So, you’re waiting in the waiting room at the doctor’s office….or…..waiting in line at Disneyland….or….waiting in the car line at school with your preschooler and toddler, waiting for the “big kids” (your kindergartener and 2nd grader, or whomever) to get out of school….
Waiting, waiting, waiting! (That reminds me of “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!” – you did used to watch the Brady Bunch, right?)
Anyway – as busy as life gets at times, we still seem to do a lot of waiting. And while it’s usually super convenient to hand the kids a phone or some other device to keep them happily busy, I try hard not to. I prefer they use their imaginations, first of all, but, if they really can’t come up with something positive to pass the time, I like to have a few “ideas” on the ready. So – today’s my first idea to help make waiting less stressful and more fun (and even memorable…in a good way).
A while back, I’d spent the morning out with my oldest and her friend. To end our morning out, we stopped at restaurant for a late lunch before heading back home. Maybe it’s because the morning had been busy and fun and long, but it sure seemed to take a looong time before our lunch was brought to our table. As we were sitting there, twiddling our thumbs, the girls started a little belly-aching about how hungry they were. I decided we needed a distraction. So I took a quick peek in my purse…sweet! I had my new camera with me. I could take pics of them and play with the settings and learn my new camera and they could just…play act! So, that’s what we did. I’d say a feeling or situation and they’d do the facial expression for it. It was so fun – for all of us! Here’s a sampling:
They were… normal:
….and sick:
…and they “see a cute boy”:
…and they “won a million dollars!!” :
Here’s a collage of all the fun:
Just as a “heads-up” – this doesn’t work with all kids. For example, I tried it a few weeks later with my boys, while we were waiting at the doctor’s office. They kind of made the same expressions for everything. 🙂 Except for when I said, “Your dog died.” At that point, my youngest boy got tears in his eyes, which caused my oldest boy to laugh. Game over. (Except that it was a little funny because we don’t own a dog, and never have…and never will, I think, if even the thought of it dying brings him to tears….)
What did go over well with my boys was a simple, “Hey – let’s send a “hello!” to daddy!” So, one became an “H” and the other an “i”, and we sent him a text and said, “Hi” 🙂
So next time you’re waiting – turn that time into something memorable. You won’t regret it! 🙂
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