What Kids Can Do

I hope that everyone had a great weekend, and that Monday morning is off to a good start!

For the past couple of days, I’ve been reflecting on the Thoughts for Thursday question, “What can my children do other than watch TV?” Really, I’ve been thinking about this because I feel that my kids have been watching an inordinate amount of videos since the beginning of the summer. It’s a bad habit that we got into during the long, hot summer months here in Houston, I think in large part because we had a small baby at home and couldn’t always make it to the pool (the ONLY comfortable outdoor activity from May until September!). The problem is that we haven’t quite gotten over this bad habit yet, and I think that I’m a big part of the problem! I find that I’m trying to squeeze all of my chores into the time when my baby is napping, and I’ll usually try to coordinate my toddler’s video time with the baby’s naptime. Somehow, though, it just seems to turn into too much screen time…

So, I’m always interested in hearing people’s responses to the question, “What can my children do other than watch TV?” I’ve realized that I assume that we’re really talking about activities that the children can do unsupervised, because if mom has some free time to spend with the kids then of course there are lots of thing that the children can do besides watch TV!  The question, then, becomes a harder one to answer, depending on the ages of your children. For instance, my 6 year-old son can play on his own for an extended period of time with Legos or other building toys, and I can actually feel safe doing something like vacuuming while he plays. However, it’s a completely different story with my 3 year-old and 8 month-old daughters! While the 3 year-old can happily color for a few minutes on her own, she certainly wants me to be close by the entire time, and most chores end up half-finished if I try to do them while she’s not watching Caillou or Curious George. I have “cleaned the bathroom” with her and we sometimes bake or prepare meals together, but I must honestly say that I don’t always have the patience or the energy to attempt such teaching moments!

In any case, I thought that I would tap into one of the best resources around – this great group of readers on Building Cathedrals! What do your kids do other than watch TV while you’re trying to get things done? I’m anticipating that once my 8 month-old is a bit older and can actually play with my 3 year-old, that the girls will be able to spend lots of time imagining and having fun together – we’re just not quite there yet 🙂 Please pass on your ideas, and if you can, let us know how old your child is and how long he/she will spend doing a particular activity unsupervised. And if you have some great activities that do require adult supervision, but are just too fun to pass up, please do share 🙂 All of us here at Building Cathedrals would love to hear from you!

God bless you all this Monday morning! Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for and inspire us.