CivilWEzation
Focusing on Parenting, Education,
Public Involvement ISSUES
1-0-1 CHEAP THINGS TO DO WITH YOUR KIDS
for UNDER $25
By Valerie Shaw, M.PR
Quality time, experts tell us, is the single most important factor in executing our jobs as parents. Who's got quality time or any kind of time to spend with the kids, for that matter, working 40 or 50 hours a week plus a hefty commute.

Time seems to be the thing that often consumes us, not time with the kids. "I told you I wanted your room cleaned before I got home. And get off the phone!"

Besides not having enough time, whose got enough money to satisfy even the most reasonable child who only wants a Nintendo, a Sony Play Station, a computer and new $129 Nikes for summer?

You'd love to take your kids around the world, to Disney World or even the local roller rink,but after you've paid [most of] the bills you don't have enough money for a round of popcorn and sodas at the local cinema.

You're not alone. Every single parent I know, and most double parents too, bares more guilt than the odometer on a '68 Chevy. I can't understand why anyone with a kid under 18, no less two or three kids, doesn't just go crazy or try to hurt somebody.

Our culture, which praises families, is more than family-unfriendly, it is family-hostile. [See upcoming article, "Working For The Man.] I ain't even warmed up on this subject!]

I have one friend who rebelled against convention more than a decade ago. I met Sandra in a gas station. I was on my way to a job interview and she was on her way to pick up her kids for a weekday trip to the beach.

"I may have to spend 48-hours away from my family," she said, "but I'll be darned if I'm going to give up control over the other 120 hours in my week."

Sandra says that she grew up without her mother's attention. "She was always going to work, getting ready for work, looking for work or too sick to work, and there was never enough of anything."

Sandra was the oldest. She says that her childhood was less fun than jet lag, with all the parenting responsibilities and recreational activities of all her five siblings falling on her slender pre-teen shoulders.

When Sandra started her family she vowed to make her kids the center of her world. Even when her marriage didn't work out and her ex- moved to North Carolina, forgetting about his California life and his California wife (and kids), it brought her and her two boys closer.

"How do you manage to squeeze time out of the week for your kids?" I asked, watching them unpack from another camping trip.

Sandra laughed. "They say that adversity is the best teacher," she said. "Well, if adversity is a teacher, I have a post graduate degree in survival through six or so lean, mean years. Hard Times was my live-in tutor."

During one six-month stretch--around the time I met her, in fact--Sandra didn't work at all. She was raising both of her boys on a $780-month welfare stipend.
"I was long on time and short on just about everything else," she said. One day my boys came to me and said that they didn't give a hang glider if I had $10,000, $10 or 10-cents in the bank. The only thing they wanted was my attention."

I must admit that when Sandra told me there were dozens of wonderful, exciting, creative and fun things a parent could do with kids that didn't cost a dime, I was skeptical. I was incredulous. I was not listening. [Sorry Sandra.] And frankly, I thought her suggestions were interesting but a bit radical. Didn't everyone have at least one credit card?

In those days I was packing plenty of plastic and was non-pulsed when a tab came to $50.] But that was before I hit the pits myself, several years later, losing my business and my will to look for a job. I was a broken mess, nearly homeless with my mind in an abyss. [And man, was I pissed.]

Why should Andrew, my son, who was five-years-old at that time, have to suffer for my bad business judgment and financial insolvency. There I sat, so frenzied about the bills that I couldn't see what my son really wanted: my attention. Just like Sandra had said years ago, when I wasn't listening.

Now I've always been career minded and I've never been a happy homemaker. [As long as there's a market nearby, I don't even make breadcrumbs.] But I found out that Sandra was right! Since I had no money to spend taking my son places and buying him things, I discovered dozens of places to go and things to do that are still free. Or pretty close to it.

With very little effort, I stumbled on hundreds of things my son and I could do that were environment-friendly, fun and guaranteed to bring us closer. I soon discovered that many activities with kids could also beautify the community, help you to appreciate your space, and build some family traditions that may even catch on. You don't have to be Bob Villa or Martha Stewart to plan these activities with your kids. With just a little imagination, you'll be adding to my "1-0-1" or creating your own list, in no time!

© Valerie Shaw 2000- All Rights Reserved
All contents are the exclusive rights of the author and may not be copied, excerpted,
nor duplicated without the expressed written permission of the author. For questions regarding duplication of this work,
send email to author.

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101 Things to Do With Your Kids For Under $25
  
  1. Wash the car together.
2. Clean his/her room together.
3. Go to the zoo (take your own snacks).
4. Walk in the park.
5. Spend an afternoon at a public swimming pool.
6. Go to a movie matinee.
7. Take the dog for a walk.
8. Feed the ducks in the park or the birds in your own backyard.
9. Eat dinner together.
10. Watch TV together.
11. Listen to a variety of music together.
12. Go to the library.
13. Build and fly kites.
14. Collect aluminum cans, saving the money for a special treat.
15. Go for a bike ride.
16. Go roller-skating or roller blading together.
17. Play tennis together.
18. Paint a room.
19. Plant a flower garden in planter boxes or empty milk containers.
20. Help a neighbor.
21. Teach your child(ren) to iron or sew.
22. Go for a drive.
23. Take a bus ride, subway or train to the end of the line and explore a new neighborhood.
24. Visit a museum or art gallery.
25. Learn and play chess or checkers.
26. Go on a picnic.
27. Go for a hike.
28. Go to church or Sunday school.
29. Build something.
30. Act out a fairy tale or Bible story.
31. Paint a mural on an unsightly wall.
32. Play computer games (at home or at the library).
33. Read a newspaper together.
34. Keep a scrapbook or photo album.
35. Take turns reading a book or magazine together.
36. Talk and tell jokes to each other.
37. Build an ant farm.
38. Cook a meal together.
39. Visit a fire station.
40. Start or join a neighborhood clean-up club.
41. Help the homeless.
42. Go to a high school ball game.
43. Go fishing.
44. Write and perform a play for your friends and/or family.
45. Hold a garage sale.
46. Clean out your kid's closet.
47. Read the comic pages together.
48. Hold a neighborhood amateur talent show.
49. Develop a Bible study group that is kid-friendly.
50. Write a never-ending story.
51. Rent a video and watch it together.
52. Have a pillow fight.
53. Keep a family journal.
54. Write a letter to a distant family member or friend.
55. Finger-paint an old lampshade.
56. Build a treasure chest out of a sturdy lidded cardboard box and collect mementos to put in it.
57. Paint over and draw a mural on a neighborhood wall or fence.
58. Form a Saturday car wash club and save the money for a special treat for all the kids.
59. Hold a pie or ice cream eating contest.
60. Use permanent fabric markers to transform plain cotton napkins, place mats and tablecloth into personalized table accessories.
61. Form a weekend school or neighborhood clean up task force.
62. Create birthday, Christmas and other commemorative cards together.
63. Have a picnic in the house on a rainy day.
64. Start a family genealogy by interviewing the oldest members in your family.
65. Cut up old magazine photos and ads to make a doorframe collage.
66. Look in the Sunday paper for free things to do.
67. Start a neighborhood flower and vegetable garden.
68. Hold neighborhood graffiti paint-out or clean up.
69. Collect old usable toys, clothes and shoes and donate them to a shelter.
70. Write and mail letters to shut-ins.
71. Open a bank account for family-fun activities.
72. Use glitter, sequins and old photos to put a new face on an old clock.
73. Play "Simon Says."
74. Take out a book on Astronomy from the library and trace the constellations in the night sky.
75. Make and store Christmas decorations for the holiday season.
76. Decorate old hats with buttons, bows and yarn. Hold a funny hat contest.
77. Finger paint or decorate the inside of a closet.
78. Create a wire coat hanger sculpture.
79. Build a snowman or a family of mud people.
80. Teach each other new songs and dances.
81. Build a sand castle at the beach.
82. Fashion old socks into puppets and host a puppet show.
83. Get a book on birds from the library and go bird watching.
84. Use melted crayons and candle wax in an old coffee tin to create a colorful candle.
85. Adopt and assist a senior citizen in your building or on your block.
86. Do a crossword puzzle together.
87. Make funny or scary masks out of brown paper bags.
88. Make a cake or bake brownies together.
89. Get a book on magic from the library and hold a magic show.
90. Serve meals to the homeless.
91. Learn a foreign language and practice speaking to each other.
92. Visit an historic home, monument or site in your area.
93. Play "Charades."
94. Play "Hopscotch."
95. Hold a giant neighborhood garage sale, saving some of the money for kids' play equipment.
96. Use colored markers and old tennis shoes to create weird sneakers.
97. Enjoy a cookout or campout in your own backyard.
98. Cuddle.
99. Play a round of miniature golf.
100. Write and post a list of 101 things you are grateful for in a prominent place.
101. Pray together.

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