School's been out for 3 weeks now (BIG sigh).

I have a job that allows (Ha!) me to stay home with my 3 kids.

Loooong time ago I thought this was the -best- decision... Im now re-considering this thought!

Im SOOOOO tired of the fighting, argueing, complaining & finding them FUN things to do - only to hear MORE fighting, argueing, complaining.

We've done a week of Vacation Bible School, gone fishing, went to 4 different $$ movies $$, been swimming at least 3 days each week, Water park once, with a couple of baseball games thrown in there - oh, and music lessons.... and these are just the things that come to mind.

But my BIGGEST complaint is about friends...

E V E R Y D A Y (at least twice EACH day) my older two kids ask for friends to come play(to help with those long hot afternoon hours). Some friends go to all-day camps M-F(parents work full time) - so in the afternoons/weekends they're homesick - and just wanna stay home. Some friends can ONLY come if they bring their sibiling. SO if my oldest has a friend that brings little brother, life would be grand if the younger kids would play together.

But that doesnt happen.

So now I have my Anne fussing cause SHE wants a friend to come play.

Im exhausted guys. These kids are killin me. no lie. :tired

So, what are all of you doing to make YOUR summer F U N with the kids?

I sware I just wrote that post!! It sounds EXACTLY like my kids!! I feel like a mother on the edge.

I am eagerly awaiting to hear the replies to this one...

One word

CAMP

OMGosh, I have rediscovered the library this summer. What a lifesaver! Of course, keeping up with books, videos, and due dates are kind of a pain, but 3yo Tyler LOVES to play on the computer there! He puts his headphones on and I double click the Arthur game and he sorts bugs by size, color and shape for 45 min EASILY!!! The library here also has a large wooded area beside/behind it where volunteers have made gravel paths, marked trees and bushes, set up benches, built little bridges and rock streams...it's beautiful there! One day we took our books out there and read. How nice! We could easily spend 2 hours at our library!

They (the library) also have a sumer kids program at the local Elem School cafeteria. Last week Mr Snake was there with, no kidding, dozens of snakes. I held one for the kids to pet! And he had a HUGE Python that took 8 adults shoulder to shoulder to hold while the kids went by to pet it. Next week, Mr. Music is coming, so loud music and dancing is on the list of things to do.

Rachel (6) is doing gymnastics on Mondays, too. She LOVES it! Last week, her instructor asked me if she could come to the 4:30 class (instead of the 3:30 class) because she'll be more challenged there. There are loads of younger ones in the class I signed her up for, and her cartwheel is great...anyhow, I'm so proud!

I know what you mean about the neighbor kids...gone all day, not home until 6pm, too old, too young, they can ride bikes in the street and mine can't (without me and I'm not standing out there aLL day) yada yada.

Hey, Paula, Google Ginger Plowman and check out some of her books. She also has a "Wise Words for Mom" calendar-like resource with bible verses and biblical principles for dealing with ANY kid behavior...talking back, disobeying, stirring up strife, the list goes on. I ask Rachel all the time, "is what you are doing generating Peace in our home? or is it stirring up strife? What does God say about that?" and it's GREAT!!!!!!

Good luck. Being Mom is HARD!!!!!!!

*the library*

I keep forgetting about the library. Our summer program is on Tues and Thurs at 10 and 2pm - and like yours, they have special guest on different days. Thanks for this idea! Good one.

aamon, day camp? or the ones that boys scouts/girls scouts have? either one may be a good idea!

LOL! I homeschool my two girls so I'm ALWAYS home with them and looking for stuff to do. Libraries are good, outside activities are great, nature walks, science centers. Have them do some science experiments -- there's lots of fun ones out there that don't make too much of a mess.

How old are they?

LOL! I homeschool my two girls so I'm ALWAYS home with them and looking for stuff to do. Libraries are good, outside activities are great, nature walks, science centers. Have them do some science experiments -- there's lots of fun ones out there that don't make too much of a mess.

How old are they?

10 yr old boy, 5 yr old girl & 3 yr old boy.

Ive always said that it would be easier if I had all 3 of one sex.... you know, grass is always greenier.

Just like Kathy said, someone is too old, too young, doesnt like boy things, doesnt like girl things, one can do something that the other cant, etc

And we live in SW Louisiana. The heat index yesterday was 101 degrees. So if Water isnt involved in outdoor activities, then its too hot for it.

In all honesty - I should be praising GOD that I even HAVE kids. :speechles

LOL Paula...some days we praise and well others, not so much......j/k

I'm having a tough time getting the 'boys' to quit playing video games and head outside....they are probably tired of me saying when I was a kid we played outside all day long - until dinner - and then went back out again...

times have changed - and this is my 2nd time around family....and I have changed too....how about making popsicles in ice cube trays? running through the sprinkler? all those games we played as kids - hopscotch, etc - hey the kids think they are NEW and cool lol

we DO go to the library Tuesday and Friday for the 8 year old but that only lasts 45 minutes........we see movies - mostly rent them - they can be watched more than once.....and strongly urge the 16 year old who is stuck to the couch playing video games to go outside and at least SEE the sun lol

times are different -- camp is good - even a few weeks of it - makes the kids appreciate 'free time' --

I honestly think someone sold today's moms a bad set of rules....we do NOT have to entertain our children 24/7.....just my opinion....they WILL find all those great toys, books, videos on their own if they are left to it long enough....that's my new rule - give them time to find their own fun - it works - they are happy (at least for a while) lol

You should be able to find some local resources that will suggest interesting places to visit -- museums, etc. Puzzles, crossword puzzles, and activity magazines might be fun. That's such a wide age range that it's hard to find something everyone likes.

And we live in SW Louisiana. The heat index yesterday was 101 degrees. So if water isnt involved in outdoor activities, then its too hot for it. :speechles

Ugh...wasn't it just unbearable yesterday? We have our 12 year old nephew and my 8 year old step-son this week and next and we're trying to find things to do as well. Maybe we should get together and let them all play. We're in Hammond. Where are you?

Just a couple of ideas, but my situation is not the same as yours, since i only have one kid!

I make us a little schedule...structure is a good thing. I find worksheets that are kinda fun too online...Enchantedlearning.com is one place...but there are tons out there like discovery.com...While your older kid is working on something alone, you will have time for the 3 year old. Also, check out familyfun.com for some great ideas. One I have used is to have all the kids put some things they want to do on slips of paper, and once a week, or whatever schedule you like, you pull one out of a jar, and do that one.

I think the saving grace is to have a schedule that you make...you need to put some order to things. They'll be happier, too. You can limit how many days there are friends over, and what kind of things you allow. You can check movies out at the library and have matinee afternoon, with popcorn you make...lots cheaper. Or, the older kids can make up the menu for lunch...and you can have cooking lessons that way.

When I get stuck for ideas, I go online and find something and some good ideas, everytime!

Good luck...remember, YOU'RE the boss (but it helps if they think they are getting choices!) LOL!

We're really lucky in a way (although it doesnt always feel like a blessing) because we built our house in a new suburb and as such, its filled with young familes. There's be 20 kids of my childrens' age living within our immediate vicinity and our area is safe, it's all courts, dead ends and cul de sacs with little pedestrian walkways, no main roads etc. There's no traffic in here other than residential traffic, its just the way they design the estates and then after years, they join up and eventually it will become like the rest of Melbourne.

So I'm able to open the front door and just let em go. They ride bikes, blade, run around and come and beg for money to go to the milk bar. There's skate parks and ordinary parks and all sorts of stuff all around about so many kids to do it all with. But often times I can have literally 10 children in my house, they'll all be at the computer or in the boys' room watching a DVD, they make incredible noise and mess and I do get heartily sick of it.

And they're obsessed with sleepovers. Its school holidays here too, although only a short one, our long summer holiday of course is over December/January. But there's not a night that goes by when one of them's not sleeping somewhere else or there's not kids here, and they like to sleep out in the family room on the couches watching the big telly, so you get up in the morning and there's doonas and pillows everywhere, slumbering bodies, huge mounds of dirty dishes from their midnight Snacks etc.

We're moving soon and it will be really a relief to move away from all of this and into an older, more convenient area, but the kids will really miss the lifestyle. However as they approach teenagerhood I think its best to remove them from the influences of lots of wandering children before they start to get up to no good.

we are doing most of the same things as paula. i have 12 and 9 yr old boys. one day i had 8 kids counting mine to take to the local indoor pool,

they all paid their own way. i require my 12 yr old to read for 2 hrs per day, so he does not really want to go the library. when we have neighbor kids come over, i have to limit some of it--they will be here almost all day. but, that's when the boys cut on the water hose and everyone gets wet 3 or 4 times a day. it is very hot here in s.c. as well. we did a free day camp for 1 week, took 3 neighbor kids w/us to VBS for one week,indoor county pool 3 times, lake 3 times, and twice we went to michael's craft store just to look around in the air-conditioning!!! our house will just not cool down til after 10pm on the days it is over over 84 degrees, which is every day now, and yes, we have a/c !! we have made the beaded bracelets all the kids like, also did this for the kids at camp and in neighborhood. if a/o's siblings come along that are girls who may be bored, we make beaded earrings, bracelets, eetc. and i teach them to make potholders on a little loom. they think it is cool because they have never heard/seen that before!! buying those 2 things for the summer was a blessing in disguise--even my boys have made potholders.

in the middle of july, we will start reveiwing what they learned in school last year for an hour and a half each day, by then they will be eager to do it. my younger one always wants to start learning something above his level to prove to himself that he will know it when school starts in the first week of august. we also play cards on some days for hours and we make up stories that are goofy. they do their regular chores, but sometimes they will do a special chore to help me and to earn a little extra money.

it is very tough to fill their every minute!! but about the time i am ready to kill them, school will be starting back!!!:biggrin1:

My kids are much younger that most of the kids you are all talking about. But I know in my house I am the boss. My kids get 2 hours of t.v. a day and 1 hour of vidio games a day. On rainy days we will make an exception to the rule. The first three hours of the day is cleaning, they all pitch in. We make beds , clean rooms, and pickup everything off the floor. The my DH vaccumes (5yrs) while I mop and my two youngest (3-2) do some thing with Water. Wash dishes, spray and wipe down baseboards ect..... I guess its nice that their young enough that cleaning together is still fun... lol We do stupid stuff like blast the music and run around and sing..

As far as entertainment, we do a weekly run to the dollar store and we pick out fun projects to do all together. They have some cool stuff up there like this week we got birdhouses to build and paint, some sand pictures, and paint by numbers. This is all stuff that they can do outside so no mess to clean up. We also invested 100.00 in one of the Pc pipe pools. It is a life saver in the summer. They never have NOTHING to do. We also go fishing, to parks, and we love to go to the Dollar movie's.

sleep overs are a big deal at my house but its always a two day event. I make a deal with the parents of the kids that sleep over. I take yours you take mine... That way i get some time without any kids in exchange for one crazy night, with 5 or 6 kids.

they are probably tired of me saying when I was a kid we played outside all day long - until dinner - and then went back out again

Those great childhood memories... sprinklers, long bike rides, oh - and I can remember all the neighborhood kids would lay down in our drive way in the late afternoons and make animals out of the clouds. That was fun for us.

I NEVER remember telling my parents that I was bored. I dont ever remember GETTING bored.

Neighborhood kids are the key to parent's mental stability! Im convienced.

Thanks for all the ideas, y'all.

Cindy, Ive never seen those sites. Im sure my 10 yr old will LOVE Discovery.com (along with some of the others) - THANKS!

I take yours you take mine... That way i get some time without any kids in exchange for one crazy night, with 5 or 6 kids.

jen, I would love this! How do you get the other parents to share this idea??? It seems like everyone is estatic to get rid of their kiddies... but NEVER does the inviting. how sad.

Thats one of our main problems.

Jacqui, I wanna live in YOUR neighborhood. Australia - here we come! :clap2:

Do you have a pool or lake you could join? you could take them there every day and they could play and swim. Bring them to the park, go to free wild life centers, zoo's... stuff like that.