Do you believe in more screen time or more outside time for kids?
From day one, we have set out to build the SHRED DOG brand around 3 core principles:
1) delivering better value for parents with outdoor youth gear that is higher performance and lower price compared to other premium quality brands,
2) not guessing at what to make but, instead, engaging our customers in what we call our Co-Design Program for all of our styles, and
3) giving back to help get more kids outside.
As we get closer to delivery and initial sales of our first product line, we want to communicate more about this third “pillar” of the brand and define some of its details. And just like we invite you to help co-design our gear, we would like your help to define some of the details of this program.
Many different studies have shown a number of benefits derived from children experiencing more time in the outdoors – better cognitive abilities, reduction in ADHD symptoms, more creativity, more resilience to stress and adversity, and of course the health and fitness benefits in an age of increasing childhood obesity. One study showed that youth today spend less than half as much time playing outside as their parents did and it’s not hard to see why, considering the struggle most parents have managing “screen time” in the home. And, for many families, even access to nature and/or the cost of some activities can present significant challenges and limit opportunities for a lot of kids.
We are on a mission to help change this.
To do our part and give back, we have created a program called More Kids Outside™. We have big plans to grow and expand this program over the coming years but, to start, SHRED DOG will donate 1% of all sales to non-profit organizations that share our vision and mission to get more kids outside. These are just a few of the organizations that we are researching and speaking with:
- Outdoor Outreach (outdooroutreach.org)
- Outdoors Alliance for Kids (https://outdoorsallianceforkids.org)
- National Winter Sports Education Foundation (www.nwsef.org)
If you are passionate about this mission, we would love your input. Do you have experience with any of these organizations? Are there others you know of that are doing great work to get kids into the outdoors? Please comment below or reach out to info@shreddog.com… we’d love to hear from you.
And, remember, every purchase of SHRED DOG gear will help get More Kids Outside. Thanks for the support!
