What will you do with your kids this summer ?

Have you thought about it yet ? If you have already planned about the activities you will do, Good Job!!!! Well most of us have to place our school going kids in day cares or summer camps if both parents are working. Find a daycare close to your home or on your way to work.
Some good activities to do with you kids is to switch off the TV and the computer and just let the kids talk. Most of us busy parents dont realize we dont talk to our kids enough. Think about it. Ask them what they want to do this summer.
Take the time to explore some new activities like - drawing, sketching, reading, writing a story. These good old hobbies are new to be discovered by the kids of the newer generation. Make them feel great about their efforts. It will encourage them to do it again. Show them your skills too or laugh at yourself when you cant do it as good as them. This is going to be new to them.
Just go out to your backyard, community park and play ball. How long has it been since we stopped playing ball after becoming parents. We dont !! Lots of us dont play with our kids.
How about playing badminton ? Play with them and show them how fun it is to learn. Even if you were doing it for the first time yourself. It is a good exercise as well as a time to bond.
Indian parents - we all know how to play carrom board. Well bring it home. Play with them. Bring it along when you go visiting to your friends. Sometimes it may look quite a work but it is all worth it.
Listening to music - both yours and their favourites together. Maybe 10 mins or 15mins and then stop and change activity to something else.
Now if you are coming back from work, get your kid in the kitchen with you. Now dont worry about the mess they may create. If they are 5yrs old or 15yrs they will still create a mess but then let them do that. They will learn where to find stuff. Do your know where to find stuff in the kitchen.
Talking and singing and playing and reading are fun. Make it fun.
School going kids should be encouraged to go back to their books and read for an hour a day. At least 20 mins. When you read with them, you know what they read and how they read.
I am reading with kids all the time and we realize how good they are at it or how they struggle to read the new words. Take the opportunity to decide if they need some extra help. The older siblings come in handy help or find some good tutors in your neighbourhood. They also have wonderful reading programs in the libraries. So get up and go to the library. Make use of the wonderful resources we have.
Two interesting reads for children between age 6yrs - 10yrs: now : Junie B Jones series then: Hardy Boys/ Nancy Drew.