Raising Wild

When Grayson Murphy was four years old, her dad let her jump off a 30-foot diving platform. A year or so later, he sent her and her twin sister down a black diamond ski run, tears and all.

Today, Grayson is a professional runner and world mountain running champion who credits experiences like these with helping her develop the confidence to do hard things, even when they're scary.

In this episode of Raising Wild, Ashley talks with Grayson about growing up in an adventurous family, the difference between fear and anxiety, and why learning to fall might be one of the most important lessons we can give our kids. They also explore the value of unstructured play, childhood independence, and how becoming a mother has Grayson thinking about the experiences she hopes to give her own daughter.

And speaking of her daughter, four-month-old Violet joins the conversation, making this a slightly shorter episode than usual!

Explore more Raising Wild episodes here. 

What happens when we slow down long enough to let a place come to us?

Ashley sits down with her longtime mentor and Wild Idea Media founder Bill Hodge to trace his relationship with wild places back to childhood camping trips in the mountains of North Carolina. They talk about the people who taught Bill to pay attention, the unexpected career path that eventually brought him back to conservation, and his work connecting a new generation to public lands.

Along the way, they explore wonder, curiosity, service and what it means to give kids — and ourselves — the time and space to develop a relationship with the natural world.

Learn more at https://thewildidea.com/raising-wild/ 

How do we prepare children for a rapidly changing, increasingly digital world while keeping them connected to what is real?

Ashley talks with Genevieve King, founder of Origins Education, about childhood freedom, boredom, emotional regulation and why nature may be the most important counterbalance we can give children. Genevieve shares how ordinary moments such as breathing, handwashing and eating can become opportunities for mindfulness—and why children need both the wings to navigate the future and the roots that keep them grounded.

Find the full show notes, resources and more at thewildidea.com.

How do we raise children who care about the world without letting worry overwhelm their sense of wonder?

Author Jennifer Case joins Ashley Arnold to explore how caring for our children connects to caring for the earth. Drawing from her book, The Carework Project, Jennifer shares how childhood experiences outside shaped her—and how she’s creating opportunities for her own children to find connection, responsibility and joy.

They discuss building support beyond the nuclear family, talking with kids about climate change, becoming steadier parents and helping children navigate disappointment without giving up. It’s a conversation about caring deeply, accepting care ourselves and recognizing that we don’t have to do everything alone.

Explore show notes and resources on The Wild Idea website.

Raising Wild is hosted by Ashley Arnold and produced by Wild Idea Media. Follow the show for more conversations about raising kids—and ourselves—a little more feral. On purpose.

Joey Pointer grew up working six days a week on his family’s tobacco farm in rural North Carolina. At the time, he hated it. Today, as president and CEO of Fleet Feet, he recognizes how that childhood taught him to work hard, contribute to something larger and remain steady when there is no obvious or perfect answer.

Ashley and Joey explore the connection between farm life and his comfort in the gray area, what he learned from watching his parents lead and why running and time outside still help him work through difficult decisions. Joey also shares what lying in the grass waiting for vultures taught him about patience, why harvesting tobacco was harder than completing an Ironman and how he is trying to raise capable teenagers in a world constantly competing for their attention.

Full show notes and resources: https://thewildidea.com/raising-wild-4/

Mike Foote is a race director, small-business owner and dad to two young boys—and a longtime friend Ashley first came to know through the trail-running world. Years ago, they raced and traveled together. Now, they find themselves in a very different season of life, navigating parenthood, work and changing relationships with adventure.

Mike shares how his own free-range childhood shaped the way he is raising his boys, why he tries to let them set the pace outside and how becoming a parent surprised him by making him want to stay closer to home.

He also talks candidly about living with anxiety and depression and spending 20 months unable to run or move normally after developing pericarditis following COVID. That experience forced him to reconsider an identity built around endurance and taught him to notice what he once moved too quickly to see.

Ashley and Mike talk about:

•  The freedom and unstructured outdoor play Mike experienced as a child 
•  Letting kids take risks while still keeping them safe 
•  Why family adventure does not need to be big or impressive 
•  Giving children room to set the pace and find their own fun 
•  Turning fear about climate change into action 
•  How parenthood changed Mike’s relationship with travel and adventure 
•  Creating space to be physically and mentally present with our kids 
•  Anxiety, depression and the role of outdoor connection 
•  Losing access to movement while recovering from pericarditis 
•  Finding meaning outside beyond speed, distance and achievement 
•  Noticing the landscapes we once hurried through 

Learn more and find links at thewildidea.com.

Raising Wild is a podcast about raising kids—and ourselves—a little more feral, with more freedom, courage, curiosity and connection to nature.

What if getting outside weren’t treated as an optional activity, but as something essential to our health, development and daily lives?

Jessica Turner, president of the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, joins Ashley to talk about the outdoor freedom of her childhood, what those experiences gave her and how she is trying to create that same connection for her own children.

They also explore the vision behind America’s Outdoor Era, ORR’s effort to position outdoor recreation as critical public health infrastructure. Jessica explains why outdoor access cannot rest entirely on individual families—and what could change if schools, healthcare systems, workplaces and policymakers began treating time outside as something people fundamentally need.

In this episode:

•  How Jessica’s outdoor childhood shaped her resilience and leadership 
•  Why children and adults often become better versions of themselves outside 
•  How outdoor experiences help create memory, attention and connection 
•  What it means to treat outdoor recreation as health infrastructure 
•  The role of recess, greener schoolyards and accessible public lands 
•  Why the outdoors can create common ground across political differences 
•  How Jessica navigates screens, work and presence with two young children 
•  What parents can do to create change in their own communities 

Learn more and find links on our website. 

Raising Wild is a podcast about raising kids—and ourselves—a little more feral. On purpose. Follow the show wherever you listen to podcasts.

In the first episode of Raising Wild, Ashley Arnold talks with Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods and Noticing: Intimate Encounters with the Natural World, about what children lose when they lose regular, direct contact with the natural world, and why the answer isn't as simple as blaming screens.

Richard traces the roots of nature-deficit disorder through technology, parental fear, urban design, over-structured childhood and the ways modern life has made outdoor freedom harder to come by. They talk about why kids don't need parents to know every plant name or turn every outing into a lesson; what children remember is discovering something in nature alongside an adult who feels the same sense of wonder they do. The conversation also moves into environmental grief, climate anxiety and the comfort of paying closer attention to the world we're afraid of losing, from frogs in a pond to mountain lions outside Richard's window.

As Richard puts it, "Nothing was ever protected that wasn't loved. And nothing is loved if it's not noticed."

Full show notes and links on our website.

Welcome to Raising Wild!

This is a podcast about raising kids—and ourselves—a little more feral. On purpose.
In this short trailer, host Ashley Arnold introduces Raising Wild, a new podcast from Wild Idea Media about childhood, nature, freedom, risk and the wild parts of ourselves we don’t want to lose.

Through conversations with writers, scientists, educators, adventurers, leaders, athletes and parents, Raising Wild explores how we give kids a wilder, more connected childhood in the world we actually live in—and how we reclaim it for ourselves—so we can take risks, think independently, and love, value and protect the wild places that shape us.

The first full episode launches on July 8th with Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods and the forthcoming NOTICING: Intimate Encounters with the Natural World. In that conversation, Ashley and Richard talk about childhood, technology, awe, attention, nature connection and why learning to notice the living world around us may be one of the most important things we can practice.

Subscribe to Raising Wild today and follow along as the first season begins.