Inside: How you can be a fun parent every single day.
I don’t know about you but I am not the fun parent. I am the sensible parent. The disciplinarian. The one that has to keep everyone safe and secure. But I want to be fun. I want my kids to think of me as being someone that made them laugh. So I’ve been having a think about ways I can be more fun as a general rule as well as things I can do with them actively to create more fun situations.
Being a fun parent doesn’t always mean water fights and face-paints. It can be as simple as smiling more, being more relaxed, and being open to having fun. Shifting how you think each day should run is a big part of becoming a fun parent. Deciding you will try and go with the flow is the first step and the rest will come.
How to be more fun around your kids
Here is a list of ways you can change your mentality, the way you live your life, and activities you can suggest to your kids. You don’t have to do everything. You don’t have to do a fun activity every single day but smiling costs nothing and makes a big difference to everyone’s attitude.
- Greet them with a smile and open arms. Smiles make everything better, don’t they?
- Slow down. Rushing around makes everyone feel stressed and half the time it just isn’t necessary.
- Go with the flow. It is so easy to live by routines and get frustrated when things don’t go exactly right. Remember, it really doesn’t matter at the end of the day. All that matters is everyone is safe and happy.
- Dance. Put on the radio and just dance. It will do you good as well as let the kids see you being free.
- Join in with their games. I can’t tell you how much my kids absolutely love it when I join in with what they are doing. Showing real interest in their favourite games means the world to them.
- Sing more. A bit like the dancing idea, just let loose and sing while you go about your day.
- Listen to them. Really listen. Show an interest. Take on board their ideas, their concerns, their everything.
If you don’t listen to the little stuff when they are little, they won’t tell you the big stuff when they are big.
- Enjoy yourself (let them see that you love life). Whatever you are doing, let them see that you love it. Maybe that’s reading, going for a walk, or having a long bath. Embrace life.
Ok so that’s the mental shift type of behaviours but what about fun activities to suggest to them?
- Have a ‘YES Day’. They get to set the activities for the day. You have to say yes to their suggestions. Rules: no asking for anything in the future, nothing illegal, set a radius on max distance to be travelled. We did it recently and it was amazing.
- Read aloud to them. Even when they are old enough to read to themselves it is still nice to be read to. Even if it is just a poem!
- Leave them love notes. In their lunchbox, on the mirror. Just every now and then as a little surprise.
- Have a water fight. My kids thought I’d lost the plot when I first joined in a water fight – they weren’t used to me being so fun!
- Have a picnic. This is the most fun way to eat a meal, am I right?
- Jump in puddles with them! Bring out your inner child – do it!
- Camp out in the garden. Half the fun of camping is being in the tent, so set it up in the garden instead of going away anywhere. Best sleepover ever!
- Let them choose and then help make dinner. What do you think their meal request would be?
- One extra bedtime story. One more is always fun. It shows them you’d rather spend time with them than run off downstairs!
- Have a sleepover downstairs. This is my most dreaded thing. So I try and push myself out of my comfort zone to do it every now and then. Have snacks a plenty, watch a movie and snuggle up!
- Bake a cake together. And let them take control. Yes there will be mess, but mess can be cleared up.
- Facepainting – let them do yours! So much fun!!!!
- Make a fort under the table. Nice and easy but they think you are the best for letting them do it!
- Run outside and dance in the rain. A personal favourite of mine. Yes they will get wet, but clothes can be changed and it’s an excuse to snuggle with a hot chocolate afterwards.
- Hold hands and skip. You’ll look a bit silly but your little one will think you are the bee’s knees.
- Let them pick your outfit for the day. You might be lucky and they might have style ingrained in them!
- Run through the sprinkler with them. Get that swimsuit on and have fun! It’s what memories are made of.
- Have a race in the park. Races are so much fun. Honestly!
- Go swimming. So much to say no about here, but do it anyway!
- Get out the paints and have an arty day. Mess mess mess. Ha! Go on, they’ll love it!
- Lie down on the grass and watch clouds and planes. There is an app we love that shows you where the planes are going – so much fun!
- Have a movie marathon day. Thank goodness for Disney+ on repeat!
- Make paper planes. How far can yours fly? Who can make the best plane?
- PJ day. Winning all round!
- Pamper day for everyone. Face masks, painting nails, hair brushing. Bliss!
- Have a gelli baff bath. Or pop some food colouring in the water. I’ve seen some people put lights in too – so fun!
- Set up a treasure hunt. They don’t just have to be for Easter – hunts are fun all year round!
- Tie dye some t-shirts. We discovered this joy in lockdown and they lived in those t-shirts!
- Go fruit picking. So wholesome. Let them sneak a few strawberries as they go around.
- Fly a kite. Go find a hill and see their little face as that kite soars into the air!
- Go outside on a clear night and star gaze. Stars are amazing. We don’t take enough time to look at them.
- Go to the beach & make sand castles. I’m definitely guilty of just sitting back and watching them. So join in next time you go!
- Have ice cream for lunch. No more to say about that really!
- Go on a treasure trail of your local area. We did this and it was lots of fun!
- Go ice skating. One of the best things about winter!
- Have a night of board games. Monopoly, Game of Life, Cluedo – play them all!
- Get out the playdough and see what you can make. More mess, nobody minds.
- Build something from recycled junk – toilet rolls, tissue boxes, milk cartons etc… Junk modelling is great fun and bigger the better!
- Go on a nature hunt. A great idea is to take a piece of card, stick some double sided tape on it and collect bits of nature as you wander around.
- Build a house from an old box. Oldie but a goodie!
- Play video games with them. They love them, so let yourself enjoy them too. You might surprise yourself!
- Go on a bike ride. There is something so freeing about the wind rushing through your hair! Take a picnic with you and explore the world!
I hope that has given you some ideas and inspiration. If we can get kids off screens, spend more quality time together and have everyone smiling, then we are winning! Let me know how you get on!
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