DURING WINTER BREAK

By Sandra Bolan

I’m bored,” is the last thing any parent wants to hear during winter break, especially when you still have four days to go. That’s why parents need to go into the week with a strategy.

Kids don’t need to be scheduled 24/7, but planning a variety of activities helps keep the boredom at bay.

The Plan

A couple of weeks before the start of winter break, get everyone together to brainstorm ideas. Ensure each child gets to participate in activities they like. If there are leftover ideas, write them down on pieces of paper and put them in a "Boredom Buster" jar.

You can also include other activities in the jar, such as reading a book, playing card games, baking cookies together, cleaning their rooms or taking the dog for a walk.

If planned activities have to change or when someone says, “I’m bored,” pull out a family activity from the jar.

Just because you’re not jetting off to the beach for a week doesn’t mean you can’t take a short vacation locally or be a tourist in your own city.

Places to consider include camping in one of our local county parks, such as John Tanner Park, Little Tallapoosa Park or McIntosh Reserve, visiting Banning Mills in Whitesburg, Ga., or Great Wolf Lodge in LaGrange, Ga.

You may choose to stay in an Atlanta hotel and do the touristy things such as visiting the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, Center for Puppetry Arts, Children’s Museum of Atlanta, Fernbank Museum

770.462.5005 of Natural History, Georgia Aquarium, Museum of Design Atlanta, Stone Mountain Park and the World of Coca-Cola. Check websites for specific winter break activities and hours.

During the school year, parents and children get used to having a routine. One way to maintain a schedule is taking your kids to a day camp. These are especially great for kids who love to dance or participate in theater or sports.

Day camps not only let children have an intensivelike experience of their favorite activity, but they also help curb some of the squabbles that can occur with a week of too much togetherness.

Keeping multiple kids busy for a week can be costly between day camps, day trips, movies and crafts. However, there are many options available to parents that cost little to nothing.

Create a scavenger hunt. This can be done at home with the final prize being a coupon for a special treat such as ice cream, hot chocolate from the local coffee house or extra playtime at the park. Curate a family time capsule. Have everyone contribute an item. This can be photos, clothing, a letter to the person who opens the time capsule in the future, a family tree or old cellphone.

Once all of the items are in the box, there are a few options for where you can put it.

The traditional location is to bury it in the backyard. It can also be hidden somewhere inside the home or openly displayed with an explicit note on the outside instructing no one to open it until a specific date.

With more than one child comes the likelihood of varying interests. Let each child have a day dedicated to her interests, but where everyone participates. For example, if you have a budding artist, do one day of crafts. If another child loves science, spend another day doing fun at-home science experiments.

This not only ensures kids get to participate in activities they love, but it also enables the other children to learn new skills. Who knows, those who thought they would hate whatever their siblings love may actually end up liking it just as much.

Not all parents can take time off work during winter break. That doesn’t mean there can’t be any family activities. Instead of doing them all during the day, they can take place after dinner, such as playing board games or watching a movie.

When it comes to choosing a movie, everyone writes down one to two movies they want to watch and the pieces of paper go into a bowl for a random drawing.

Have your kids put together a play. If you have thespians at home, they can spend the week putting together a play they will perform. They write it, create the costumes (from their closets) and props. Have a bedroom makeover. As kids get older, they may outgrow their bedroom décor. Do a bedroom makeover that can be as elaborate as you want (new furniture, new flooring and paint) or very basic – a new paint color, along with rearranging the furniture they already have. Get some exercise. Go for a hike in any of Georgia’s state parks, go for a walk or play ball in your local greenspace, take the kids to the local playground or jump on the trampoline in your back yard.

The winter break is meant to be just that – a break from school and homework. However, just because it’s a break from the norm, it doesn’t mean kids