As a mom have you ever felt like you were treading water?
I have, and currently am!
Kip has been sick for 3 days with a fever and no other symptoms. We have been to the doctor and they give me the: "It's just a virus that will run it's course" line. Soo, we have stayed home for almost 5 days and it can really become depressing. I do love being home with the boys, but I need to get OUT each day to feel "normal".
A lot of the time the boys are fighting/arguing over who has what toy when we are home. It can be frustrating to keep a cool tone while breaking up the 400th fight for the day.
Maybe I am the only one that gets discouraged that I have bad kids or that I am doing something wrong. I hope that the noisy, crying, not playing well, and frustrating life is other mom's normal for children that are so close in age and young children in general.
*fingers crossed there are others out there* :)
So I am going to make a list of things that I TRY to do if the boredom sets in and we are stuck at home:
1. GO OUTSIDE & WORK
For some reason my boys LOVE it when I give them "jobs" to do. I will ask them to sweep the garage, water the flowers, water the new grass, shovel some dirt, clean the porches, or take the trash down on the 4-wheeler. I think it makes kids feel important when they have a job to do.
2. BREAK OUT THE PLAY DOH
No matter how bad the day as been, playdoh ALWAYS seems to make things better! Sometimes we made animals, made food with utensils and bowls, make daddy something, or make letters. It seems like the boys enjoy it more if I give them a task to make with the playdoh.
3. COOK
I know with younger children this is harder to do, but as the boys have gotten older they like to help in the kitchen. I will normally put Kip in his high chair and let him watch with sometime to entertain, and let Karson help at the stove. *Being very careful I should add* The boys like to help me cook and also do the dishes.
4. WATCH A MOVIE/PLAY GAME
There are not many movies that the boys will agree on. They both like to watch music videos with nursery rhymes so I have a few of those DVD's. For Karson's 3rd birthday we spent the extra money and bought him a Leap Pad. It is imitating the IPad but for kids. You can download apps straight from the Leap Pad website and it debits it from your bank account. It is super neat! I knew that around age 3 is when children start to like these game systems but I really didn't think Karson would like it as much as he has. I don't get it out often but sometimes if I am in need of quiet time during the day I will pull this out. I have downloaded educational games, a few fun games, videos, and ebooks. It is super fun! This does help pass the time!
5. INDOOR CHORES
The boys love to "work" as I mentioned in #1. They really love doing laundry and helping dump the trash from the bathrooms. I read a lot of blogs where the moms say that they clean while the kids nap. I used to be like that and I felt like my entire nap time was gone because I was rushing to clean before they woke up. I rarely do that anymore. I try to involve the boys and do my cleaning in the mornings. We do whatever laundry is in the boys hamper and the hamper in our bathroom. I have them bring all the trash cans to the big trash can in the kitchen and dump them. They also like to use my swiffer vac's (I have bought 2 with coupons just to have 2 so each boy will have one) and we sweep the floor. The only chore that I normally wait to do is mopping our hardwood/tile because that would be a total disaster. We have a lot of fun cleaning together!
I hope these 5 tips help you to cure boredom while you're home. I'm sure you have tried most of them, but sometimes another person's perspective can help you out. It is hard to think of things other than doing crafts with materials that you don't have.
Here's to keeping little ones entertained and happy :)
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