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Quality time!

Winter is upon us gentleman!

I happen to like the cold weather and the occasional snow dusting we get on western Kansas, but I have 3 young ones that dread winter as days get short and playing outside is not suitable for long periods of time and my kids or any kid need A LOT of playtime.

So being stock at home with the kids is a challenge, throw on top this pandemic that limits socializing and my wife and I decided we want to keep screen time as low as possible.

We come up with activities to keep the family entertained as board games (my 8 year old boy is a total nerd so him and I started getting serious at chess!) painting (my 1 year old daughter loves painting, such a mess everywhere! 😂) and card games (my four year old boy scares me when bluffing at poker!)

Anyways, I love when I see in my kids faces how the little hamster inside their brains gets the wheel going and not just numbed with television and video games, and we get to tighten the family relationships while at it.

How do you spend your time with your families? How do you guys make it quality time?
 
I live alone and don’t have a family.

But I have a suggestion: Be a Mentor for all 3 of your children.

It is your duty to guide them in all ways, even spiritual.
I hear you. It is with great pleasure to try and be the best example I can for them, teach them everything I know and learn myself some new things in the process.

But I don't find that particularly hard, I had a great example myself.

My dad’s greatest teaching to me was to learn how to do things myself and to form my own opinion of things based on truth, facts and experience, and thats what I want to pass on to my kids, to think for themselves.

Nowadays the world is full of people telling other people what to think, believe and even feel.

Thanks for the advise, I take it to heart.
 
We have two boys. Being stuck at home is our normal now also. We have some rough patches dealing with distance learning. At first during shelter in place we did puzzles, board games, cards. We got a puppy at that time also.

I like to take the boys fishing from time to time. The kids are in 4-H and my wife is the adult leader. Oldest is VP Of the club. Working on 4-H projects is good quality time.
 
My oldest hated distance learning with a passion!

They went back to the classroom this semester since our county was virus free till September!

But with the rise on cases this last couple of weeks wont be long to go back to distance learning, is rough on the kiddos.
We have two boys. Being stuck at home is our normal now also. We have some rough patches dealing with distance learning. At first during shelter in place we did puzzles, board games, cards. We got a puppy at that time also.

I like to take the boys fishing from time to time. The kids are in 4-H and my wife is the adult leader. Oldest is VP Of the club. Working on 4-H projects is good quality time.
 
I say teach them practical skills and projects. It will help them feel confident they can figure out and learn things without having it all laid out for them. Choose a home improvement project that they can help you with. Let them make some choices about colors, finishes, etc. Let them help you maintain or repair the car. Teach them to cook, how to make bread, how to preserve food. Help them learn to play a musical instrument and sing. Put up a gymnastic ladder and let them climb and try to do some challenging gymnastic exercises.
 
I say teach them practical skills and projects. It will help them feel confident they can figure out and learn things without having it all laid out for them. Choose a home improvement project that they can help you with. Let them make some choices about colors, finishes, etc. Let them help you maintain or repair the car. Teach them to cook, how to make bread, how to preserve food. Help them learn to play a musical instrument and sing. Put up a gymnastic ladder and let them climb and try to do some challenging gymnastic exercises.

All of those are good points, and yes, doing handy jobs around the house is essential and fun.
 
We play a lot of games, new one to us is Hive, amongst others not suitable for younger kids. But try others like ticket to ride for kids.

let them make menus for meals,

mine loved making home theater movie tickets, menus, snacks, etc. like full on experience.

Puppet shows, performing, haiku, record on video to play back and smile, laugh and be embarrassed

make bookmarks

learn to make dishes like fruit salads with easy to cut fruits
 
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