It's Not Always Easy

I wanted to write today to provide some encouragement for parents who struggle to get their kids outside and playing. My older two boys especially, are some days very reluctant to go outside despite my strong held beliefs that playing outside would be healthier and more fun for them.

Today was one of those days. Everyone was inside, entrenched in whatever they were doing. That meant two were in their room playing army together and one was singing and dancing along to a TobyMac cd.

I had a fun day planned. We were going to spend the afternoon throwing water balloons at chalk targets in the driveway. I had planned to incorporate some late summer math review into our game. Then we were going to have a picnic snack in the shady front yard. However, no amount of cajoling could draw those boys away from their chosen activities leaving me rather frustrated and wondering why I, of all people, couldn't get my kids outside to enjoy a beautiful afternoon!

It's days like these that we need to cut ourselves some slack. My children were playing nicely together. They were being active but not destructive. No one was staring at a tv or computer screen. So I opened all the windows in the house, turned up little man's music and enjoyed an afternoon of singing and dancing vowing to incorporate an after dinner walk into the evening plans.

Check back, in coming weeks I will hopefully have the water balloon target practice math review game to report on! In the mean time, don't forget to link up your favorite ideas for outside play. We all need the inspiration somedays!