Years ago, I struggled to strike a balance between spending time with my family and carrying out my responsibilities as a professional at work. The short hours after work was a torture and it was challenging to create happy and beautiful memories with my growing daughters.
Because I always feel robbed of the bonding time I should have with them, I made a decision to resign from my full-time working position and take up the role of a stay-at-home mum.
And because YOLO (you only live once), I chose to spend more time with my family and hopefully I won’t miss any more key milestones during the childhood years.
Now that I’ve seized the opportunity to be a stay-at-home-mum, I am constantly thinking of activities to do with my daughters.
Here are some which we have tried out – and check out how my girls rated them based on the fun scale!
1. Trampoline Park
We are fortunate to have a trampoline park just a few blocks from where we live. This activity was rated the ‘Most Fun’ because they get to jump around, do supervised stunts and play a game (or two) of dodge balls.
Fun-o-meter: Fun | Lots of Fun | Too Much Fun
2. Board Games
We discovered the joy of playing board games when one of my daughters was gifted with a board game for her birthday. My husband and I finally realised that they are old enough to understand the rules and comply with them most of the time during the games.
So far, we have tried our hands at these games; Cluedo Junior, Penguin Trap, Monopoly Junior and our recent favourite, UNO!
Fun-o-meter: Fun | Lots of Fun | Too Much Fun
3. Swimming
My younger daughter has been taking swimming lessons this year and we often visit the swimming complex so that she can practise and at the same time have ajolly good time. My husband has cousins with children about the same age as ours, so we invited them to the pool with us.
Fun-o-meter: Fun | Lots of Fun | Too Much Fun
4. Scrapbooking / Arts & Crafts
I grew up attending community art classes, so naturally I would love to impart these creative traits to my daughters. I did not send them to any art classes because I am enjoying myself too much doing it together with them.
Fun-o-meter: Fun | Lots of Fun | Too Much Fun
5. Playground
As my daughters slowly advance into upper primary and the lessons and homework get too long and tedious, I made sure they took breaks in between homework and revisions. I bring them out to the neighborhood playground in the evening as often as I can.
At the playground, they get to sit on the swing, go down the slide, run around and hike up the polygonal rope climber. Personally, I find that this is the fastest stress reliever and the most effective activity to keep my daughters’ mood and energy positive.
Fun-o-meter: Fun | Lots of Fun | Too Much Fun
6. Self-care & Beauty
Girls just wanna have fun!
Like all children in this day and age, my daughters are not exempted from the likes of YouTube, Instagram and Tik Tok. They watched videos ranging from unboxing toys to life hacks to make up tutorial videos. There are times when playing with my beauty products makes them ecstatic. Other times when we have the opportunity, we go for a manicure and pedicure session.
Fun-o-meter: Fun | Lots of Fun | Too Much Fun
7. Exercising
My husband and I continue to work towards a healthy lifestyle. We walked to the stadium in the evenings and brought our daughters with us. While my husband runs and I brisk walk, they will be at the sides skipping or cheering us on from the bleachers. Only when they have too much energy that they will run alongside my husband. But the best part of this activity, is the chance to run around the spacious field and roll around on the grass.
Fun-o-meter: Fun | Lots of Fun | Too Much Fun
At eight and nine years old, these activities serve the purpose of keeping them engaged and thrilled. But as they get older, I will also need to step up my game and discover new activities to bond with tween girls. Until the next update – game on!
Article contributed by Tuty
Tuty is a newly stay-at-home mum with 2 daughters aged 8 years and 9 years. Aspires to guide her daughters to grow up into kind, inclusive and independent young women. She blogs and vlogs randomly at tutyfruitty.blogspot.com.
