Articles
GET READY FOR WINTER!
December 22, 2007
We don’t have to get in the crops or chop firewood anymore but there is one thing every parent should be prepared for: a rainy day.
Winter brings many of us rainy or snowy days when the children are housebound and bored. I know, you already bought school supplies and new shoes. What now?
I suggest you prepare for that rainy day by getting stocked up on a few anti-boredom supplies. I used to buy a new book for each child, along with a new board game, and some craft supplies. I hid all these away for, you guessed it, a rainy day. One mother told me she bought and hid a couple of videos so that when her children exhausted everything else and wanted to turn to TV she knew there was some suitable fare.
When my sister and I were kids my mother would do solve the boredom problem by teaching us how to cook. We started cutting out cookies and graduated to mixing cookie and cake batters (from scratch so this was probably my first exposure to fractions) and making fudge. It was a rite of passage to go from being cook’s helper to doing the cooking by your self. When my mother was sure I understood how to keep from getting burned I was allowed to make fudge by myself. I felt grownup and responsible and sooooo careful that my little sister didn’t get burned.
I am not sure I should advocate fudge-making while we are in the midst of an obesity epidemic (I remember waiting for the fudge to cool off so I could gorge myself but the darned stuff was so sweet much went uneaten). But what my mother did was classic good parenting. She introduced a task that first she did with us and then let us do by ourselves. You can think of your own boredom-busters but remember there is a way of making chores and crafts fun. You give the children increasing responsibility and decision-making powers. Making birthday or Christmas cards, helping plan next year’s vacation (good way to develop map skills), writing and illustrating a book for Grandpa and Grandma.
You don’t always have to spend money on boredom-busters you just have to be creative. My father made up interesting math problems which he wrote out in his ultra-neat handwriting and left hidden around the house. The one who solved the problem got a nickel I believe but it might have been only a penny. My mother saved buttons--this task is obsolete now and even then I never remember her opening the box except to ask us to sort them for her. We put the buttons together by size or color and wrapped them in paper. Snack bags would have been perfect but they weren’t yet invented.
Don’t forget exercise. Give a prize for who can do the most jumping-jacks or sit-ups.
Finally, if a bored child comes to you once in awhile you can say, “I’m bored too! Please think of something we can do together.” Give your kids a chance to be creative!
Written by Dr Marilyn Heins. Dr.Heins is a pediatrician and parenting columnist residing in Tucson Arizona. For more information visit www.ParentKidsRight.com.
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