Last week, Houston and its surrounding cities experienced
some of the coldest weather in the history of the
world. OK, maybe it wasn’t the “coldest in the history of
the world” but it was pretty freezing. In fact, according
to some news stations, some areas around Houston
experienced record breaking cold temperatures. It went
down as low as 15 degrees in some places, resulting in
freezing temperatures, roads covered in ice and people
covered in warm clothes, fighting tooth and nail to get to
their destination.
I was lucky enough to get two days off of work. Well
I wouldn’t necessarily say I had the day off, but I was
fortunate that my bosses let me work from home. Good
thing too, because it would have been easier for me to
use the elliptical machine for 2 hours and do 100 burpees
than it would have been for me to go outside in those
cold temperatures. So what did I do instead? I put on a
sweater and sweatpants, got all comfortable in my bed
and spent the two days doing a mix of Post work, school
work and relaxing.
Along with me being off, so were several schools and
colleges around the area. And with schools being off, this
means that children were at home and, therefore, needed
ways to stay occupied and entertained. Now I am not a
parent but I have substituted in a preschool, worked in
a tutoring center, have several young cousins and am
getting a Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education.
Considering all of this, I think I have enough experience
with children to know that when a child is occupied with
fun activities, they are much happier than when they are
bored. In fact, based on my experiences, I know that
when children are bored they tend to be disruptive. In
normal circumstances, children are at school five days a
week, eight hours a day. It is during this time that parents
and guardians can do all the errands they want; that their
children might call “boring. However, when the children
are at home, parents and guardians are more prone to
doing activities that are more child-friendly. When parents
try to run errands that are “boring” to the children, it
isn’t always successful. As a result, knowing how to balance
the two is important.
During planned school holidays finding a balance
between child-friendly activities and parent-necessary
activities is quite simple. The parents and guardians
can simply make out a schedule, make sure to include
an equal amount of both activities in the day and then
ensure their children know and understand the schedule.
For example, when I was younger and my mom had to
go to Wal-Mart, she always took me to my friend’s house
before or after. By knowing that I would be able to see
my friend, the trip to the grocery store was just a stop on
the way to where I really wanted to be. It’s a win-win for
both parties and children are less likely to be disruptive
during the parent-necessary errands because they know
they have more fun activities coming up soon.
But in circumstances like last week, or during Hurricane
Harvey, when children have unplanned days off, parents
and guardians need to quickly find ways to keep their
children occupied. Circumstances are made more difficult
during these unplanned days off, when it is impossible
to leave the house. Not only do parents and guardians
need to find ways to keep their children occupied,
but they must find ways to keep them entertained right
in the home.
Fortunately, there are many ways to keep children
occupied in the home, and all it takes is a little creativity.
Now, it’s quite easy to just put the kids in front of the
television and just let them spend the entire day in front
of it. But this isn’t healthy and, eventually, the children
are bound to get tired of just sitting in one location all
day. Instead, parents and guardians should take advantage
of the situation, in which everyone is at home, to
spend time with one another and bond. Fun things you
can do together include: playing board games, telling
stories, baking, planning your next family vacation and
so much more. But, no matter what you do, make sure it
is fun for everyone involved. I know of someone this past
week who made her kids spend their two days off cleaning
and organizing the closets in the house. Now, while
some children may enjoy the process of reorganizing and
redecorating rooms in their home, but it’s important for
the parents and guardians to make sure this is an activity
their children really want to do. Because, remember,
a child having fun is a happy child while a child who is
bored is an unhappy child.
So the next time your entire family is all at home
together, find fun ways to keep yourselves occupied. And,
at the end of the day, if you want to sit down together—as
a family—and watch a movie, then that is a great way to
end the day.
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