Tag: Create Activities with Kids

Part 3 – How to Include Your Children in Activities with You

 

Three More Examples of Ways to Include Your Children in Your Activities

This post is the last in the series of including your children in your activities. It will make more sense to you if you go back and read Part 1 and Part 2

– Include your children by attending a local farm to table cooking class for kids. At the end of the class you get to eat what they have made together. You can enjoy it with some fresh lemonade or tomato soup on a picnic blanket in their backyard. Now this is a great idea. My kids always were quick to eat things like spinach and turnips fresh from the garden. Unless we baked bread and brought along some cheese and mayo, this idea wouldn’t have worked for us. However, it is a great idea and promotes healthy eating choices.

-Have them come shopping with you at your favorite grocery store, farmer’s market etc. This activity has its own special treats for parents as they try to get through a store with a child who wants one of everything. When you look away, the child has opened the saltines and spread a trail of crumbs that Hansel and Gretel could have followed to get out of the forest. Lay some ground rules before store trips, and you will have a much better time. Also, take some snacks to ease the feeling that your child is hungry. I found that if I asked each older child to go fetch one thing for me, it gave me time to think clearly about other things on my list. Just be sure you don’t send them for things in glass jars or any item within 75 feet of the candy aisle.

– Have your children come up with their own ideas of what they would like to do and plan an activity around it. You can set parameters around the requests, so they are do-able for your family. No sense in having a child ask for a trip to Hawaii when it isn’t possible.

Some tips I learned as a foster parent of teens

Your children are probably young, unless you are raising babies, toddlers, preschoolers and teens at the same time as we have.

If it will be a few years before  you have teens, you can tuck this information away for when you will need it. Or you can share this website and blog with a friend who is raising teens.

When I was a foster parent, I asked each child to tell me one thing they had never done but would like to do. Hawaii never came up. I told them that if it were at all possible, I would make that happen for them before they left my home. Their part of the deal needed to be that they followed their plan and worked toward their goals.

Under normal circumstances, kids would ask for a meal at a fancy restaurant, ice cream, a trip to the mall with some cash, mostly local requests.

Because I mainly fostered teen girls, they had big requests most of the time. Once I took a girl to Disneyland and the Pacific Ocean since she had never been to either in her life and wanted to go. It was a big ask (and wasn’t that far away) She was able to turn her life around in many ways and actually earned the award. After 19 years, she still keeps in touch with me.

One other girl wanted to take an airplane trip anywhere because she had never flown. We did that, flying on a short trip to a neighboring state and back. That fit in with an already-planned vacation. One simply wanted to go to an amusement park in a nearby city.

One wanted to enter the America’s Top Model contest one state away. She did. I was able to do all these things for them because they kept up their end of the bargain with me.

Privileges are earned. Love is not earned. Including your children in “spending” their privileges creates closeness.

As my bio, foster and adopted children asked for things, they knew there were strings attached to privileges. You do what you know to do, and the privileges are available.

Keep in mind that there are no strings attached to love. We just love them without expecting anything in return. As they grow and see that example, they develop respect for that viewpoint and hopefully love without expectations.

There you have it. My favorite list of things to do to include your children, increase respect, interaction and build memories with them. Developing a sense of humor along the way helps as conflicts arise, but it is love that carries a family through the difficult times.

Parenting is a most challenging job. But, it’s also rewarding and worth every second! There are many ways to interact with your child that can help you both grow as individuals. Look for ways to include your children in your everyday activities and see how they bloom.

Be sure to visit the product page for Clothing to find fun tees for your kids they are sure to love – and want to wear.

 

Index of blogs:

What’s a Great Parent?

Case of the Missing Identity

Are You as Strong Willed as Your Strong-Willed Child?

Including Your Children in Your Activities – Part 1

Including Your Children in Your Activities – Part 2

Including Your Children in Your Activities – Part 3

 

Part 2 – How to Include Your Child in Activities with You

 

5 More Examples of How to Include Your Children in Activities with you

You can include your child in most of these from preschoolers up

– Go for a walk around the neighborhood and look at other people’s cool stuff/ flowers/ landscaping etc. This helps children get a sense of the world around them. However, it will also make the neighbors suspicious of your family since you will appear to be casing their homes. Be sure to laugh a lot and point to special things, loudly proclaiming, “What beautiful flowers!” to let them know you are really okay.

– Have your children choose one of their favorite videos to watch together one evening a week as a special treat. Set up snacks close by them where they can grab something your family likes. My mom used to set aside Friday nights for this. She and my sister and I would have Pepsi, oranges and pretzels while we watched the Friday night television programs. Naturally, those snacks need to be replaced with something that won’t rot their teeth, but there are lots of healthy choices your kids will like.

– Invite your children to help you plan a party. They can pick the theme and suggest games, decorations etc. If they choose something that is not age appropriate have them come up with an alternative as well so everyone still feels included in the planning process. Have you ever planned a child’s party? You know there has to be a special bond of love to ask your child to help. The colors change daily. The theme changes every couple days. The invitee list changes about once an hour. Yes, this is truly an activity that will keep your family engaged for weeks.

– Finally, listen to book on CD together while taking a car ride. Try not to punctuate the ride with shouts of “If I have to stop this car…” or “Stay on your own side and keep your hands to yourself!” By the end of the ride you may have been the only one who heard the great CD. Of course, it could go very well and everyone could be really engaged in the story. Afterward you could always discuss the story. Like that is ever going to happen.

Sometimes it is important to laugh at things life (and kids) throw your way. Keeping a sense of humor lightens the mood in the home and can lift everyone’s spirits.

Watch for Part 3 of how to include your children in your activities.

And if you missed Part 1, click here.

Your kids will love the tees showing their superpowers. Find them in the Clothing product portal.

 

 

Index of blogs:

What’s a Great Parent?

Case of the Missing Identity

Are You as Strong Willed as Your Strong-Willed Child?

Including Your Children in Your Activities – Part 1

Including Your Children in Your Activities – Part 2

Including Your Children in Your Activities – Part 3