Family Bonding Ideas for Rainy Days with the Kids

Once, my grandfather held up a nickel and told me a story that began with, "Let me tell you about the day my aunt gave me a nickel." My answer was predictable enough. "Why was a nickel such a big deal?" His answer? "In my day, a nickel wasn't just a nickel. It was big money." Then, he began to give examples of all that this amount could buy. "A half penny could purchase a big hunk of bread. A penny could buy a few pieces of candy. A quarter -- well, none of us ever saw that much money." Then, he told me about a time when kids would be spanked for complaining of hunger -- a time when everything revolved around the next meal...until his "rich" aunt came to visit and agreed to his daring request for *gasp!* a nickel.

All it takes is one outstanding moment of your life to make your kids want to listen. Tell them about that odd experience you had with the "rabbit" you later found out was a skunk. Talk to them about that dance teacher who would give you a dollar whenever she saw you in the street. It may not be spectacular, like my grandfather's mind-bending Depression years tale, but to them, because it was important to you, it will become part of the family folklore.

When story time is over, there are still more things to do. Get into a closet, put on an odd assortment of clothing, and then have a fashion show. Have the kids do the same. It can be messy, indeed, but you have to get your kids to try on their old clothes and check for length now and then anyway, so make it today -- but do NOT tell them it's practical as well as fun. That'll be our little secret.

As you run out of things to do, try this: Bake something. Now, this involves preparation, so you have to buy the ingredients in advance -- a few cake mixes, powdered eggs, extra jugs of oil -- just in case you're out of fresh ingredients that day. But if you have all the good stuff, go ahead and make homemade cookie dough. Your kids are going to love the experience, even if you end up having to toss the finished product into the trash and open up a bag of ready-made cookies, instead. The boundaries are only dictated by the limits of your imagination. We have made crazy brownies out of cocoa and pancake mix, invented a spiced milk recipe that's still going around the internet, and we've had fun. Sometimes, we even make something edible. (grin)

Do you think that's the end? No. There's more. Take out one of those books that your kids have never wanted to read. Check out the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott, or one of the Narnia books by C.S. Lewis. Maybe they won't be your most enthusiastic crowd -- at first -- but as you read aloud and begin losing yourself in the story, chances are they'll come right along with you. And that, my friends, is a bonding experience like no other.

What is bonding all about? It involves making memories that will get your kids smiling years into the future. It involves setting off the fire alarm, tripping over the coffee table, long rainy days reading aloud on the sofa, and even napping together on Mommy's bed. So get to work making those memories, and when you run out of ideas, always remember my grandfather's no-fail trick. It starts with, "When I was a kid..." and it ends with magic!