Family Happy Hour

No, I’m not suggesting that you take the kids to the neighborhood bar! I stole this idea from a friend of mine. When she and her husband were first married, they went to happy hour almost every Friday. With their newlywed budget, they couldn’t afford to eat out often. So they took advantage of the free appetizers that many restaurants put out on early Friday evenings. And then, my friend and her husband had twins. So now, they have “family happy hour” almost every Friday. We only do it once a month or so. Sometimes, by the time Friday rolls … Continue reading →

Breakfast For Dinner

This writer would never advocate playing short order cook for your family at dinnertime. Ideally, a family would prepare, cook, serve and eat one meal. They would do this together, enjoying one meal with fixings made at home. Most families find this tough to do these days, with time commitments and diverse (read: challenging and difficult) young palettes. To make family dinnertime fun, consider having breakfast for dinner once a week or so. Allow your family a bevy of choices: Pancakes, Eggs, Bagels, etc. Most of these dishes are easy to prepare so the role of short order BREAKFAST cook … Continue reading →

Indoor Family Olympics

If the weather is still a bit chilly, or if it’s raining or muddy outside, you can create your very own Indoor Family Olympics! Put your thinking caps on and come up with ideas that while active, silly, and fun, can still be done inside without destroying the house. Balancing Books Each person must make it from the starting point to the finish line with a book on top of his or her head. No hands! If the book falls, stop and put it back on the head, and continue. It’s best to use paperbacks instead of hard covers, so … Continue reading →

Bird watching

Did you know that there are 10,000 species of birds on our planet? Did you ever wonder how many you’ve seen? Some serious bird watchers (birders) keep a list of how many birds they’ve seen. They have rules for these lists. More than one person has to see the bird and agree with its identification, or a solidarity birder might take a photograph. They call their “birds I’ve seen list” a “life list”. I think keeping a life list would be a fun project to do as a family. We’ve never kept an official list, but we are all amateur … Continue reading →

Indoor Family Relays

If the weather outside if frightful, there’s no reason things inside can’t be delightful. Sure, kids get bored easily and we grown ups do sometimes as well. This is the perfect time to try out some indoor family relays. You can divide family members into teams or play one on one. Quick Trip Relay Give each person or team a suitcase or duffel at the start line. At the other end of the room, place a stack of clothes, socks, pajamas, etc. (an equal number of items in each stack). Each member will run to the stack, grab one item, … Continue reading →

Making Old Toys New

A few days ago, I wrote about how to give life to old board games. Here are some more ways to stretch the fun out of old toys, while your children are counting the days until they get new ones. Challenge your children to build the tallest tower of Legos or blocks that they can. Can they build one higher than themselves? Can they build one so high that it will touch the ceiling? Take those blocks, spread them on the floor, and try to make the biggest square or rectangle that you can on the floor. Use those same … Continue reading →

Making Old Games New Again

My boys are circling the Christmas tree again, begging, “Can’t we open one present?” They are understandably bored. We’ve been cooped up since Tuesday night, when the latest blizzard hit Colorado. We have a three and four foot snow drift covering our driveway. Even if I wanted to, I’m not sure we could leave the house. Besides, I don’t think anything is open today. Even the postal service isn’t working. Many of the streets are closed, including the highways. The temperatures have been much too cold to send them outside to play. I don’t want to let them open presents … Continue reading →

Some Twists on Family Movie Night

Maybe you already set aside an evening regularly to watch movies as a family. This can be a fun way to spend some extra time together. You can take turns selecting movies or have a movie marathon, allowing each family member to select a favorite. This time of year it might be fun to sit down together and watch classic holiday specials. You can rent movies, go pay per view, view movies you already have copies of, or choose from those available in your TV listings. You can make special treats or snacks or have “party food” instead of a … Continue reading →

Family Mealtime

Today in America, the concept of a family mealtime is vanishing. Kids and their parents are being collectively run ragged with a plethora of time commitments, after school functions and extra curricular activates – all of which seemingly occupy us seven days a week. Studies show that the impact of this lost family time can have disastrous effects on our children, significantly increasing the odds they will engage in drug use, early-age sexual activity, smoking and drinking. Amazing that something so simple, like a sit down dinner as a family, can help prevent such things! Amazing still that many American … Continue reading →

Family Favorites

Here’s a fun idea that fosters a sense of family unity, and that also helps children develop their problem-solving and evaluation skills. The idea is to start a family rating system for books, movies, TV shows, and even pizza or ice-cream. In my literacy work, we don’t only want children to learn to read. We want them to learn to love reading, to love books. There are some truly marvelous, magical children’s books available. And there are some that aren’t. I think it’s important that kids know they don’t have to love all books. As a parent, I definitely want … Continue reading →