Family Matters

Posts Tagged ‘activity’

This morning, as I was taking my 8-year-old daughter Noff to school, I told her, “Today is a very short day. I will pick you up at 3″. As I said that, I realized it was funny how leaving home at 8:15am and being picked up at 3pm qualifies as a short day.

You see, in Australia, “normal” kids study 5 days a week from 9am to 3pm, but for our family, this is a very short (and rare) day. Our kids are very busy. They have so many extra-curricular activities they hardly ever have a regular day like everyone else. Even between 9am and 3pm, while they are at school, their days are full of things most kids do not do.

Our 14-year-old son Tsoof starts 3 days a week somewhere around 7:15am. 4 times a week, he finishes around 4:45pm and twice a week, his lunch breaks is taken over by guitar lessons and rehearsals for Choir or Brass Ensemble.

Our 8-year-old daughter Noff starts at 9am nearly every day, but 3 times a week, she finishes between 4pm and 5pm. One day a week, she also sings in a choir in the afternoon and gets back home at 6:45pm. Twice a week, her lunch break is taken over by Dance and Choir rehearsals.

Today, however, all of my kids’ afternoon activities were canceled.

You are probably saying to yourself, “Poor busy kids”, right!?

Last week, I described some healthy alternatives to watching too much TV. You may have already found some ideas you can work with. Today, I will describe even more alternatives, which should give you and your kids more options.

Many people, kids and adults alike, use television as an entertainer and a way to keep themselves busy. Therefore, one of the best ways to overcome too much TV is to make other activities more attractive than watching TV.

Examine your watching habits and you will notice that when you are motivated, doing fun things and working towards a goal, you watch less TV than usual. People generally watch less TV when they renovate, when they start a new and exciting job or when they go on a family trip.

I have found that my kids turn on the TV when I am busy or not around. When I am around and I pay attention to them, I talk to them about school, encourage them to do their homework or practice their music, or come up with a family project. When they are with me, they do not turn the TV on.

Start with the weakest point in your weekly routine and give your kids healthy alternatives to watching too much TV. Here is a list of things you can do to help your kids keep busy and not just busy, but actually doing something meaningful and entertaining, fun and rewarding, instead of numbing their brains in front of the TV.

Creativity is a learned skill and can be developed at any age and under any circumstances. Parents do not need a lot of resources and most of the tips and ideas described are easy and cheap. However, they do require that parents apply their own creativity and appreciate creativity as an important component in the success and happiness of their kids.

Yesterday, I started writing about my secrets for riding in cars with kids. If you are a parent and you have kids, I am sure you are asking yourself how to make the ride safe and happy for everyone. I hope the secrets I give here from 20 years of experience and many hours of being in the car with my kids will motivate you to get into the car with your kids and go on wonderful journeys of fun and joy together.

Riding in the car with kids is challenging for many parents. When the kids are younger, when the rides are longer and when you are the only adult in the car, it can be even worse.

About 3 month ago, the kids, our 7-year-old daughter Noff and our 13-year-old son Tsoof started playing the “Punch Buggy” game. If you do not know this game, it involves looking out for a buggy (a Volkswagen “bug”), and the first person to spot one punches the other and says “Punch Buggy”.

Creativity is essential in peoples’ way of handling difficulties and solving problems. Although I think it is possible to spark creativity in anyone, I strongly believe that kids can learn it better and faster, if only because they have had fewer disappointments and they look forward to new experiences. It is never too early or too late to teach creativity and, although you may not see the results straight away, your kids will accumulate creative experiences and will use this skill at the right time.

It was the summer of my first year of Special Education studies and I was initially given a group of 12 kids in Grade 5. They were mostly boys (for some reason) and the dynamic of the group was problematic. The camp was located in a wonderful forest with a creek running through it and overlooked by beautiful ruins of an ancient village.

In the past four Mondays, I wrote tips and ideas for parents to boost kids’ creativity. If you have had a chance to read them all, you know by now that kids’ creativity is very important to their success – experiencing life to the fullest and getting the most out of it.