GO TELL MOM s2 ep1 – The Free Stuff
When we were kids, my parents made a point of having family time together. Usually it was dinner, with some debates encouraged, topic thrown out by Mom or Dad. It made us appreciate each other’s intelligence, even while insisting the other sibling was wrong in their argument.
We also played board games – a LOT. We’d have massive Monopoly sessions, but we also liked Candyland, Shutes and Ladders and Yahtzee. Dad particularly liked us to play Yahtzee to polish our math skills. He’d have us analyze our chances and add up our scores, while Mom popped popcorn for us all.
When I think about my favorite family times, those would rank close to the top. I realize now that my parents were entertaining us at a bargain rate…especially since my grandparents sent us half of the games in the collection. But you don’t have to spend a lot of money to keep your kids entertained.
Leo Babauta from zenhabits.net suggests a few cool things that will log great memories for the kids, like painting or drawing together. My dad was a very talented artist, before he decided to use that side of the brain for engineering. He had a bunch of sketch pads, and would encourage us to make pictures of whatever we wanted – whatever we saw. Our house was surrounded by trees, so…I drew trees. My sister would draw cats…she wanted a cat. My brother would draw Batman, because that’s what we’d watch on TV. None of us were budding Picassos, but hey, it kept us from fighting with each other on a rainy Saturday.
If you’re not artistic with a pencil or brush, maybe you can get the kids creative by shooting a video, and showing them how to edit it. Let’s face it, if you have animals, you have a built-in talent bank waiting to show off their tricks.
Leo also suggests creating a fort in your living room. We thought we were master architects, building our own Fortress of Solitude or Riddler’s lair out of our blankets stretched across overturned chairs. It was fun to act out stories to go along with the setting. In fact, I used to write down some of the dialogue from my favorite TV shows and have kids at school act them out during recess. Well, it prevented them from dragging me into a dodgeball game! Leo suggests writing stories together as a family. It could be fun to swap off lines or characters while you’re doing it.
He also suggests having a sunset picnic or sunrise breakfast. We did that when we made a cross country trip to see my grandparents. It was probably the ONLY thing I liked about being on the road. Dad always wanted to get an early start so we’d beat the commuter traffic. But watching the sunrise while munching on a donut was nice.
I grew up in New Hampshire, so we had a few big hills and mountains nearby. Some Saturdays, my folks would pack us up in the car and trek off to Mount Monadnock and we’d go for a hike. MyKidsTime.com suggests turning your walk into an adventure with a free nature scavenger hunt list. If your kids need a little incentive, there’s nothing like a little competition.
If you want to keep them active indoors or out of doors, you can create a fun obstacle course for another family-friendly competition. I can tell you from experience, it’s less dangerous than a game of Twister. My brother had very pointy elbows when he was a kid.
Another great idea from MyKidsTime is creating a time capsule. Think about what you’d want people to remember about your family, and find something you have that reminds you of it. Maybe a bow from a favorite birthday present, or a bottlecap from a beverage you drank at a winning baseball game. You may never dig it up, but the kids will remember creating it.
As we head towards vacation time, a lot of us are sticking closer to home. And let’s face it, vacationing in the U-S can be far from cheap. But U-S News and World Report has a few ideas for keeping costs down. First on their ist is hitting a national park. Gatlinburg, Branson, Acadia – they’re all beautiful places to take the kids and explore.
You could also look for a state park. Where I used to live in Tennessee, we were surrounded by three state parks. The sad thing is, many of the locals had never been to one. Just an hour north from Nashville is Kentucky’s Cave Country. FamilyVacationist.com says there’s no fee to enter Mammoth Cave National Park, and the aboveground activities (nature walks and hikes) are free as well. You will need a ticket for a scheduled tour to enter the cave itself, and it’s recommended that you buy your tickets ahead of time as they will sell out. Cave tours prices are very inexpensive (they range from $11 to $23) and take anywhere from one to three hours to complete. One suggestion from me: read the kids Huckleberry Finn AFTER the tour.
Whenever you take kids on a trip – even a daytrip – it’s wise to plan. My mom would bribe us to behave during car rides with raisins, Cheese Its, mini pretzels and goldfish. Gatheredagain.com suggests getting the kids in on the planning; after all, it’s their day. Then figure out the costs. (Actually, I’d recommend figuring out what you can reasonably spend and THEN let the kids in on the planning. ) They also – strongly -suggest setting up rules for the trip, and making everyone understand the need for them.
That’s one thing you, as the leader of the pack, need to do to make your kids’ adventure fun. After all, it’s not worth the time if they’re too irritated – or irritating – to have fun. And honestly, isn’t time worth more than saving money?