By CYNTHIA PEARCE
I love sleeping when it’s raining. My children are all safe and happy, tucked into bed and then I crawl in, exhausted, and fall asleep to the sound of rain falling. It’s so relaxing.
But rain during the day? Total. Nightmare.
Children and rain don’t mix, whatsoever. It’s exactly like in the book The Cat In The Hat. Bored children get into mischief, so you’d better have some rainy day tricks up your sleeve or your kids will find a way to keep themselves busy, and it will involve a huge mess, lots of squabbling and a huge huge headache for you.
Just as you make sure you always have umbrellas handy for when the rain starts falling, so too should you have rainy day activities sorted for days when you are housebound.
These are our favourites:
Mummy Hack 1: Retro board games.
Kids are way too cool these days to play board games, right? Unless it’s raining and you’ve ‘lost’ their iPods and they are booooooored.
In my home, rain means board games but they are carefully sorted into two groups – those they can play on their own and those they need my assistance with.
When I have things to do at home I get out Connect Four, Guess Who?, Monopoly Junior and Mouse Trap.
When I’m happy to participate, out comes Junior Scrabble, proper Monopoly and Pictionary.
Retro board games are awesome for rainy days and they teach kids so much. They teach them how to take turns, how to be a good loser and patience. They teach me those things too.