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Family Focus Family Ties Tips for the holidays| Tips for the holidays |
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Take a short trip to destinations such as Malaysia, Thailand, and the Indonesian islands of Batam and Bintan, among others. If you make your getaway over the first two weeks of the hols, that will give time for the kids to do other holiday activities upon your family's return, and do some back-to-school revision and preparation. They can even do a short holiday project e.g. compile a video or photo montage that they can share with their friends and schoolteacher.
Workshops ranging from 1 to 3 days are a good way to keep younger children occupied. From language and drama, sports, arts and crafts, to personal mastery programmes, there's bound to be something to suit their interest and your budget. You can also send your children to walk-in activities, usually arts and crafts at art studios (e.g. Studio Haroobee at http://www.studioharoobeeclub.com/) and craft stations in selected shopping malls. 3. Have a weekday lunch with your children If you and your spouse have a busy schedule and hardly get to spend lunchtime with your children, why not take make time to lunch with them this month? Take a couple of days' leave and spread it out over four days. Go for a leisurely lunch with your children, chat with them, use that time to catch up on what's been happening in their lives. If you have more time to spare, then move on to no 4.
With shops going all out with bargains galore to get people to spend during the Great Singapore Sale, there's no time like the present to do our bit to help the economy Getting your older kids to volunteer their time can help teach them to be grateful for the blessings that they have (see our article on Parenting Tips: Gratitude). This may take a little planning though get in touch with the community centre, a charity home or check out the National Volunteer and Philathropy Centre (http://www.nvpc.org.sg). 6. Encourage them to spend time with a good family friend or close relative Your children can spend more time with a grandparent, a favourite aunt, or a close family friend. This helps extend their social skills beyond school and their immediate families, and your older relatives may like that too. It is also a good opportunity to strengthen clan ties“ you can even plan a multi-family outing like a picnic or overnight camping to round off the week. For older children, spending a day with an entrepreneur can be an eye-opening experience - see no 7.
Do you have a friend or relative who runs her own business, such as a retail store or food outlet? Let your older child spend a day or two getting a peek into behind-the-scenes operations and even front-line work, if the opportunity arises. 8. Pick a DIY home project to last a week (or two) Pick up art and craft supplies, a science experiment set, a magic trick set or a 3D jigsaw puzzle, among other options. While it is well and good to occupy your children's time with some organized activities, they cannot be away from home all the time! Consider projects that will sustain their interest and can be worked on intermittently over several days e.g. a multilayered collage or scrapbook, a jigsaw, or even a DIY clay figurine. Do you have other ideas to keep kids occupied during the holidays? Drop us a line at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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