However, the summer holidays are coming up and your kids will drive you crazy if they don’t have any form of stimulation or entertainment to keep them occupied. Besides, it would be a shame for the kids if they didn’t get a trip or an exciting day out at all this summer.

Luckily, there is a solution to your cash-flow problem – online bingo! Believe it or not, playing online bingo can actually net you quite a bit of extra cash, as well as being fun and easy to play! Try it now by signing up at a site like Wonder bingo and playing a few games – you’ll soon be hooked!

Your children deserve a treat this summer, and you deserve a little fun time yourself too. Online bingo can make everyone happy, giving you a great new hobby as well as some extra money to spend on a truly memorable family day out.

Are we nearly there yet?

• Plan well in advance – make sure you have their favorite toys / games / colouring books
• Stop along the way – If you stop every couple of hours you can have a walk around and keep them occupied
• Travel at night – One of the best ways to keep your kids occupied is to travel at night – They will be asleep so you can get on with your journey and have a little peace and quiet.

Routine and children go hand in hand, your child knows what to expect and you can plan your day accordingly. A good routine for when you get home might go something like this.

• Pick up from nursery
• Dinner from slow cooker
• 30 minutes play time
• Story time for 20 minutes
• Bath time
• Bedtime

If you plan in advance, your kids will be tucked up i bed by 7:30 pm, even if you get home at 6:00pm. It can be a slog, but the time off you’ll get will be worth it.

The newer trikes can be converted from a simple push-along trike, where your toddler is safely strapped in with a five point harness, to a self-propelled trike when they are a little older. Now you might think that a trike is only appropriate for children who are a few years old, but you can also get them for toddler less then a year old, and they are safe and easy to use. Your toddler will be able to see the world from a different perspective and have fun at the same time.

The only problem with getting a trike for your toddler, is that they will never want to go out in their pram again.

Go to the park
I know it’s perhaps the simplest option, but getting out of the house can keep your little one active and help your stress levels. Playing in the park on the swings or even just pushing them around in the pram can work wonders.

Join a baby/toddler club
If you have a look in your local newspaper you will find loads of clubs you can join with your toddler. Baby sign classes for example is a great way to spend some time with your little one and you might even make some new friends with similar interests.

What can we do that isn’t Christmas related but fun to do (sorry cool)? The heartache starts here!

For siblings it’s all about the BIG present (and each year they get more expensive) that balances out the party?

We all watch the adverts for things but have we forgotten to engage the mind beyond the gaming system or the TV?

The stress starts here!

I would even go as far to suggest that parents actively ask teachers for homework for their children; keeping them occupied with geography, english, math (eek!), etc, is a good way to keep them quiet on a rainy day and another way of keeping them out from under your feet, especially on those rainy days.

Also, for the older children, getting them used to “working” will benefit them when they come to the world of work.

Well, doing the same thing day in and out will only annoy everyone involved, so varying the things to do is a must. But how? Within the same four walls there are only so many things to do!

My sister-in-law gets the kids involved in her daily activities, from the cleaning and washing to the tidying of rooms, especially their bedrooms. The incentive is that when they are helpful and achieve a task, they get to do something more fun, like watch a film or have a biscuit or two with their juice.

It might not be the easiest thing to get them involved in, but its one way of getting things done.

Looking around the local toy store I tried to find a couple of games to play with the niece and nephew – and I couldn’t find a single game that I understood or wanted to play. They all seemed to be basically the same, with different pictures of the latest “hot young star” on the cover.

I that all it takes these days? A pretty picture of a popular person and the game is an immediate hit? Wow, no wonder kids are more demanding for toys, the ones out there are pretty poor!

And I think I’m starting to see this for myself. I never really enjoyed cooking for myself, and was much happier with a take-away or ready meal, but now I regularly look after my young niece and nephew, I worry that they are not eating the right things when they visited me, so I made an effort to do good – and found myself having a blast too!

All of these articles and guides need to promote the amount of fun the adults can have with making faces in fruit salads!