On a Friday night after an active day, I found myself staring at two large loads of laundry piled on top of the sofa. We parents often face moments like this – a daunting task we do not wish to do, especially after a long day. Therefore, I called out for my family to help me. Groans and whines soon erupted into the room. I prevailed, though, because I’ve found a few ways to mix a bit of fun into this mundane chore. Here are tips I use that turn children’s protests into squeals of delight.
Add Silliness to an Ordinary Task
As my 3-year-old was trying to untangle a shirt from the clothing pile, I noticed how she brought the sleeve up to her nose. She looked like an elephant for a moment. I laughed. Then I grabbed the clothing from her and began to make elephant sounds. My family quickly joined in with my silly nature. Soon each of us were taking socks and pants and turning them into zoo animals. We put underwear on our heads and became robots. My oldest daughter pretended to
be a giraffe and a goat who wanted to eat our laundry. That had us chuckling and, more importantly, folding clothes and putting them away faster. What a great trick that was! Even boring, household chores can be enjoyable with just a bit of imagination and a humorous attitude.
Role-Play to Help With Transitions
Transitions can be such a challenge, especially for young children. They rarely like to stop one activity to leave or move onto another, often collapsing into a tantrum before they let go of their activity. My kids have never smoothly gone from one thing to something new. To help combat this, I will role-play with my children. For example, if we are packing up school items and preparing to climb into the van, we do so while talking like Minions or Disney princesses.
When I wash my kids’ hair in the bathtub, a task they loathe, we recreate a scene from a television show. As we leave a play date or fun activity, we transform into fairies, ponies or even pirates. My two children love to act out and change their voices to be in character. I am amazed at how much more happily they change over into our new situation or place because of simple but creative role-playing.
Take a Brain Break
My oldest child’s teacher conducts a daily “brain break” in her classroom. After observing this technique on a recent visit to the school, I quickly adopted it at home. When the teacher notices her students not paying attention, behaving foolishly or acting tired, she invokes a “brain break” moment. In other words, she has the class stand up and stretch. Then she puts on music and encourages them to dance. Or she’ll put fun trivia questions on the board. These simple distractions give the children a chance to re-energize. I invoke a brain break in my home when I notice my children arguing or not playing nicely. I’ll put on a few songs and we will dance around the kitchen together. Or I invite my kids to ask questions – any questions they want. If I don’t have an answer, then we place the question into a box to research and answer at a later time. Sometimes I just take a few moments to tickle them and get rid of their grumpy behavior. These lapses from the routine help us refocus and are great bonding tools as well.
Find Your Family’s Fun
These are just a few suggestions that have brought bursts of quick family fun moments into our lives. Use them as a guide to develop your own. So many possibilities exist that don’t require much time or effort. The point is to create more giggles in your life and put smiles on the faces you love the most.
Mandy Fernandez is a writer living and working in Pensacola. She is mother to two girls, ages 4 and 8. You can learn more about her and see all of her published works at WrittenByMandy.com.
