Rain, weekend, two kids, 5 and 1....brew slowly together and you can turn any parent into a gibbering fool who has lost all patience at the end of their rope.There is only so much a parent can do to entertain bored kids.
They have no choice but to leave the pressure cooker of a house and find another means of preoccupation.
This was our situation just a few weeks ago. When its raining outside and you are fed up being in the house, your only option is the new surroundings of some other roofed building. For this particular occasion, we chose IKEA. The one in Philly is relatively new and large. Its also equipped with a decent cafeteria.
We soon found that IKEA was the answer to all our problems. For one thing, IKEA has an open space floor plan, which is great for kids to walk around and explore. Trying to keep them in constant visual range can be a challenge in this kind of environment but it beats the alternative. Every faux room on the show floor is a new place to explore, climb all over, and jump upon cheaply made beds and couches. Getting bored in this pretend kids bedroom full of 1960's theme-colored plastic? Not a problem, just mosey on over to Room of 100 Beds. Its a fantastic world of wonder and bins full of strange items you vaguely feel you might need.
There are surprises around every corner. We even found this ball pit where the girls played forever and benches were provided for mentally exhausted parents. Ellie and Lyla loved it. The only problem with it was figuring out a way to extract them without separation anxiety.
In the end, our trip to IKEA was a huge success. The girls had a great time, the parents got a break and even staved off insanity for another day, and we even bought some stuff we thought we might need. So take note parents. Don't torment yourself by letting a rainy Saturday lead to a slippery slope of stress and yelling. Larisa will tell you herself that the worst days to work in a nursery school are the rainy ones. Cooped up kids will fry even the strongest of wills.
Do yourself a favor and get the family out of the house as if it were on fire. Get in the car and go somewhere. Your brain will thank you.
Check this out, might be up your alley: http://ikeahacker.blogspot.com/
Posted by: dan | November 04, 2010 at 05:59 PM
Great idea! and you'll be back for more, I'm sure!!!
Posted by: Sue Stewart | November 04, 2010 at 07:40 PM
I'm guessing its better not to know what is in those ball pits... although I've heard horror stories xD You could go into one really sick and come out healed or go in healthy and come out with a disease >.< But if it entertains the kids - its worth it! :D Be good Storm ^^
Posted by: Dae | November 10, 2010 at 10:21 AM
When it comes to kids, there is little you can do to keep them from getting sick short of keeping them completely separated from other kids and those environments for 5 years. By far the worst is the first year of day care. And in this case, the trade off being our own sanity, we were willing to risk any sicknesses.
Thanks for the comment Dae. Be good yourself.
Posted by: Justin | November 10, 2010 at 03:47 PM