How to spend time with kids during winter break?
One could argue that having kids and handling their countless demands is always difficult, regardless if they go to school or enjoy their winter or summer break. The truth is that school days are more taxing, both for the kids and their parents. Writing homework and studying isn’t easy for anyone, the knowledge comes at a certain price. On the other hand, relaxing and having a good time during a winter break is free. Is there anything more precious in life than to spend time with kids during winter break? If those winter breaks could only last a bit longer! Sadly, quality is always inferior to quantity, which is why one should always take full advantage of the situation and make those winter breaks count for something.
Moving interstate as a way to spend time with kids during winter break
No matter how long people prepare mentally and logistically for it, moving to another state is always a stressful thing. Sure, moving always implies the inevitable waste of nerves, but more importantly, it implies time. For a family with kids that go to school, time is, unfortunately, the most valuable commodity. Time is something that we never have enough of. Breaks from school are seemingly the only chance those families have to pack their bags, figuratively speaking, and relocate somewhere else.
Make winter break moving arrangements a game for your kids
If you need to move during a winter break, make it a game for your kids. Especially if you’re moving from, let’s say, Wisconsin to Florida, and look forward to a warmer, more gentle climate. The only way your kids won’t make that whole stressful moving arrangement even more difficult is turning everything into a game. Make yourself one of the sides in the game, your kids the second, and one of the moving companies Miami the third.
Include kids in moving-related activities during winter break
Turning reality into a game offers countless possibilities to express creativity. Even though it’s up to you to do everything and organize everything, you can pretend and get the kids involved. For example, you can assign different duties to each of your kids. One may take care of the packing and the related logistics, while the other can be in charge of moving insurance and other similar administrative tasks.
Spend time with kids during winter break by following a strict day-by-day schedule
Getting the most out of those two weeks off during the winter break isn’t easy. As we all know, the last week of school before the break is usually extremely stressful. Therefore, it’s difficult to change the mindset, unwind, and relax immediately during the break’s first week. Then again, the thought of an imminent return to school starts popping back into your head during the second week. To overcome these thoughts, make a strict day-by-day schedule for both you and your kids, and make sure you stick to it. There are a few basic strategies in that regard:
- Spend time with kids during winter break by taking them out to different amusing places;
- Stay home and think of creative ways to spend quality time indoors;
- Make a list of people you wanna pay a visit to or invite yourself.
Winter break is time for family games
It’s cold outside, right? We should perhaps stay at home? What better way to connect with each other and spend time together than to play some engaging and entertaining family games. The ever-lurking danger of spending countless hours in front of a screen unfortunately never goes away. Family games are probably the best way of interacting with each other directly that we have at our disposal. I-Spy Go Fish, Spot It, Hisss, Original Memory, Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game, Hoot Owl Hoot, you name it! Board games are indeed a lot of fun for the young and the old.
Make room for Santa and the new toys!
Winter break and wintertime, in general, is the time of giving. We love our kids and Santa apparently does as well. He brings them piles and piles of new toys every Christmas season. We’re slowly turning into toy hoarders! Still, from time to time a common sense must prevail. Our kids understand the necessity of giving up on some of their old toys for the sake of making room for the new ones.
Decluttering may seem like a chore, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be one. It could be a game that would eventually give a new and exciting look to your kids’ room. A new home for the new toys, if you like. This is a smart and productive way to spend the first few days of winter break. It will also set a different stage for the rest of it, and create a new ambiance for your kids and yourselves to spend some quality time in.
Spend quality family time in the kitchen
Grown-ups like to eat, but don’t necessarily like to cook. With kids it’s a different story, we force them to eat, but they like to cook. They are just loving it in fact. Especially if cooking means mixing all the spices, ingredients, and liquids into something truly disgusting. Good thing is that you packed all your glass jars carefully when you relocated the last time. Still, there are ways to channel their enthusiasm into creativity, with adult supervision. Spend time with kids during winter break by taking them to the kitchen with you.
Let them assist you in making a pizza, pancakes, or something else that they cannot ruin despite their best intentions. After that, you can pop some popcorn and move to the living room for a movie night. Or a sports game, if your kids are into sports. Or a lego night. You can even make a little indoors tent. Possibilities are endless when bellies are full.
Tips to spend time with children during winter break if you don’t want to stay indoors
We tend to appreciate and wish for things that we cannot have, and to take things we have for granted. We never swim enough during the summer, nor play in the snow during winter. Those things start becoming appealing to us immediately after they’re gone or over. In that regard, it’s healthy to break the mold every once in a while and do something unpredictable. Spend time with children during winter break by taking them for a splash in any of the indoor pools in your city. See how they like it.
Go ice skating and prepare to enjoy the chucklesome falls of your kids, especially if it’s their first time. Take them to a bowling alley for a few games, but take care that they don’t have a sneaky beer while you’re rolling. After all, that, take them to a local library and get a few good books. After building a muscle for a couple of hours, kids should delve into some intellectual activities. It’s the perfect way to maintain the much-needed body and soul balance. And one of the best ways to spend time with kids during winter break.