Also in the back of my head was an article a friend had shared yesterday, A counterintuitive idea for worn out parents to feel reinvigorated. I decided to do something a bit different and fun with my daughter as we were stuck inside at home. We made the rainy day picture (above) and she had great fun sticking on the various bits and pieces, enjoying the different textures and especially liking the rice and lentils, which we used as our rain drops. Following on from that, we got coloured pens out and she did some 'drawing' on the big paper we keep on our easel. I usually insist she sticks to crayons or coloured pencils for fear the pen ends up on the wall but I moved the easel into the kitchen, away from any walls and let her loose!
Before I knew it, the morning had flown by and it was time to make lunch. My daughter had enjoyed the activities and I felt like I had given her some quality time and we had both been happily engaged in what we were doing. I did keep checking on the weather to see if we could get out for a walk but the heavy rain continued. We have had some fun walks in the rain lately, with lots of puddle splashing but today it's just been too heavy. I've had an idea for making a paper plate umbrella that we might do after picking up my son from school later this afternoon, keeping with the rainy day theme!
I'm making a hearty, healthy soup for dinner and jacket/baked potatoes, so nice warming, comfort food! This is one of the tips I included in a post for Beating the January Blues - have a read for more ideas to lift your spirits if you too have been feeling a bit gloomy as a result of the miserable weather.
It definitely takes more effort to keep the momentum going on a dull day but once we make that little extra effort, we usually end up being thankful for it and enjoy the day more than we imagined we would.
What do you like to do on a dreary day when you feel like you've lost some of your usual motivation?
As I watched the incessant rain fall from the sky yesterday, I was reminded of the old days of being at home with toddlers/babies, stuck indoors with nowhere to go. It must be really dreary, the weather has just been so awful this year! Well done you for finding your positive spirit from somewhere and making the day fun, despite the circumstances. x x
ReplyDeleteThanks Suzanne. It is definitely dreary and seemingly neverending! Determined not to let it get the better of me though :-). xx
DeleteWe used to do Puzzleland (with age appropriate puzzles). We would take every single jigsaw puzzle box out of the cupboards and pile them up high. Yes, we had a lot. And one by one we would work on them on the floor, Then we would leave them there for days to remind ourselves of how much fun we'd had. My children are now 19 and 16 and still talk about that. :) Fun times!
ReplyDeleteI don't normally get the January blues but this weather has even me grumpy, depressed and lacking in motivation! Must say, we do lots of drawing and colouring. My daughter is also really into her dollies and roleplay now, so she very rarely utters that "I'm borrrrrrrrrrrrred!" nails-on-a-chalkboard phrase anymore. We also like to discover new films on LoveFilm instant together whilst cuddling under a blanket. If we're watching together and talking about what is going on, then she's absolutely delighted and it isn't long before I hear snippets of what what we've seen appearing in her role-play :) xx
ReplyDelete