March 23rd, 2009 – Follow me on Twitter!
I am always hearing how expensive kids are. Folk often proclaim that they would love to have kids but they ‘can’t afford to’. Personally, I think bigger issues to consider are ‘I’d rather not give birth/change nappies/become a sleep-deprived zombie who can’t go out at night for fear of being referred to as a ‘bad parent’. However, from my meagre experience with kids (a few brief encounters with cousins’ babies and the like) I understand that these issues fade into the background because of uncontrollable emotions such as *love*.
From reading the many, many parenting forums around on the web I have also deduced that the real cost of children is time, not money. (Well, no one is saying that education comes cheap but the rest of it doesn’t necessarily have to break the bank!)
However, I’ve never met a parent who regrets the time they give up to their kids. Most of the following suggestions on how to entertain your kids cheaply don’t cost much in terms of money, but some do take time.*
For those days when your kids are crowing to be entertained but you don’t want to splash the cash, try some of these ideas. Often the most entertaining activities are the ones that cost very little, or nothing at all:
♦ Get them gardening! Children learn a lot from weeding, digging and learning how to grow vegetables, and your backyard might benefit also. If you’ve got a medium to large backyard, make sure it’s not too minimalist. Kids like to have hiding places in the garden and nooks to explore. If you don’t have a backyard you can get creative with courtyards or balconies and grow herbs and vegetables in pots, or you could take your kids to a community garden.
♦ When you hire movies, consider the benefits of hiring a video game for your kids instead. It will keep them entertained for the whole week, instead of just two hours.
♦ Tram/train/bus + beach + tennis ball = a grand outing. If you want your kids to exercise more and you’re looking for some family fun, hit the beach, park, bushwalk track and cycle path. All of these things are free, not to mention good for your fitness. Plus, think of the photo opportunities!
♦ Invest in some board games. Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, Pictionary and Cranium are great for older kids and can involve the whole family. Uno and Twister are fun for the littlies too. Second hand stores are good places to pick these up cheaply – board games never date!
♦ Get creative. Put together a box of knickknacks for your kids to trawl through when they feel like it. Crafty things like textured paper or scrap wrapping paper, old magazines, glitter, glue, cellophane and so on can result in some creative activities. Get them hooked on decoupage, collage, scrapbooking, beadwork or cross-stitching and they’ll be busy for hours. And don’t overlook the old drawing pencils.
♦ Buy (or make) bubble wands that produce a variety of different size and shape bubbles. Bubbles delight small children.
♦ Children’s animal farms are cheaper than the zoo. They are great for younger kids who are equally fascinated by goats and sheep as they are by tigers. Or check out a fishing farm if you have a keen fisherman in the family.
♦ Make sure you have a dress-up box at home. Your own parents’ and grandparents’ throwaways are a goldmine for the dress-up box. And watching kids parade around in 70s frocks and oversized shoes is GOLD!
♦ Invest in cheap or second hand musical instruments such as harmonicas, toy keyboards and so on. Then put your earplugs in and brace yourself for a joyful racket.
♦ Foster the potential bookworm in your child. If you can convince your kids that reading is fun, chances are you will be cultivating for yourself many hours of beautiful silence between the ages of six and twelve.
♦ Take your kids out to the airport and watch the planes take off.
♦ Play-dates are cheaper than taking the kids out somewhere. Even better is a playgroup which is hosted at a different member’s house each week. You’ll get to socialise while your kids play.
That’s all I can think of so far, but if you’ve got other ideas feel free to post them in the comments section below.
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* Now, everyone needs a day off sometimes, but for parents these days are rare and hard to come by, not to mention the guilt that’s heaped on parents who supposedly want to ‘escape’ their kids. C’mon, everyone needs some solitude sometimes!
The best – and cheapest - way to get some time alone (with or without your partner) is to ‘schedule’ it. You might have a friend with kids the same age, who you can set up regular play-dates with, alternating who looks after both sets of kids once a week. And hopefully there’s a set of doting grandparents on hand as well - studies show that children who spend time with relatives such as grandparents as well as their own parents do better on many learning tests than children who do not.
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