A survey has revealed that most parents in the US are having a difficult time balancing their careers with family life. In the poll conducted by the Pew Research Center, 56% of working parentsfind the balancing act to be challenging. However, it is crucial to spend some quality time with your children to help them grow up happier and healthier, and one way to do this by getting them to participate in outdoor activities in your garden.
Benefits of spending time with your children
As working parents become preoccupied with their careers and the various responsibilities in raising a child, it’s easy to feel disconnected from your kids. It’s even truer for those with school age children as they spend more time doing schoolwork and extra-curricular activities, and most of them would rather be with their friends during their free time.
But experts have found thatspending just 20 minutes a day with your child can help them build their self-confidence, lowers risk of drug use, and encourages healthy habits. While bonding in front of the TV is better than nothing, it is advisable to spend time with your children outdoors. Even just a few minutes doing fun activities in your garden will help engage all their senses as it fosters family bonding. Here are a few fun activities to get your kids out in the garden.
Give your garden a makeover
If your garden is starting to look like it needs a change, you can have your children help you to give it a makeover. Decide on a theme—do your kids prefer a Zen garden, an English garden, or an eco-friendly one? Once you’ve decided, choose your plants and have everyone map out where to plant them. You can also add a few accessories such as outdoor furniture, atraditional or modern water fountain, some solar lights, and the like. This is a great outdoor activity as giving a garden a makeover can teach your kids to have patience, to cooperate, and to know the value of teamwork.
Have a tea party
What’s more fun than having a tea party in your garden? You can use your child’s play set, but it’s even better to serve real food and drinks. All you need is a table, a few chairs, a tea set, some sandwiches, tea, or other beverages that your children will like. Go all out and have everyone dress up in gloves and hats. This activity is a good opportunity to teach the little ones a few basic table manners.
Paint
Let your children paint to their heart’s content without fearing for your couch. Get out the paint, brushes, and other art supplies and head to the garden with your kids for an hour of painting. To make it even more fun, you can let them have asquirt gun painting session. Afterward, you can have everyone wash off any paint spatters before going inside the house.
Have a garden movie night
Setting up a backyard or garden theater is not as hard as some might think it is—all you’ll need is a projector, an outdoor projection screen or even a plain white bed sheet, speakers, and some snacks. Lay down a few blankets for your kids to sit on and place some lawn chairs in the garden for the adults. Make sure to show kid-friendly movies and that the volume is not too loud that it will disturb your neighbors.
Go camping
On the weekend, you canpitch a tent in your gardenand sleep there for the night with your kids. You can tell stories, look at the stars, and even roast marshmallows if you have an outdoor fire pit.
Try any of these activities that you can do with your children in your garden. Not only do you get to spend quality time with the little ones, but everyone is guaranteed to have a fun time which will be part of your kids’ memories for a long time.
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