Like a lot of cities, ours has many free activities for children in the summer. It can be hard to schedule these things, and it is always difficult to get small children anywhere, but it is even worse if you plan to go somewhere only to have the kids choose that day to throw the Tantrum That Ate the Midwest.
At the beginning of the summer, or whenever I think of it, I get out my calendar and write on it all the free activities of the city. The internet makes this easy, but so do some newspapers. Here are the sorts of sites I check:
city park system
county park system
nearby state parks
museums
library
local newspapers
zoos
churches
city/community hall
For each day, I write down the free events I am interested in, including more than one event if there are more than one I’d enjoy. Then, on the days when the kids are doing well, and I think, “Hmm. They’re so well-behaved today. I should take them somewhere,” I can look at the calendar and find something easily.
I might only do this a few times a summer, or I might do it more often, but it is nice to have it all there, easily accessible, without searching for something to do when the girls seem ready for it. It also saves me aggravation when they turn out to be so fractious that I can’t take them somewhere I had planned. I can look at the calendar and say, “That’s okay. There’s a concert at the library tomorrow they would like – if there are no morning tantrums.”
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I scheduled this WFMW tip to publish today before I knew that Shannon was hosting a themed WFMW today on your best parenting advice. But it works out, because my free activities suggestions illustrates an important bit of parenting advice:
Roll with it.
You can’t make kids fit your schedule, or more accurately, you can’t make kids fit your schedule AND be happy with your kids. At least, I never could. Having strict goals often means that the kids become the disruptors of acheiving your goals, rather than the bigger reason for the goals in the first place.
Don’t try to do everything. Give yourself lots of wiggle room and unscheduled time. Make choices and decisions based on what will allow you to enjoy your little ones, rather than what you want to “accomplish.” If you do, when they are grown, you will find that you accomplished the most important things after all.
For more Work-for-Me Wednesday ideas, see Rocks in My Dryer.
Very smart, writing them all down like that. I tend to get to the end of the summer and realize I hadn’t done half of what we intended to do.
Zoos? You are lucky. Our nearest zoo is an hour away, and the admission fee just for one adult and one preschooler comes to almost twenty bucks.
Oh, you are SMART.
Oh, and I know we’ve only just ‘met,’ but I tagged you for a quick, fun meme today. I hope you’ll find a minute to play.
My calender is usually full to the brim of free stuff to do with the kids. But now that they are older they tend to just want to stay home and hang with the neighbor kids. We are going to a free movie today though. For when your girls are older, most big cinema chains do free movie mornings with kid friendly choices. Today we are seeing Charlotte’s Web.
Oh, I so want to see Charlotte’s Web, but hubby turned up his nose. Will have to wait for the DVD and watch when I’m home alone. Or maybe it’s already out?
Great blog. Glad I happened by. Thanks for sharing the to-do list. I no longer have children at home, but hey, these things have no age limit
Julie, the zoo here is very close to our house, but also expensive. Fortunately for us, my mom and mom-in-law bought us a family pass for a year, so we can go and enjoy all the activities without paying.
If any of you live near zoos, I have always found the yearly pass to be a good all-around deal, especially because it gives discounts to zoos and aquariums (acquaria?) around the country if you travel on vacation.
Great ideas! I do that with homeschool activities but never thought of during the city’s one, too.
http://tonsofsons.wordpress.com/2007/08/01/wfmw-keep-kids-toys-contained/
That’s a VERY good idea.