The Christmas Break is a great time to bond with your children by spending more time with them than you can do during your usual hectic schedule. The festive season is exciting for the whole family but most of all for the children who look forward to receiving their gifts and playing with them. With kids, the anticipation can play tricks on them which is evident in their behavior at times. They also have a tendency to get bored easily and this leads to them misbehaving in wild and unpredictable ways that can get them into trouble.
Here are a few ways to keep your kids occupied during the Christmas season to avoid trouble developing at home.
Making Silly Faces
You can get the paint out and join in as a family to draw big, silly clown faces or if you don’t like the mess, then they can take turns to draw angry faces at the Rage Maker web site.
There are plenty of free online games that are safe for kids of all ages to play and will keep them occupied for many hours.
For Kids Who Love to Read
Some kids just cannot get enough of reading. If they don’t already have an e-reader of their own, then you might want to consider Santa delivering a Kobo or Kindle e-reader this Christmas. A mini reading tablet can be loaded with their favorite books in digital form with a few extra purchases (some older classic children’s tales are freely available). They will then enjoy reading in their reading nook (you’ve created one for them already, haven’t you?) and the time will pass quickly while the parents enjoy some peace and quiet.
Playing Sports with Dad
Whether you have a backyard or a nearby park, gather up the kids to play some sports. It can be baseball, netball, tennis, or American football; anything that they will enjoy and can play together. When you have several kids including smaller ones, it might be a good idea to split up with mom playing with junior while dad plays with the older children.
Decorating the Home
Kids usually get all excited to pull out the Christmas tree lights and the ornaments for the tree to help put up the other decorations that can be strung around the home. Be careful about safety here because you don’t want them enthusiastically climbing on the furniture to hang a decoration up and losing their footing. Consider assigning tasks like untangling the Christmas tree lights to a responsible son or daughter and other tasks for the younger ones.
When you don’t have tasks to give out to all the kids, perhaps mom can cook up some cookies with one of the kids as their eager helper? Just make sure they all feel included in the excitement and preparations.
Christmas is a special time of the year. Kids get to have plenty of time off, but need to have their minds stimulated otherwise they’re likely to get up to no good. It’s a good idea for parents to be organized about what tasks to assign their children and when to let them randomly play to deliberately keep them occupied.
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