I was recently visiting with Donna Schwartz Mills of ParentPreneurClub.com about the high costs associated with kids and summer.
She has a daughter who will be attending day camp and swim lessons, and it was evident to me that it takes much more resources for a mom of one child to find proper socialization, entertainment and learning adventures than it does for a mom, such as myself, of four.
But, our kindergartner is getting to the age where she wants to be involved in more than just our adventure calendar (see last summer's eNews archives at
http://www.egroups.com/messages/hbwmoms-e-news to find out about this activity) and she wants to play with more than just her siblings.
We sat down, as a family, and discussed the possibilities for summer. Beth, who will soon be six, is interested in Vacation Bible School as well as swim lessons and a local 4-H science day camp. Cristen, age three, wants swim lessons and daily outings to the local zoo.
The manly man is now two, and his only request was to find and eat blueberries (thank you Little Bear).
We gave the kids a dollar amount that they could use toward summer activities. Beth was really the only one who understood finances, but since she was the one with the longest wish list, it was most important that she know the value of our money.
Then we started to think of various other activities that we could do together, or that they could do by themselves. Our only criteria was that it had to be something they could play with at home and that it did not cost very much money.
I was excited and elated that I have such resourceful children! Here is our list of no- or low-cost summer activities:
1) Build a fort! We have continual construction going on around the homestead and there is always scrap lumber laying around, that will eventually be burned.
If you do not have Mr. Fixer-Upper in your house, you can visit local construction sites and ask them if you can have some of their scraps.
2) Mural painting! Again, the unfinished construction at our house makes for a great opportunity to spend the day painting. We have the walls up for the barn, but the siding is not in place. We are going to take washable paint and give the kids paintbrushes and let them loose on an outside wall! How fun will that be, in thirty years, when we will replace the siding to see the lovely art from a summer of fun?! If you do not have a naked wall, find a large cardboard box and cut the seams and prop it up.
3) Rock collecting! Since we live near mountains, hiking is a big adventure for us. But, with Grace being so small, we may not be able to enjoy such an exercise as much this summer.
So, we decided we are going to go on rock hikes, looking for interesting and unusual rocks to bring home and place in our flower beds. We are going to try to find small rocks that have a surface that we can write on, so we can chronicle the dates for future memories.
4) Outdoor library! There are a number of children and parents that we socialize with and all moms need a break once in a while.
We are going to see if others want to join with us to share our books through reading on our log house porch while giving a couple of moms (me included!) a little break. I cannot wait for this one!
5) Tea parties! My fondest memories of my Grandma were when she would come to visit and we would spend an entire day making cookies and having tea parties.
We also ironed handkerchiefs for napkins, dressed up in our finest and decorated our table with lovely creations from nature. We decided we would do this on days that the dad and the manly man are grunting with hammers in the barn.
Summer break is something all kids look forward to, and it is a time when home-based working moms have trouble trying to find things to do that do not break the bank.
Sit down with your kids and make a list of ideas and then put those ideas into an action plan. Not only will your kids enjoy helping you create the list, but, they will also have something to look forward to in the coming months!
If you have only one child like Donna, try to find other moms who have just one child, and have play days with your action plan. One day your child goes to the other house and another day you have both children.
Although our children will still get to enjoy some of the things they had on their list, they will also get to enjoy being outside, being creative and playing with each other. Ultimately, we will be able to save some money we might have spent on summer activities to use toward a vacation! _________
Tammy Harrison is a wife and mother of four children under the age of five. She is the Independent Creative Representative for Home- Based Working Moms, and can be reached at tammyh@jdharrison.com.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
You can join Unsolved Mysteries and post your own mysteries or
interesting stories for the world to read and respond to Click hereScroll all the way down to read replies.Show all stories by Author:  21132 ( Click here )
Spring is coming |
