Tuesday, May 29, 2012

It's Official...

Summer break is definitely in full effect! You're probably already being inundated with complaints of boredom and/or constant hunger.
Here's a few  family fun ideas to help keep yourself relatively sane, until school starts back.
Have a backyard scavenger hunt. It's free, easy and will keep the kids entertained for a while. Especially if you put items on the list that are not present in your backyard.
Watch a movie together. Let your favorite child pick out a movie and force the others to watch it. (kidding)
Play a game of Uno. Because of it's simple color/number matching format, Uno is a game most kids can learn fairly easy. It's way easier than trying to explain to a kid why a straight beats 3 of a kind.
Go to the park and feed the ducks. (if your park doesn't have ducks, feed the pigeons or squirrels...improvise)
Most of us are within relatively close proximity to a park that has ducks. This is a cheap way to keep the kids from killing each other, if only for an hour. Check out your local bread store and ask if they offer discounted bags of day old bread. I affectionately refer to this as "duck bread". At my local bread outlet,  $1 will get you a bag filled with enough day old bread to choke a small army of ducks. (not that I reccomend choking ducks, with bread or otherwise)
Contact your local bowling alley. Alot of them offer free bowling for kids on certain days.
Find a friend or a relative or a friend of a relative or a relative of a friend, that has a pool and invite yourself over.
Pitch a tent in the backyard. Light a fire in the grill, roast marshmallows and tell the kids stories of "back in the olden days, when I was your age". You'd be surprised how little things like the story of your first heartbreak, or not getting picked for a team or being picked on for your spikey Bart Simpson hair do (not funny), mean to your kids. It makes you more relatable & almost human to them..  (it also gives them ammo against you in future arguments, so you might wanna be careful what stories you decide to share)
Bake cookies with them. Yes, it'll be way messier than if you just make 'em yourself, but the memories you're making and life skills lessons you're teaching are so worth it. Besides, you can always make them help clean up. Isn't that why we had 'em in the first place?!
Play a board game. Yes, kiddies, there are games that do not require electricity. Board games are great and teach kids lots of great skills. How to take turns, how to count, how to tell colors and most importantly how to be a good sport regardless of whether you win or lose.
Water balloons and water guns can be either a whole lotta fun or a whole lotta drama. If your kids are scared to get wet or assaulted, this is probably not for them.
Summer is a time for your kids to relax and unwind and a time for you to make some great memories. As I've learned the hard way, our kids are only kids for a little while. Before you know it, they're seniors in high school, getting summer jobs, driving cars and all of a sudden,they don't have time for you, so make the extra effort and spend some quality time goofing off with your kids this summer.

1 comments:

Down South Savings said...

Love it!! Lol

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