For most Louisianians, spare time is a rare commodity. Most busy families never seem to have enough of it. However, Americans actually have more time today than they did 30 years ago, according to a recent report by James P. Robinson, sociology professor at the University of Maryland. Robinson also found that our time is available in smaller blocks that occur more frequently throughout the day than in three previous decades.
It is up to us to decide how we as parents spend that time with our children. Time spent together should be planned instead of letting it just happen. There are times that we spend with our families such as in waiting for doctors’ appointments, going grocery shopping or waiting in a restaurant. Why not put that time to good use? Often these short periods otherwise become stressful because children become bored and restless while waiting for things to happen. Take advantage of this time spent waiting to have some family fun times. A little ingenuity can help parents avoid what can be potentially difficult times.
Try these tactics to help make the most of family times when waiting:
Travel time:
- put together a travel kit of fun things to do in the car
- read the names of various states on license plates
- play the alphabet game of finding each letter of the alphabet in sequence in license plates or on road signs
- play a game of 20 questions to guess where you are going on an imaginary trip
Grocery shopping tips:
- play the alphabet game in the grocery store using the first letter of a food
- let older children help in grocery shopping by finding items with coupons
- do comparison costs with children’s cereals with them, finding the cheapest and most expensive and figure the cost differences
Waiting for appointments:
- carry flash cards to practice while waiting for appointments
- draw questions from a board game to practice
- create a story by passing a pencil for each person to add to the story
Restaurant tips:
- play connect-the-dots into squares on the back of a paper placemat or tray liner
- user sugar packets to play concentration by hiding a coin under the packets
- fold paper placemats in thirds and have each child draw one of the following on each placemat:
- a head, trunk or the feet of an animal (mark the boundaries so each connects)
Don’t just sit there waiting. Make the most of your family’s time by capturing those waiting times and making them into family fun times.
Resource: Mader, S. L. (1998). Waiting? Have some family fun times. Publication HYG-5312-98, Ohio State University Extension Service: Columbus.