Help! Only One Week and They Are Bored!

Hi Alissa,

I am a mother of a 13 year old son and 10 year old daughter.
I suggest you create a calendar of (low-cost/no-cost) events with the times and days they are available. I will share the one's I'm aware of to get you started. Sparkles of Gwinnett ( http://www.sparklesrollerrinks.com/index.php?pr=G-Calendar ) has Family Skate Nite Madness on Mondays from 6 to 9 pm where admission is only $1 per/person. Skate rental is $3. And they have a bouncy area for your little girl.

A bi-weekly visit to your library is also a treat for the kids. Check to see when your closest location has storytime for your youngest and allow the older kids to check out books or use the internet.

Purchase a Stone Mountain Park ANNUAL PARKING PASS for $35. You can enjoy laser shows at night, plan picnics, hike, walk, and more for an entire year. (Your hubby and dogs may enjoy many of these options with the family)

Oh my, last but not least, play dates! Yes, meet other parents of your kids friends and enjoy adult conversation while the kids entertain each other.

I'm sure I'll think of more, but hopefully this gives you a
start. Best of luck during the summer.

I was dreading the summer because I did not know what to do with my little ones while they were out of school. So far, (knock on wood) it has not been as bad as I thought it was going to be. So far, I have done the following:

1. Enrolled him in a day camp through Gwinnett Parks and Recreation. Although it has only been 2 days since he has started, so far he loves it. (My other child is too young to attend this year.)

2. Playdates. Last year, I signed up with a couple of SAHM groups at meetup.com. The group I like to most is "Snellville moms". I do not know if they have playdates for your 12 year old, but I do know that about 3-4x a week they have things to do for your toddlers.

4. Library. We go there about once a week.

5. Ride bikes. We do this everyday. My kids and I are "park hoppers". In other words: we like going to different parks. Gwinnett county's park system was ranked #1 last year and their goal is to have a park within 5 miles of each other. It seems like they are always opening a new park. So there is a long list of parks for us to try. Therefore, I bring the kids' bikes and they love riding through the different trails. However, now that it is hot, we go early in the morning. (About 9-10am)

6. Movies. If you live near Snellville, Regal Cinemas have free movie mornings during the summer. Maybe there are other cinemas offering this as well.

I hope this will help you, and please feel free to e-mail me if you need more information.

Hi Alissa,

I'm 45 and have 3 kids: 4, 7, and 9. We really do go to the pool almost every day after nap (yes, I still make them all take a 2 hr nap or quiet reading period). We keep that interesting by inviting different friends each time. Also, the particular set of kids who show up will vary. Some times we get a new water toy.
However, I also enroll them in about 8 weeks of summer camp (8 out the 12 weeks they have off) at the Roswell Rec center. It's from about 9am to 1:30. Each week there's a different theme, games,arts & crafts, and some pool time (they like going to a different pool). It's pretty cheap and I don't think most of those expensive camps are really any better.
Another thing I do is to go to the School Box and buy work books in their area of weakness (math). I'll get each kid one workbook that should be an easy review of the year and one that should be a more challenging intro to next year's work. Since they're children and not inclined to work for no reason, I do resort to bribery to get them to work in their workbooks - money, new books - whatever motivates each kid.
As far as day trips go... I'm afraid I'm not much help there -I'd like to read your responses to that. We do like to go to the Zoo. That science museum. Amicalola for a day hike up to the waterfall - maybe lunch at the hotel. The food is atrocious but the view is pretty.
Some times we go to a matinee - although these days it's cheaper and ultimately more comfortable to have a family matinee at home with pop corn and treats.
I hope you get a lot of great suggestions,
K.

How about VBS (vacation bible school) Also, I keep my grandchildren (8 & 11) and we go to the free movie on Tues. or Wed. morning and we try and take or meet a friend. Take a picnic to one of the wonderful parks around, have a play group, p.j. day where we get movies and watch them all day in our p.j.'s and order in pizza. Yesterday we had a friend over for each of them, the boys played on the swings and the girls I gave them manicures. The library is an excellent outing for all and maybe an ice cream treat afterwards. I hope this helps.

I live in Old Norcross and we now have a farmers market every Tuesday(starting 4:00 pm to 8:00)which is a lot of fun for the children. The farmers sell fresh produce and the local restaurants give out free samples of food (perfect for little ones). My daughter is three and loves it. The Market is next to Thrasher Park, which was just renovated and is beautiful!

Also, my little girl loves tumble tots (in Norcross) which offers preschool in the morning, or a flexible drop in schedule for the afternoon.

Check with your county parks and rec dept. Our county has lots of very inexpensive classes and camps for kids. I second the vote for the library. Our library has all kinds of special programs for kids throughout the summer. We typically about once a week.