Chilling Out With Children
Posted by Hope Spencer on 17 Jun 2009 | Posted in: Inspiration and Motivation, Life After School
My husband is a golfer. My young nieces don’t completely understand what that means, but they know they love their uncle, and just recently, they discovered that they also love to play miniature golf. Of course, it was only a matter of time before their two loves got together.
My husband really enjoys spending time with my nieces, but he was hesitant before we ever pulled into the parking lot. After all, he’s a serious 18-hole-playing, course-walking, bag-carrying golfer. When we saw the course, he gave me a quick look. I couldn’t blame him. We were looking at a four-story straw hut contraption with mazes, ponds, and bridges. But what could we do? The girls each grabbed one of his hands and we were off. A little while later, we were laughing and scoring holes-in-one and enjoying the view from the top. We all had a great time!
Isn’t it fun to take time away from the serious business of life and just look at it through the eyes of a child? As much as my hardworking husband covets time for a good round of golf, playing a whimsical round of Putt-Putt with my nieces was time well spent. I’m sure he’ll be thinking about those bridges and mazes the next time he’s on the real golf course with the boys.
As a teacher, you know better than anyone else that spending time with a child can give you a whole new outlook on life. And I know that, unlike my husband, you get to spend a lot of time looking at life through the eyes of children. Why not take a few minutes to tell us about some of your favorite times with your students or with some of the children in your family? It’s sure to make us all feel a bit younger!
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22 Responses to “Chilling Out With Children”
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My sister has always worked and this summer she is available to do fun things, so we have made a list of al the places in our town and the surrounding towns to go and visit. We have a couple parks, water parks, and whatever else comes to mind. (we started our list back in April) Our kids love getting out of the house and doing and seeing diffrent things locally.
I love taking summer time to see the world through my children’s eyes. Our 5th grader has been throughout the country to visit colleges with his older brother the past couple of summers. His biggest concern is where the students eat off campus. He’s tried the infamous Varsity burger at Georgia Tech, homemade ice cream outside West Point and New York style pizza while visiting Columbia. For a Texas kid, he’s been in heaven with all the great food!
I am an in-home childcare provider with mixed age groups in my care…from 6 mo to 3rd grade. Two of my youngest three children are off on Wednesday so we designated Wednesday as fieldtrip day for our home daycare. We try to make the fieldtrips memorable…trips to the zoo, a hiking trail around a local pond, the science center, parks, a working farm, and lots of other fun activities. The kids really look forward to our fieldtrips and have made some lasting memories. Our trips are very flexible to allow for impromptu learning experiences for the toddlers. My school age children are great help on the fieldtrips and their success as a helper encourages positive self esteem and team work. Thanks for all of your great ideas!
We just love to go to the beach with our kids (4&7). We take in lots of historical sites along the way to South Carolina from our home in Ohio (my husband teaches Jr. Hi. SS!) Hearing the 7 year old explain historical sites to his 4 year old sister is wonderful. I guess when you have teachers for parents, the learning NEVER stops, even over summer break!
I love watching how preschoolers think. Everything is amazing and interesting to them. We planted a garden again this year and the children are daily checking out the growth, looking for live creatures and talking about when we will begin to eat out of the garden. Because I also keep my school children, it is fun to watch them come in at the end of the day and join the young ones. They seem to throw off all cares and become wide eyed again. In a world where children grow up too fast, nurturing that young wonder is a priviledge.
Time spent with our children returns multiple times when you don’t expect it at all. We used to dry camp with our children every autumn in the hills of California. The change of scenery, from being raised in the Redwood Forest, opened their eyes to all kinds of possibilities. I take great delight in watching my grandchildren being introduced to nature and all its wonders. Sometimes, I even hear my words repeated by my own children!
Our school district used to allow us to travel to an environmental school for three days and two nights with our classes and chaperones. Most of the children were being raised in the inner city environment. I’ve had students graduating from senior high school tell me they remember that experience. That makes my world better.
My son is now in 3rd grade. We enjoy having more time to do fun things together in the summer time when we’re not loaded down with homework and lesson plans to do. Here are some things we enjoy doing together: painting pottery, ice skating, bowling, hiking, biking, swimming, attending children’s live theatre productions, reading, eating homecook meals more often, and visiting museums, historical homes, and other places of interest within an hour or two of our home. We pretty much do everything we can think of!
We love to go to the pool with our boys. Its a great way to keep cool and we have a great time. Just don’t forget the sunscreen!!!
I just went to Sea World and we had a lot of fun. I just feel that we should not go back home, otherwise. We are started to think and throw ideas of where to go for such a family fun again at least 2 more times for this summer holiday. Specially enjoying my son having fun playing with us, i just wish to have the clock stop ticking.
I love to spend time with my husband and daughter. We love taking day trips together. Just recently we went to the zoo. We also love simple things like blowing bubbles, reading books together, and playing at the park.
My husband and I spend a good bit of time with our four year old nephew. He is fun to be around because he is so curious as he is learning. He often says cute things and there is never a dull moment. That is the great thing about working with young children, each day is different and it is never dull.
My children were recently home for their “Mom” weekend of the dreaded 30 days of summer with “BF” (Biological Father)! My son (8) wanted to do something fun and living in a small town doesn’t leave you with too many options. So he decided he wanted the whole family to splatter paint pictures and each other. I was all for the splatter painting….pictures! We went down to wally-world and got foam boards, craft paints, brushes, and we even ended up with wooden letters to spell names and initials. He and his sis(12) had more fun splatter painting! We decorated their letters too. I must say that they are true artists and their creations really brighten up their rooms!! Mostly we really enjoyed making memories that will not soon be forgotten!!