It seems we're either going full speed ahead into road trips this summer or screeching to a halt into boredom at home. I was talking with a fellow mom yesterday about my kids' summer boredom and she told me about a friend of hers whose goal was to have her kids get so bored through the summer that they became creative and made up their own fun. Liking that idea I declared today "Electronics-free Day". ("But aren't you typing on your computer, Wanda?" I'm the mom; I get an exemption.)
My kids ate breakfast this morning and then the youngest queried, "Can we play on the Wii?" I told him no, that it was Electronics-free Day. The three of them bounced away to play. Half an hour later the girl comes over; "Can I watch TV?" Nope, it's Electronics-free Day. After some outdoor play and long-due showers, the girl asked if their "laptops" counted as electronics. Yep, no dice. Satisfied, she went off to play again.
I think they've been playing with trains and Magnetix all morning. At least the boys have. The girl goes in and out of playing with her dolls and playing with the boys.
I expect this to be a fun summer, full of adventurous play, outdoors, reading, a little bit of schoolwork (don't worry, they like it), and lots of bumps and bruises. In the end, the Wii won't miss them and they will have strengthened their bond with each other and the friends we plan to hang out with. I hope.
What do you do to counter summer boredom?
When I was a kid, if we ever complained to my mom about being bored, she would make us do chores! We learned pretty quickly to entertain ourselves (we didn't really own many electronics back then and were only allowed to watch 1 hour of TV per day). I think we all grew up to be creative, independent adults.
ReplyDeleteI've been doing the "chores" bit with them.
ReplyDeleteI told them this afternoon that we would go E-Free each day, and if I thought they played really well through the day we would have E-Hour from 4:00 to 5:00 while I made supper. But if they'd been fighting or telling me how bored they were then there would be no E-Hour. They thought it was a good idea. We'll see how it goes.
good luck!
ReplyDeleteWe are always willing to come over and have a play date with your kids. Or at least with the girl. She seems to enjoy playing with my girls. Perhaps after work we can hang around for a while and play. Since I don't have a profile and am not sure how to make one, I guess I'm putting this down as annonymous...But, I think you'll know who I am.
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome ~ I hope it makes for a very memorable, adventurous and fulfilling summer for your whole family! :)
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