Fun Times

When my children paid a visit to their grandparents last weekend, we didn't do much as it was a short trip. The kids had only 2 days, 1 night to spend.

To best make use of the trip, I tried to get the kids to bond and hopefully form a closer relationship with my parents and siblings, whom they only meet once every few months.

Of course, playing with kids was one of the ways. But there’s one problem. It took a while for the kids to “warm-up” and accept my parents as playmates. Furthermore, my folks can't match the grandchildren’s enthusiasm.

Fortunately, I found a better idea: watching home made videos.

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I always try new weekend activities with my children. I want them to have weekends that are different from the rest. One more reason is to let them expose to different kinds of activities and see what they prefer.

One of the weekend getaways that my whole family loves is hiking.

We are lucky to get to know about a local Hash Harriers club through a friend. And this club organizes hikes/runs once a month for young participants.

For the first-time hiking that I joined, I felt so good after the walk. It was my first since many years back. It’s good to get connected to Mother Nature again after all these years.

My elder daughter was delighted, especially when she got a chance to play in a stream. Even though she was hesitant at first, but now she can’t wait to jump into the water when she sees one.

Likewise, my younger son dared not to even come down and walk for the first trip. He held tight to me throughout the journey. Now, when I carry him, he asks me to let him down on the trek and go into the stream.

Compared to the first trip, my kids have “improved” a lot.

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It’s always good to sometimes break your routine.

What we normally do on weekends with children is the same as what most parents do: shopping. Sad but true, that’s the most favorite past time for family. Deep inside, I know this is not healthy for our kids. But I just can’t help it (or just another excuse?).

Okay at least I am trying to do something better. It just happened yesterday. And the idea came while talking to a friend the other day. Since the idea was so good, we both agreed and set it on Sunday.

I took my kids to a park. The idea is not something fantastically new but I am happy as I took the effort to change the routine and the kids just loved it!

This is the thing. When we decide what to do especially on weekends, we always make up our mind on things that we (read parents) like to do. We hardly think for the children. That’s why we always see kids tagging along parents involuntarily in the mall — more than anything else.

Back to the story…

Since my friend and I decided to go to the park together, she brought along her kids. Apart from my kids got the chance to play in the park (most of the things there were new to them), they got the chance to meet and play with my friend’s children.

I believe this is an excellent opportunity for the kids as they learn to socialize, communicate, share and play among themselves. At least with someone other than the always familiar family members.

As for the parents, we can exchange parenting tips and latest gossips while we closely monitor our kids enjoying themselves in the playground. I got a tip on increasing the appetite in children – a.k.a picky eaters – and I will share with you once I tested it out.

During the trip, we still haven’t had the chance to enjoy the park to the fullest as my son was already worn out after a few rounds of walking and running. The place is good for him to perfect his walking skill as it’s carpeted. So we were not so worried if he ever fell down.

Another idea that we came out of the conversation is we should visit friends who are also parents more often. With this we can kill two birds with one stone. One is for the kids to know each other and play each other’s toys!

Second is for parents to catch up. Finding time to drop by and say hi to old friends is as rare as hen’s teeth because everybody is busy with their own lives. With this, this idea of visiting each other fits in naturally well in a cold-hearted society like ours.

In fact, the solution is simple. Reduce the time you spend in shopping malls and make more visits to your friends’ homes. And don’t forget the park too…
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