Rainy Day Fun
To be a parent today is to feel guilty. In one survey sponsored by the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, parents rated the importance of spending time with their kids as 9.5 out of 10. We know they need time with us to work through problems, to learn moral lessons, and even to learn basic skills, because the messages they’re receiving everywhere else often undermine our values. Yet knowing it is different than doing it. Half of all parents report that this necessary time is in too short supply.
It’s not hard to see why. At the end of the day, too often I find that all I’ve said to my girls is, "Hurry up, come on, we’ve got to go." Even though I don’t want to be that kind of parent, it’s all too easy. So many things pull us away from quality time with our kids: work, lessons, errands, committees, and even housework. We’re so used to being busy we often don’t know what to do when it’s quiet. Unfortunately, too many of us take the easy way out: we watch television, about 20 hours a week of it.
If we take the initiative to switch off the TV though, we might find opportunities to bond with our children right in front of us. And what better time than spring, when the gloomy, wet weather keeps kids corralled at home? Here are some ideas to get you started.
Laugh Together...
Pull out those old board games. Kids love games, and learning the rules helps them grow developmentally. Sorryä helps kids recognize numbers and practice counting; Monopolyä teaches addition and multiplication; Clueä teaches logic. Best of all, kids love the undivided attention when it’s their turn and everyone cheers them on.
Introduce your child to an old friend. Cuddle up under the blankets and delve into one of your favorite books from childhood. Let Charlie Bucket, Anne Shirley, or Lucy, Edmund, Peter and Susan Pevensie come to life, teaching your kids value lessons as they share these wonderful adventures. (If you haven’t yet met these great characters, ask your librarian!) Boys, especially, benefit from hearing books read aloud; they often fail to develop a love of reading without it. Read together and you whet their appetite for more.
Create Together…
Start an indoor garden. Teach kids how seeds grow by planting some dried beans in a glass jar with wet paper towel, or place a carrot top on a plate with water and watch it sprout. Leave a potato in a closed shoebox with a hole in one side, and watch it start to grow towards the hole.
Bake cookies. Try sugar cookies that kids can cut into shapes, and then decorate with icing, gumdrops, chocolate chips, and lots of giggles.
Do crafts. Pull out the glue, old magazines, fabric and construction paper for younger children. For older kids, find crafts you can work on altogether in the same room. One child may build a model airplane while another latch hooks. Remember, it’s never too early to think about Christmas presents for Grandma and Grandpa!
Remember Together…
Make a scrapbook. Do you have pictures from last year’s vacation still sitting in a shoebox? Bring them out and make a scrapbook together. Have your children draw pictures of their favorite experience or write a short story about the time you got a flat tire or when you were drenched waiting in line for a roller coaster. Ask them to add funny captions to some of the snapshots. At the end of the afternoon you’ll have a wonderful memento of a family activity, and your kids will have had fun reliving it!
Create a Family Coat of Arms. Who are you as a family? What has defined you? What do you want to become? Cut out a large piece of bristol board in the shape of a shield, divide it into four or six sections, and encourage the kids to think of objects to put in each one that represent who you are together. Are you musical? Paste a music note. Do you like to camp? Draw a tent. Wait to see what your children suggest!
Capture New Memories. Many of us buy video cameras vowing to record our kids’ milestones—and then forget to use them. Here’s your chance to ask your kids to perform! Have them dress up, sing a favorite song, recount a favorite memory or joke, or make up a play. If you don’t have a video camera, use a tape recorder to capture their voices. Then have fun playing it back.
