Snowdays are fun, sure, but too many snowdays are keeping this mama down. It’s not that I don’t love to be with my kids, but with deadlines looming, and a teleworking husband who throws things even more off center, this latest round of snow delays and days off made me decide to just say no to all of the Pinterest crafts and educational printables and to just give in to reading and sledding and lazing about… Here’s my formula for a laidback snow day.
1. Enlist partner or friends for outdoor play: Something you may not know about me: I grew up in Miami. I may have been born in New York, but from 4-17 I was a Florida girl. So while I love the novelty and beauty of snow, I don’t feel compelled to spend hours on end outside building snowmen, snowshoeing, and finding the perfect slope for sledding. That’s why I have a Pennsylvania-bred husband and a close circle of friends from places where negative-degree weather is the norm (Maine, Minneapolis, Vermont, etc.). When I can’t deal with the snow anymore, I simply ask my husband to take the kids, or barter outdoor playdate time with my willingness to host indoor playdate time.
2. Streaming is your friend. I write about entertainment, so I have tons of streaming options in my house: Roku, Apple TV, Wii U, iPads, etc. Looking for something everyone can binge-watch without fear of it grating on anyone’s nerves can be a difficult task, but eventually we divided into camps with my oldest son delving into “The Lord of the Rings” (he’s nearly 12), my 9-year-old daughter watching “The Cosby Show” on Hulu with me, and our son playing with Legos and occasionally watching a cartoon with his dad. Everyone was happy.
3. Find something to read. We all love to read, so this isn’t hard to accomplish. We all found something new to read either together or on our own. Whether it was a library book, a Christmas present, or a newly arrived magazine, we each picked titles to delve into while hanging out together. My daughter and I even started reading a book together — the renowned middle grade book “Navigating Early” by Claire Vanderpool.
4. Call for reinforcements. Like I mentioned in No.1, sometimes we need help to keep our sanity during a snowday. Arranging a playdate swap or just sending one kid off and asking another one over can be a really easy way to give siblings a break from each other and break up the monotony of staying in for a couple of days in a row.
5. Let the kids cook. Seriously, it teaches them about applied math, science, economics and how hard you (or their dad) has it to have to cook all the time! We were able to open up baking/cooking kits sent to us by Safeway for the kids to make. They loved making Cake Pops, even though they didn’t come out quite as beautiful as the ones on the box. Thanks Safeway for sending us so many baking items to try back in December. Who knew we’d have so many opportunities to have snowday baking fun?
