Creative and Fun — My Everyday Today

Jul 20

Jul 20 Creative and Fun

On a rainy day or for what it seems a rainy week. I had to come up with a creative way to keep my girls entertained. I had promised them for three days in a row that I would take then to the pool but for one reason or another it hadn’t worked out. So now it is Friday and we are ready to put swimming suits on and it starts raining and thundering. These girls were devastated and quite honestly, I thought I would never hear the end of it. Of course, as all of us parents instinctively know, I had to think and think quick of an alternative. I immediately said, "well lets take baths and get ready for the evening while mommy prepares a surprise." These was so much fun and suspense for them. Of course I had no idea what the surprise was. Thank God, He put in my mind the idea of making a tent under the dinning room table and make it a fun reading space, decorated with sheets and lights that I had handy and to bring all the new books from the library that we hadn't finish reading yet. Well, needless to say this was a hit and the girls absolutely loved it and it made the best rainy afternoon ever. This was such a home-run, that mommy slept with them under the table that night and dad camp in the leaving room.

This reminded me that, keeping our kids happy is not that difficult. Yes, who doesn't like to go to the pool, a theme park, a nice play-date, etc.... However, the little things in life can also make them happy. Have you heard of stories from your parents or your own, were you didn't have a lot of toys but you had fun playing with pots and pans, rocks and sticks, etc. We need to discourage our kids from being "high-maintenance" or spoil. In another words, they can't have fun unless they have a phone, Ipad, tablet in their hand or doing something fancy. Let us teach them to enjoy every moment and make the best out of it, rainy or shiny, hot or cold, big budget outing or a simple picnic in your back yard. Below I will share some ideas to get your creativity going:

Make cars, or trains out of boxes. My girls love it when there is a box big enough that they can fit in and we push them around the house. You can always make it fun and have a little competition, with either a timer, and see which parent can push the fastest (is that a word?). You can do a race. Oh, if you don't have box around, you can use laundry baskets or go and for less then $3 buy a boxes. Best money ever invested!!!
Cooking night, get the kids to pick a recipe that they each want to do and do it together.
Picnic in your backyard, get a sheet out there, try to make it fancy with things you already have at home.
If you have a tent, have an indoor camping and do not allow any lights on the house, only flashlights for that night.
Have an art competition and give everyone in the family papers and colors and then ask a neighbor or relative to give each picture an award. Like, the most colorful, creative, modern, traditional, nature, etc...the point everyone wins.

Bottom line, the point here is that kids want to spend quality time with us and we need to capitalized on this before its too late and they don't. Even if they are at that point, don't give up and spend time in what interest them and makes them happy.