Despite her daunting work schedule, Dawson also knows how critical it is to carve out time for well-being and mental health—especially for our kids. That’s why the actress and mom (who adopted then-preteen daughter Lola in 2014) has partnered with Tom’s of Maine on their Get Into Nature initiative, a three-year, $3 million endeavor to increase nature access and outdoor opportunities to at least 150,000 underprivileged children nationwide. Dawson recently spoke to Parade.com about how she makes nature a part of her life even in her native New York City, her favorite ways to coax her daughter to get outdoors and why Dopesick felt personal to her.
More and more research is showing positive links between time outside and overall well-being. Do you have a favorite personal anecdote about how the outdoors benefits mental and physical health?
It’s actually a two-part story. One is when I adopted my daughter, she did not like walking or doing any of that kind of stuff. She’s from North Carolina, she’s used to driving everywhere. But she really loves animals and we just started spending a lot of time outdoors and a lot of her therapy has been around being outdoors and being engaged—getting in the dirt, working with animals, horses, learning horseback riding, going whitewater rafting—just really pushing her boundaries, and it’s made such a huge impact on her development. So I love this campaign specifically because it’s reaching out to particularly vulnerable communities that do not have green spaces, maybe that don’t have schools with outdoor extracurriculars, making sure to target them as kids who need to have the best access and working with organizations that are creating that access and opportunity for them. I know from being able to afford to have my daughter be in those spaces how much it’s done for her. My second story is, my very first thing I ever did on camera really was for Sesame Street and it was a little short film about kids in the Lower East Side working in community gardens and I just love that all these years later, that community garden is just down the block from the Lower East Side Girls Club where we’re kickstarting this initiative. They have a green roof, so the girls really spend a lot of time understanding farmers’ markets and recipes and food and getting outdoors and doing things, going camping, and they’ve just started a wellness center. I just love how full-circle it all is.
You were born and raised in NYC. What are your best tips for those in more urban, densely populated areas to find ways to get out into nature?
You know, New York, you have everything at your fingertips. Like, you really do. It might be an hour on the train to get out to the beach, but then you’re at the beach! It’s awesome! I just went to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. There was this beautiful meditation that was happening there with Deepak Chopra; my friend wanted to go for her birthday. It was like, I can’t believe this is right here! To see the different wildlife, to see the different plants and the birds—it’s just gorgeous. They have so many weddings and special events they do there, but why does it have to be a special occasion? Why can’t it be our normal? So I say go and get it. Get out there and explore. Within the same day, you can be in three completely different environments. We talk about that a lot for places like L.A. and I think people forget that we can always do that in a place like New York.
What’s your advice for a parent who’s trying to get their kids to spend more time outdoors but are locked in a constant battle with screens?
It’s hard to just stay on your phone when you’re at the beach. It’s hard to just stay on your phone when you’re on a bike ride, you know? It’s really nice to sit down and have a meal, or to sit and have a picnic and be out there and take your shoes off and really calm down and relax and take a moment to just breathe and feel the breeze and enjoy food and wrapping and unpacking it—really making a moment out of it, I think, is just so precious. Play some card games out there, go kick a ball around. I think I was a dog in a previous life; I like to stick my head out the window and get the breeze, I love to play catch and Frisbee and all of that kind of stuff. It’s really, really special. Plus, you can tell your kids they’ll be able to get a bunch of really cool selfies and they can use the hashtag #getintonature and be a part of Tom’s of Maine’s campaign and get reposted! So yeah, we can do all the things.
I wanted to ask you about your upcoming Hulu miniseries, Dopesick. What attracted you to the project?
I have had family members who became heroin addicts. They stopped being able to be functioning partners and parents and workers. Some of them lost their lives after being exposed to heroin. Opioid addiction—starting with, particularly, oxycontin—there’s a lot of people who have these stories. And we found that a lot of that on our set and our crew, that’s why a lot of people wanted to be a part of it. What happened, particularly with this pharmaceutical company, it’s really telling about where we are today as a society. Hopefully [the series] will build people’s empathy towards each other, start to destigmatize what addiction is, and start to better hold folks accountable for the kinds of choices they’re making that are solely based on capitalism and not benefiting society en masse. I think it’s brilliant, I think it’s really well done. Danny wrote an incredible eight episodes. You’ll see by episode 4—I keep saying, my Michael-forever Batman-Beetlejuice-Beetlejuice-Beetlejuice Keaton is like, “Give me that Emmy.” Episode 4, he’s like, “It’s mine, give me my Emmy.” It’s so great, it’s really compelling and a really brilliant show.
I’m always on the hunt for great product recommendations, so given your partnership with Tom’s of Maine, I’d love to know what your favorite Tom’s products are.
They just started switching over to paper canisters for their deodorants. Their stuff is recyclable anyway, but it’s made with no aluminum, they’re plastic-free, they smell really good, they travel really easily. I also love their toothpaste, the peppermint and their cinnamon. They have ones with fluoride and without fluoride. I just really love their stuff. It’s all-natural, they’re a 50-year-old company, they’ve been giving away 10 percent of their profits to organizations that help kids and help the environment. And then this program, #GetIntoNature, it’s a three-year program. It’s not a one-and-done, little media blitz. They’re going to spend the next three years guaranteeing that at least 150,000 kids who normally wouldn’t have access to the outdoors get access, with a $3 million commitment behind it. I just think it’s really powerful, it’s really beautiful. I know what being in the great outdoors has done for me and my mental health over the years and I’m really glad that they’re continuing to push that. Next, Sarah Michelle Gellar Talks Back-to-School and Losing Her Cool (Like Every Mom!) Amid the Ongoing Pandemic
