-stirring conversation, Dr. Heather Thompson Day joins Ginny Yurich to talk about what it really means to live a life of passion, faith, and unseen impact. Drawing from her newest book What If I’m Wrong? , Heather shares deeply personal stories about her father’s battle with Alzheimer’s, parenting through pain, and the quiet generational weaving that connects our ordinary days to something much ...
Jun 20, 2025•54 min
In this raw and hope-filled episode, Ginny sits down with Lindsey Prell, a working mom who was quietly unraveling under the weight of modern motherhood—until everything changed. Lindsey opens up about her darkest season, when she and her husband were one casual conversation away from divorce. Through a surprising series of events—including a life-giving women’s group, an unexpected job loss, and discovering the 1000 Hours Outside movement—Lindsey began a journey of healing, presence, and unexpec...
Jun 19, 2025•59 min
Why is summer the most common season for divorce? In this powerful and heartfelt episode, The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast host Ginny Yurich sits down with Rebekah and Gabe Lyons—authors of The Fight for Us —to talk about the unexpected strains of modern marriage, how childhood patterns silently shape our partnerships, and what it really means to fight for each other. With refreshing vulnerability, the Lyons share the lessons they've learned through 28 years of marriage, raising four kids (two wit...
Jun 18, 2025•58 min
Jeremy Puglisi returns for his seventh appearance on The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast—and it’s a powerful one. What began as a pop-up camper and a couple of sleep-deprived twins has become a movement, a media company, and a meaningful legacy. In this episode, Jeremy and host Ginny Yurich reflect on what it really means to invest in your children—not with money, but with time, presence, and outdoor adventures. Jeremy shares the long-term fruit of raising kids immersed in nature, adventure, and unpr...
Jun 17, 2025•57 min
She was a face you grew up with—DJ Tanner from Full House —but today, Candace Cameron Bure is a creative force, entrepreneur, and mom of three navigating a media landscape that’s changed dramatically since the 1980s. In this refreshingly honest conversation, Candace opens up about what it's like to raise kids in a streaming world—one with infinite entertainment options but fewer shared family experiences. She shares how fame shaped her childhood, how motherhood grounded her, and why she’s workin...
Jun 16, 2025•1 hr 3 min
What if the waiting seasons of your life weren’t detours—but the very place where the deepest growth happens? In this beautiful, vulnerable, and soul-stirring conversation, DawnCheré Wilkerson joins Ginny Yurich to talk about her book Slow Burn and the hidden work God does in our hearts while we wait. From infertility to surprise pregnancies, from palm trees weathering hurricanes to century plants that bloom after decades, DawnCheré shares unforgettable metaphors from nature that reflect God's p...
Jun 13, 2025•58 min
Modern screen time isn’t just harmless entertainment—it’s reshaping our kids’ brains. In this summer mashup with Dr. Nicholas Kardaras , we explore how immersive, interactive tech—especially in early childhood—alters neurological development and leads to impulsivity, poor focus, and even addiction. Packed with clinical insights and hopeful strategies, this episode is a wake-up call for parents who want more for their kids than digital babysitters. Learn how early tech exposure chips away at curi...
Jun 12, 2025•1 hr 3 min
What happens to a generation when screens become the centerpiece of childhood? In this powerful 500th episode, Ginny Yurich is joined by Kim John Payne, author of Simplicity Parenting , to explore the quiet crisis unfolding in families across the world. From rising anxiety to declining play, from screen dependency to emotional disconnection—this conversation exposes how the very sanctity of childhood has been breached, often in ways we didn’t see coming. But there’s hope. Together, Ginny and Kim...
Jun 11, 2025•1 hr
What Have We Done to Childhood? That’s the question at the heart of this gripping conversation with Dr. Peter Gray , author of Free to Learn and one of the world’s foremost researchers on human development and education. In his fourth appearance on the podcast, Dr. Gray unpacks how cultural shifts—from agricultural hierarchies to today’s anxiety-fueled overprotection—have stripped childhood of its most essential ingredients: freedom, trust, agency, and play. What we call “normal” now—overschedul...
Jun 10, 2025•1 hr
If our kids are achieving but not thriving, what are we actually working toward? In this profoundly helpful and eye-opening conversation, Ned Johnson and Dr. William Stixrud —authors of What Do You Say? and The Self-Driven Child —return to share powerful insights about raising kids who can handle stress, stay motivated, and actually enjoy their lives. We talk about what it means to be a non-anxious presence, how our words and behaviors shape our children’s mental health, and why the “Yale or fai...
Jun 09, 2025•1 hr
What happens when grief, loss, and hardship become the soil where storytelling grows? In this unforgettable episode, Sean Dietrich — bestselling author and beloved writer — shares the raw, redemptive beauty of his childhood, where pain and hope sat side by side. With trademark warmth and honesty, Sean opens up about his father’s death, the ache of feeling like an outsider, and the strangers who showed up when family didn’t. It’s heartbreaking, hilarious, and profoundly human. Host Ginny Yurich w...
Jun 06, 2025•53 min
In this unforgettable conversation, New York Times bestselling author and investigative journalist Lee Strobel joins Ginny Yurich to explore the unseen realm—where science, faith, and mystery collide. Drawing from his newest book Seeing the Supernatural , Strobel shares powerful, documented stories of near-death experiences, angelic encounters, supernatural dreams, and miracle healings that challenge modern assumptions about consciousness, death, and the afterlife. This episode is about evidence...
Jun 05, 2025•54 min
You’ve read the book, maybe even underlined your favorite sentences—but have you ever wondered who helped shape those words before they reached your hands? In this refreshingly candid and surprisingly emotional episode, Ginny Yurich sits down with Will Parker Anderson , senior editor at Penguin Random House (WaterBrook & Multnomah), to explore the mysterious world of publishing and the unsung heroes behind today’s most meaningful reads. From decoding messy manuscripts to helping authors find...
Jun 04, 2025•57 min
What if the key to more family adventures started in your kitchen? Mandy Klentz of Plandy Mandy returns to The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast to show us how home-cooked, additive-free meals can actually save time, money, and stress. In this warm and practical conversation, Ginny Yurich and Mandy unpack the real cost of convenience foods—and how a freezer full of homemade muffins might just be your ticket to more memories outside. This episode is a breath of fresh air for overwhelmed parents. Mandy s...
Jun 03, 2025•58 min
What if the biggest risk to our children’s future isn’t failure—but our fear of it? In this bold and deeply affirming episode, Ginny Yurich is joined by bestselling author and father of four, Mark Gerson , to explore how overprotection is quietly robbing kids of the very traits they need to thrive: independence, resilience, and confidence. Drawing from his new book God Was Right , Gerson shows how timeless biblical truths—like “do not fear”—are being confirmed by modern social science, and why e...
Jun 02, 2025•1 hr 3 min
When life falls apart, learning doesn’t have to. In this heartfelt conversation, Ginny Yurich sits down with Christine Alexander of Wonder and Wildflower to talk about a season of homeschooling marked by deep challenges—job loss, a cross-country move, and a year without any seatwork. And yet, in the middle of that chaos, something beautiful happened: connection deepened, resilience bloomed, and the kids kept learning in unexpected, life-giving ways. This episode is a reminder that the hard seaso...
May 30, 2025•54 min
Jon Acuff has joined The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast six times—and every time, he’s delivered unforgettable encouragement, truth bombs, and just the right amount of hilarious honesty. In this special summer edition, we’ve pulled together his greatest hits. These aren’t just highlights—they’re life-giving reminders about courage, purpose, parenting, progress, and the myth of perfection. From “auditioning goals” to “measuring against zero,” this episode is full of practical mindset shifts and soul-...
May 29, 2025•53 min
In this unforgettable episode of The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast , Ginny Yurich welcomes author and Yale Law graduate Mary Marantz for a conversation that is as heart-wrenching as it is hope-filled. Mary shares her journey from a trailer on a mountaintop in West Virginia to the halls of Yale, weaving together stories of dirt-stained roots, childhood magic, absent parents, and the quiet faithfulness that carried her through. With honesty and insight, she explores the deep longing to belong, the ac...
May 28, 2025•57 min
In one of the most powerful episodes of The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast to date, Ginny Yurich welcomes back Angela Hanscom—pediatric occupational therapist, author of Balanced and Barefoot , and founder of TimberNook —for her fifth and most stirring conversation yet. Angela unpacks the developmental consequences of our modern restrictions on movement—from limited recess to screen-heavy lifestyles—and why so many kids today are falling out of chairs, struggling with emotional regulation, and losin...
May 27, 2025•53 min
Life is already complicated—dinner doesn’t have to be. In this refreshingly down-to-earth conversation, Ginny Yurich sits down with Emily Ley , bestselling author, planner designer, and creator of The Simplified Cookbook , to talk about what it really takes to make family life easier. Emily shares her journey from climbing the corporate ladder to launching a wildly successful business that helps women ditch the overwhelm and embrace simplicity—starting with dinner. From “stupid easy” recipes and...
May 26, 2025•46 min
What if doing less was actually the key to doing what matters most? In this powerful episode, Ginny Yurich sits down with Technicolor Woman author Courtney Smallbone for a raw, hope-filled conversation about legacy, identity, and the cost of burnout. Courtney shares how embracing rest, resisting cultural pressure, and choosing a slower path has helped her build a family life rooted in purpose. Together they explore what it means to finish well, how generational impact begins long before our kids...
May 23, 2025•55 min
What if education wasn’t about grades or transcripts—but about becoming the kind of person who can figure it out ? In this powerful and timely episode of The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast , Matt Beaudreau returns for a second time to help launch Ginny Yurich’s brand new book, Homeschooling: You’re Doing It Right Just by Doing It , which he proudly endorsed. Together, they dismantle the conveyor belt model of schooling and offer a radically freeing alternative: when parents grow, kids grow. Matt sha...
May 22, 2025•58 min
International parenting icon Maggie Dent joins Ginny Yurich for a critical conversation that challenges everything we’ve been told about raising children in today’s fast-paced, screen-saturated, achievement-obsessed world. With wit, wisdom, and warmth, Maggie shares the truth that every overwhelmed parent needs to hear: childhood is not a race. From toddler tantrums to reading readiness, she explains why we must stop pushing academic milestones down to younger and younger ages—and start trusting...
May 21, 2025•57 min
Joel Salatin —farmer, author, and foreword writer for Ginny Yurich’s new book —joins us for his fifth episode, and it’s a powerhouse. This conversation is a front-row seat to what happens when you raise kids in real life instead of a classroom. Joel walks us through the radical decision he and his wife made in the 1980s to homeschool, back when it was still illegal in parts of the country and deeply misunderstood. With no research, no co-ops, and no roadmap, they said yes anyway—because they cou...
May 20, 2025•54 min
What if the things you don’t have are exactly what God wants to use? In this powerful conversation, Tauren Wells joins The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast to share the story behind his new book J oy Bomb: Unleashing Jesus’s Explosive Joy for an Extraordinary Life . Together with host Ginny Yurich, Tauren unpacks the deeper meaning of the Beatitudes—revealing how Jesus' first sermon wasn’t just a list of virtues but a radical invitation to joy for the overlooked, the grieving, the struggling, and the ...
May 19, 2025•59 min
What if the most powerful world your child will ever explore isn’t inside a screen—but just outside your door? In this magical episode of The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast, naturalist and author Susie Spikol returns to share enchanting stories, unforgettable facts, and simple, wonder-filled activities that celebrate the everyday wild. From dandelion tea and fairy rings to moss gardens and mushroom lore, Susie invites families to reclaim imagination from the grip of Big Tech and rediscover the joy o...
May 16, 2025•56 min
