The last few weeks of school are a crazy time of year. We seem to be doing a lot of waiting too, as all these extra activities are taking place. We are waiting for extra meetings to be over, waiting for practices to end, waiting for our family members turn at the talent show. Waiting doesn’t have to be boring though. If you are outside, you can go exploring. If you are in the car, you can play I Spy, or twenty questions. I also like to ask the kids questions. Things like – “If you had a million dollars what would you do?” or “What if you had a pet polar bear?” or “If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be?” Or we plan a perfect meal, our favorites from all different restaurants, different cities even. Sometimes, I use the time to plan fun things. It’s distracts us all from boring waiting time as we come up with fun things to do for the summer or the weekend.
You can also plan ahead for waiting. I usually bring coloring books, crayons, blank paper, and colored pencils with me when I know the little guys will need occupied. Sometimes I buy them a soda, or a slushy as a special treat. A stash of tiny jelly beans or a roll of lifesavers also comes in handy. These don’t leave crumbs and don’t melt all over hands like chocolate sometimes does. A deck of cards is a great idea. My kids feel too old to be read to in public now, but I used to keep a couple of kids magazines in the car. I liked the magazines better than books because it didn’t matter if they got lost or torn up from their travels. The magazines also had lots of short articles and stories which fit in with waiting time better than longer books.
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