School holiday tips

Family and Parenting

These invaluable and practical articles have been published by Michelle Mendoza from the Las Vegas Child Behavior Management Examiner and cover topics such as communicating with toddlers, how not to use the word "no" and toilet training.

School holiday tips

Michelle Eckles - Friday, December 24, 2010

Given the time of the year and the daunting proposition for most parents of having the kids home for weeks and weeks I thought I'd make this post ideas for entertaining the kids over the long break:

Ship them off to the grandparents (for as long as possible!)
Arrange reciprocal sleepovers and play dates with friends
Book a holiday or be a tourist in your own town - go check out all the places you would if you were on holiday there
If they're old enough sit down with your kids and create a calendar of activities to do for the duration of the school holidays
Theme each week then create activities, games and outings based around your theme
Save chores like cleaning the shed/garage for the holidays so the kids can help (or at least ride their scooters/bikes around your garage/carport whilst you are cleaning it out)
Plan some gardening ideas the kids can help out with as well - take them to a garden center and let them choose some vegie plants or a flower or some type of plant they can put in the garden and look after as their own
Collect some new recipes (or old favourites) to try out - let the kids choose something new or old to make each day or once a week
Check out what is happening at places like your local library, vacation care centers, etc.
Look up parks on a map that you haven't been to yet or maybe drive past regularly but haven't been to and try a different one each week
If you still need some more ideas (like me!) here are some other great ideas, resources & links: