I’m Bored

I’m bored- the phrase no parent wants to hear on summer break. I enjoy our summer breaks, where we are not forced out the door in the early morning. We generally do not have sun-up to sun-down schedules and have much more flexibility with our time. When screen time is over, the cries of “I’m bored” start to reach the corners of the house, so what is a parent to do?

I like to encourage “Creative Time”. I wish I could say I’m the type of Pinterest mom who has themed days of the week, and I limit screentime to the end of the day, but to be honest, I’m not a morning person. Summer is my time to sleep in, which usually means our kids get morning screen time. After they rot their brains out watch only educational programming, I encourage them to do something creative: play outside, build forts, make Lego creations, play board games, or do art projects with our random closet of supplies.

Some of our favorite family games are:

• Ticket to Ride (Junior and Classic)
• Yahtzee
• Cards (Skipbo, Uno, SlapJack, 7-ate-9)
• Checkers
• Monopoly

We currently live in Florida, so we try to do outdoor activities earlier or later in the day when it’s not five bazillion degrees. Generally, when we have our outside time, we will set up a pool in the yard, play with water balloons, create obstacle courses, go geocaching, drive and explore new places, go to the white-sand beaches, hike, go to the FREE base pool, or take advantage of the Kids Bowl Free summer program. Always look at your local military installation for FREE activities for the kids. Also, check if Blue Star Families has free museum access or activities in your area between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

On days when the kids are “bored” with all the books we have at home, we visit our local libraries.  I’m sure the librarians no doubt get sick of our faces all summer long. My kids are all old enough to read independently, but they also enjoy family read-aloud, so we try to make extra reading time during the summer, and of course, they like the bonus of the at-home summer Pizza Hut Book It rewards and the summer reading programs at the libraries.

I already mentioned it’s HOT where we live, and I’m not a parent who abolishes screen time, so we are currently working our way through watching Disney classic movies. We’ll continue this through the summer, looking for movies in the park and checking out free movies at the local theater if they are available.

The “I’m bored” cries drive me crazy, so I usually try to have a list of chores readily available to hand or write out for the child who keeps insisting that there is nothing to do. Try Alexis’ Minute to Win it Chores here or make your own list, that can include:

• Doing their laundry
• Making their bed
• Cleaning up their room
• Taking out trash
• Dusting
• Washing Windows

As moms, aren’t we tired of making meal plans all the time? During the summer, I have my kids more involved than usual. They each get to look through our cookbooks (or get one from the library), make a list of the ingredients we need to get, shop for the groceries, and then cook the meal. This helps them be invested in the meal. We’re still working on expanding our taste buds and not only wanting to make new desserts, but they really enjoy being part of this process.

Summer is here mamas! May you all survive and thrive until school starts in the Fall (or next month) and make it with few “I’m boreds.”