Sounds like a complete nightmare and with my Son and I it would almost certainly end in disaster.

But many of my less frantic friends  think nothing of getting the paint box, crayons, fluffy bits and sparkly glitter out and just letting them use their imaginations to go wild!

You have to  make sure you’re prepared – cover the floor with plastic – cover the table with newspaper or plastic.  And change the children or makes sure they are wearing an old shirt to avoid ruining their own clothes.  Not like me who left her son to paint – in a new top I’d only just bought the day before – and is now covered in black paint splodges!

Happy painting!

It’s coming into the Christmas season and so a trip to the theatre is a must.

The one children to go to and enjoy is a pantamine but I’m guessing that most adults, evnen though they probably wouldn’t admit it, quite actually enjoy watching a pantomine show.

These days – the jokes and hidden inuendoes are all for the adults ears only.  The costumes an cheesy repeated rants of  ‘he’s behind you’ shouted from the kids makes the outing all the more fun!

Theres’s always a part for the kids to makes atrip onto the stage.  This can make even the boisterous of kids look sweet and endearing and a ahhhhhhh always comes form the audience.

Just remember the though before you hit the theatre as an sadult only party the majority of the crowd will be children who need endless trips to the loo – eat sweets and drink all the way through even the quiet bits and don’t think to whisper when asking Mummy or Daddy why the man on stage is wearing makeup!

Ok, so it’s another rainy weekend – you have the washing, the ironing and the cleaning to sort out and the kids are bored – agian!  The childrens programmes have even started to repaet themselves and seem to be going round in a loop.  And no-one can agree on which DVD to watch.

Theres always the internet.  Now you’ll have to be careful and make sure all the correct parental guides are switched on so sites which are for adults eyes only don’t appear!

Search for ‘fun for kids’ in google and there are a wealth of sites which have puzzles, music to listen to, suggestions of things to makes, jokes and some even suggest places to go for when the weather improves.

It should keep them entertained for hours!

You can guarantee that every birthday and every Christmas new toys are bought and old ones cast aside never to be played with again – until you threaten to give them away to charity or throw in the bin.

My son had a huge bag of big Duplo and he’d spend hours playing with it and it lasted for about 5 years.  But it’s been put away and each time I got it out to give away to my friends son (it had been passed down to us too) he started playing with it again – for hours at a time.  I did manage to put it away in the end but my moral of this little tale is to have a sort out of old toys which have been put away  as not only will it tidy rooms up it’ll entertain everyone for hours.

Ok so its raining,  everywhere you go to for an indoors activity will probably be absolutely heaving with people having the same idea and by the time you’ve paid for entrance fees, drinks cakes and crisps will end up costing a fortune!

So, one thing I did when i was  entertaining my neice, nephew and son was to create an asault course.  I only live in a 2 bed terrace but it was great fun.

It started in the lounge:

• 5 star jumps
• jump round cushions placed on the floor
• 3 laps up and down the hall
• run upstairs – 5 knee jumps on both the beds
• run back down
• finish in the lounge.

each lap was timed and it kept us enterrtained for ages – i could join in too  and energy was burnt off quite safely.

What else can we do on a rainy day?

My son received a woodword craft motor car to build for his birthday.  He surprised me really and was asking every day for us to do it – my reply was ‘lets save it for a rainy day’

So the rain cam this weekend and as promised the wood car came out of its box.  he set it all out to start paper on the table everything – without my help!

He started to put it together – which was easy with out the glue as it just slotted together but to make sit sturdy it needed glueing – I ended up doing it.

So once the glue has dried – he started to paint it – and got frustrated as the paint ran and and he got it all over the place and ended up having a paddy and me shouting at him.  to finish the painting – I then had to do it!

So Aunty Caroline – although very much appreciated I’m not sure if getting him another one for Christamas was such a good idea after all!!!

I haven’t been ice skating for years – probably about 15!  So when my boyfriends son suggested it over the weekend – I was all for it – I love it!

So, following a hearty sunday breakfast, our brood (my 7 year old son and my boyfriends 11 and 9 year old) all set off  with excitement all around.

We got there and swapped our shoes for the blades and the excitement from the boys seemed to turn into fear! – just walking in them was a bit of a challenge never mind getting on the ice.

Well my son was like Bambi – all feet and arms but with perserverence and a little guidance from me (And also not fearing crashing or falling on his bum!) he was soon whizzing round.

Of the other 2 boys – one didn’t let go of the side until 10 minutes til the end, but even said he’d go again and I think secretly enjoyed it really! The other – with help from me was guided round and his confidence grew but still woudln’t let go of me!

As fo my other half – he didn’t let go of the side either and needed encouragement from me too!

However, please don’t let their fear put you off – I thoroughly enjoyed it  – although still fell on my bum once or twice.

The laughter and rosy cheeks and the boys  feeling they’d overcome a challenge plus just getting out of the house on a horrible winters day made the bumps worthwhile.

Torville and Dean watch out!

Go for a nice brisk walk!

I know this sounds quite simple really but in the midst of try to think of something to entertain your brood with – going for a walk is probably the last thing  you think of – i know it is for me!

Getting my 7 year old boy out walking can prove to be quite difficult – his bike – no problem.  However, after much persuation of telling them he WASN’T too old to go and feed the ducks – what  ball we had.  The sun was shining, although a little  cold, and he ran about skipped along holding my hand and colour was brought to his cheeks in no time!  It turned out to be a very pleasurable hour or so and even my son turned to me and said that he was glad he went in the end!

Don’t you just love it when Mums are right – and you’re the mum!!

First things first – you really do need to get out of the house sometimes – even if the rain hasn’t stopped all day.

Gather everyones swimming stuff together – get bags packed up with goggles, floats, zoggs (things you can throw in the watera dn dive down for!) towels and cossies and head off to your local pool.

I know it can seem a chore getting there and getting undressed in changing rooms that are often freezing, but once in the pool your kids can swim wild for the next hour and get rid of that pent up energy – which they were using to ransack your house!

As well as being a fun activity, their swimming techniques will also be improved the more they go.  So, 2 things acheived in one hit!

The nights have drawn in, the weekends are cold and wet yet you still have the kids to entertain and keep happy.  This can prove difficult if you have a house full and/or your house is only small.  Tempers normally sore, you all get hot and bothered and ornaments knocked over from everyone running around.  As an adult your try to get the boring chores done – washing is all over the place and you lovely house is turned to a laundrette.  The kids are bored as they’ve got square eyes from watching TV or from playing on the computer all day – it goes on and weekends become unenjoyable – not a good thing!

So, to help you through these winter months I plan to give you a few ideas of how you can keep the serenity and calm yet relieve the boistrousness from the kids, through the rainy darks evenings and weekends.