Getting Creative

~Bailey Shawley, MSEd, CCTS-F, Specialized Parenting & Educational Consultant

Yep, it’s still winter. While I happen to love colder weather and its comfy blankets and cozy sweaters, I do not love being cooped up inside all of the time. I miss my sandals and my porch swing. I also miss hearing our kids bouncing the basketball on the driveway, throwing the kickball onto the roof and catching it, and riding their bikes far too quickly down the street. I don’t love that our kids and dogs are inside all of the time, either. We aren’t a skiing or an iceskating family, so our outdoor options are limited. We’ve also had more ice than snow lately, which makes it difficult to have snowball fights and make snowmen. While our dogs love the cold weather, we don’t leave them outside as long as they would like. They, in turn, drive us crazy by going to the door a dozen times an hour. So, now that it’s nearing the end of February and we are in another Arctic blast, we need to get creative if we are going to keep our sanity.

Just as I began writing this post, my friend texted our group chat and said that she was thrilled because her kids were having a blast and getting along while chopping up ice around their driveway. Armed with safety goggles and hammers, they had been outside for nearly an hour and had gotten along the entire time. Not only did I giggle while picturing her kids slaying the ice, but I also smiled because I knew that her kids were doing exactly what I was writing about – finding creative ways to have fun as winter continues to drag on endlessly.

So, how are we helping our kids get creative when we are stuck in the winter rut? And, how are we helping ourselves as parents to avoid the ongoing bickering, poking, and fighting that plague all of our homes this time of year? It’s all in the creativity. My friend’s kids most likely would not have jumped at the chance to clear the driveway of snow, but telling them they could smash ice after a long day at school sounded amazing to them. Maybe some of these ideas will sound amazing to your family, too.

• Make pizza at home. Challenge your kids to get creative by making designs with their toppings.
• Plan a movie night and make it fun by having a ticket taker, popcorn vendor, and candy station.
• Put the names of family-favorite games into a hat and pull them out to help the decision-making process go more smoothly.
• Introduce your kids to “old-fashioned” games like Go Fish, Crazy Eights, Skip-Bo, or Rummy 500.
• Play flashlight tag in the basement.
• See who can stack the most M&Ms. (It’s definitely not as easy as you would think.)
• Draw family monsters. Fold a piece of paper into thirds. One family member draws the head at the top and folds it over so nobody can see it. The first family member passes it to a second family member, who draws a body on the middle section and then folds it over before passing it to the final family member to draw the feet. Unfold and see the unique creature.
• Have a family read-aloud. For families with younger kids, books like Katy and the Big Snow, The Mitten, and The Snowy Day are perfect for cold winter days. You could draw winter scenes or make snowflakes to hang around the house, too. Families with older kids may want to explore some winter poems like “Winter-Time” by Robert Louis Stevenson or “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost. Then you may want to have a contest to see how many words family members can find that rhyme with winter words. Or, have everyone try writing their own winter haiku.
• Go bowling.
• Make a spring bucket list of activities to look forward to doing together when the weather breaks.
• Create terrariums or start vegetable seeds to plant outdoors when the time comes.
• Get a jump on spring cleaning by having family members clean out their drawers and closets. Then, go to the local donation center together. Talk about the benefits of donating and doing service projects.
• Go to an indoor family center with trampolines, ziplines, climbing walls, and other fun physical activities to burn off some of that pent-up winter energy.

Getting through the last few weeks of winter with kids is tough. The more creative you are, the more quickly winter will pass. If you make the most of it by involving everyone, mixing it up a little bit, trying new things, or doing typical family activities in a creative way, everyone will have more fun and maybe be a little less grumpy.

If your family has had a particularly difficult winter, reach out to schedule a consultation to discuss how to enhance communication and strengthen connection. I work with individuals ages five and older, and I also offer group consultations for families. The initial consultation is free of charge to ensure we are a good fit for one another and is available online or in person. Or, if the stresses of winter have begun to weigh you down, schedule a half-hour chakra reading or a half-hour or full-hour Reiki healing session. All B Connecting, LLC services are confidential and judgment free.