So as I write this I can’t help but think that this weekend will forever be known as the Valentine’s Day Blizzard of 2015. All this snow! Which got me thinking about how difficult it is to have this much snow and young children, particularly when cabin fever sets in. So I thought I’d share one of my favorite activities from when my children were very young and it simply didn’t make sense to bring them outside.
We’ve all been there. It takes 20 minutes to get them all bundled up and you get about 10 minutes outside time if you’re lucky. The snow is so deep right now that a lot of the kids can’t even enjoy it, because they simply can’t move. So this is what I did with my kids when they were little. Find your biggest roasting pan—you know the one your Great Aunt gave you for your bridal shower—and fill it with snow, heaping piles, and bring the snow inside to the kids. Grab a few beach towels—you remember those—spread them on your kitchen floor under your pan, give them spoons, measuring cups, hot wheels cars, and/or legos and watch how much fun they have. Or fill a big beach cooler. AND if you’re particularly adventurous, I say use the room that’s best suited for water—yup, the bathroom–how about filling the bath tub or a freestanding shower with snow? Obviously you need to be careful but we have so much snow out there now that compiling a substantial layer of snow in your bathtub shouldn’t take long. Challenge the kids to build an indoor snowman or igloo. My boys used to love the indoor snow experience. And I enjoyed being able to enjoy a cup of coffee in my warm house. Mopping my floors afterward was a small price to pay for the hour or so of non-screen play time.
Give it a try and at the very least you’ll have a great story a few years from now when the kids affectionately recall how “mom used to let us play with snow inside!” And dare I say, in the not- so- distant future you may even find that even you recall this blizzard with affection.
Stay safe, warm and dry everyone. If you need a referral for ice dams, shoveling or plowing, feel free to contact me. We’ve got people!
~Diane
