Will your Grown Children remember their Childhood as Fun?

How can we really make the holidays memorable for our children?  We take care of their education, their health, and their sports activities and most of us do not have much time left over for developing those close moments so important for children. Now is the time to start your holiday traditions with your children so they always remember the fun they had over the holidays with you. Will they remember the fun things you did together?  When you sit around the table eating with family  are your children encouraged to speak, you know, about their friends, what they love to do best, what they would like to do once they are adults etc? Is there a lot of laughter?  Memories are important to us and if they are happy memories they will be cherished.

Do you read with your children? Do you ever play video games with them? Many are fun as well as being educational now. When they are little that Bed-Time story and Tucking -In  at night will be an important part of every day they will always remember fondly.  Poetry and reciting things together is another way of being close.  I partciularly like this one I came across written by Forrest Stone:

WHY?

Why is the apple so shiny and red?

Why is it so nice to be warm in bed?

Why is the sky oh so blue overhead?

Why is the puppy so furry and cute?

Why are the gunny sacks made out of  jute?

Why doesn't Superman plunder and loot?

Why is the ocean so deep and so wide?

Why does Aunt Jennifer lean to one side?

Why are the folks on the talk shows so snide?

These are the questions I asked of my  pop

The questions I asked "till  he told me to stop"

These little poems and rhymes can be learned and recited together often with laughter.  Grandparents usually have wonderful stories to tell of their youth.  I remember visiting my grandmother after school, she would always have cookies and a glass of milk ready.   There would be a fire going in the winter and I would sit at her feet and ask her all sorts of questions about her past.  Good for her and for me since I still recall her stories. She lived to be 103!!

A fun thing to do with older children is to increase their vocabulary by introducing a new word from the dictionary each week and at the end of the week  ask each of them how many times they used the word and how did they slide it into conversations.  Could be fun especially if there are several brothers and sisters competing.

Here's One for starters:  "Synonymous "    

Look it up in the dictionary with them and start them off by using various examples. Ask at the end of the week "so just how many times did you slide it in to conversations" when you laugh with them it will just seem like a game.

It is a sly way of helping them improve their vocabulary without even noticing, after all it is "just fun".