OLD SCHOOL ENTERTAINMENT FOR YOUR KIDS

Does your child always want to be on an electronic gadget?  Maybe always asking to use your iPad, or iPhone? Ever wonder why? Many of them have gotten use to this "new way of life," as their source of entertainment, and mainly it's our fault. Well, at least, I am taking blame for my kids addiction to electronics, but trying to remedy the situation.

Cell phones, iPads, Tablets - they are easy and engaging, so we tend to just hand it over and let them be "entertained." Actually, it is ADDICTING!  I also believe, that perhaps, it's because, they don't know how to have other kind of non-electronic fun. No one ever takes the time to show them the "old school" way of having fun!  Of course, there are exceptions. Not all kids are hooked on technology.  It just so happens that most of the ones I know, are definitely hooked, even the ones who play sports!  

I made an attempt to get my kids off of their gadgets and outside trying to "figure out what to play."  Good forbid they run and play hide & seek, or play "kick the can" or stick ball. I remember as a kid playing outside games like: "Red Rover, Red Rover and Red Light, Green Light and even Dodge Ball. I tried this recently with my kids and even though they complained at first, they ended up loving a good old fashion game of four square (box ball) outside.  At first, when I was explaining it to them they thought it was dumb, but once they saw that I kept beating them at it, they started to get a little competitive and wanted to keep challenging me at it.  The next afternoon, they wanted to go outside again and take me on. (Score one for this old school Mommy Warrior!)

My next tutorial for them is, "back to basics board games" - to show them how much fun some of the very simple (non-electronic games) we use to pay as kids, can be. Some of my favorite old school board games were Operation, Jenga, MouseTrap, Twister and Trouble. Sure, your kids might mock you at the beginning or tell you "that's boring" or "that's old school," but trust me, once you take the time to play and show them and engage them in a game, whether indoors or outdoors, you might be pleasantly surprised at the result. 

My personal favorite and my family's favorite board game, (that I even remember playing with my great-grandmother,) was Parcheesi! This classic game has been enjoyed for over 100 years! High-quality wooden pawns, dice and dice cups for every player. I was the Parcheesi champ with my green pawn!

If you also want to share some fun games with your kids, below are some old school board games and toys, you can get for them as well. I've included a few games that are pretty new as well, which will hopefully keep them off their electronic gadgets for a while.   

As simple as this was, I use to love playing the boxing 'Battle Bots" game with my cousins when I was young.                                                                                   
It is so important to get our kids up and out of the house and OFF of their electronic gadgets. But if they don't want to actually get out of the house, because sometimes the weather doesn't cooperate, are some fun board games you can entertain them with.

Here are a few ideas:

STARTING SCHOOL ALL OVER

Okay, so there are only 3 more days and school
officially starts in our household! Yes, we've
still technically been on summer vacation.
Can you imagine?

It's going to be an interesting year with a
kindergartner and a senior in the house (in
the same school!!!) My little kindergartner
will be a little v.i.p. among all the cool seniors.
That's not the part I'm freaking out about.
What freaks me out is the realization that for the
next 20+ years I have to deal with school all
over. Ugghhh! I thought that was it, no more
homework, no more listening to authority and teachers
who sometimes are genuinely clueless. My G-d did
I hate school. I was a pretty good student in the
whole scope of things but yuk, just the whole concept
of having to sit there all day and then come home
and DO homework!! How in the world am I going to be
a good example? Yikes!

And lets not even talk about the waking up early part.
I spent my high school years waking up at 5:45a.m.
to make it to school on time b/c I lived so far away
and now here I go again!! My little munchkin has
to be up by 6a.m. to make it to school on time. I know
I know I'm whining already but I really don't do mornings
well. So I guess this weekend is MY last official
weekend to sleep and be homework free for a long long
time!

I promise myself I will try to be the best possible
example and help with homework, wake up early (joyfully)
(yeah right!) and always respect authority in front
of my children!

Wish me luck!!