RecreatingWithKids.com Launches to Help Parents Connect Kids with the

Carbondale, Colo. (Dec. 15, 2010) – A new website, www.RecreatingWithKids.com, has launched to help parents get kids off GameBoy and into the great outdoors. Spearheaded by longtime outdoor industry veteran Eugene Buchanan—whose recent award-winning book, Outdoor Parents, Outdoor Kids, champions the same message—the site’s timing coincides with several industry initiatives designed to encourage families to get outdoors, including the launch of President Obama’s Childhood Obesity Task Force and America’s Great Outdoor Initiative. It also follows findings by The Outdoor Foundation that youth participation in outdoor recreation has dropped nearly 17 percent in last three years.

“The site is based on the success of the book and is an ongoing way to get the same message across,” says Buchanan, whose book benefits the Outdoor Foundation’s efforts to grow youth participation in outdoor recreation. “As a portal offering news and advice on getting children outside, hopefully it will help encourage families to participate in outdoor activities. That’s the future of the outdoor industry.”

The site was also recently selected a partner member of Washington, D.C.’s Outdoors Alliance for Kids (www.outdoorsallianceforkids.org). “OAK is thrilled to welcome Recreating with Kids to its team,” says OAK’s Jacqueline Ostfeld. “We look forward to working with it to further connect children and families with the outdoors.”

Released in 2009, The Outdoor Foundation’s Outdoor Youth Participation study finds that most youth are introduced to outdoor activities through their families. But a downward trend exists as far as participation, coinciding with studies showing that childhood obesity rates have tripled in the past 30 years. “Sadly, fewer youth are heading outdoors each year,” says The Outdoor Foundation executive director Christine Fanning. “Reconnecting youth with the outdoors is critical to the health of future generations and our natural landscapes.”

RecreatingWithKids.com includes news updates on programs, events and initiatives designed to help get kids outside; reports on family-friendly destinations; gear reviews on kid-related products; how-to guidelines for such outdoor activities as biking, camping, paddling, fishing, skiing, hiking and climbing; and a Parent Tales section where visitors can share their stories and photos. “The concept is striking a lot of chords these days,” says Buchanan. “The only downside is that updating the site means being indoors.”

About Eugene Buchanan: A former reporter for the Denver Business Journal and 14-year editor-in-chief of Paddler magazine, Eugene Buchanan has written about the outdoors for more than 25 years, from covering the X Games for ESPN.com to working for NBC at the Beijing Olympics. With freelance articles published in the New York Times, Men’s Journal, Sports Afield, Outside, National Geographic Adventure, Forbes Life and other publications, Buchanan is also a Fellow member of the Explorer’s Club and spearheaded the Outdoor Industry Association’s Outdoor Idols campaign, honoring teens’ accomplishments in the outdoors. His first book, Brothers on the Bashkaus, was released by Fulcrum Publishing in 2007.

-30-

Media Contacts
Tim Braun, b2 Inc., (970) 618-0080, tbraun@b2inc.net
Eugene Buchanan, Recreation Publishing, (970) 870-0880, eugene@paddlinglife.net