How to Keep Your Kids Busy and Happy During Summer Vacation

��������� The excitement of the last days of school is over.� Kids can't wait for the first days and weeks of summer vacation.� This initial feeling of euphoria quickly fades and after a few weeks the most common words many parents are hearing is " Mom I'm bored there is nothing to do."� Keeping our children busy, happy, and safe can be a difficult task; however with just a few ideas we can keep our kids happy and ourselves from going insane.

������ One of the first things to rember is that we don't want our children to loose brain cells this summer.� Allowing them to sit for hours in front of the television, watching movies, or plalying vidieo games is really not a viable option for keeping our children busy.� OUR KIDS NEED PHYSICAL ACTIVITY!!!� This may mean that we will have to get off the sofa also.� Taking our kids to a park, or on a hike can be a great way to spend time.� Many parks have bike paths or places for skate boarding or rollerblading.� You should make sure that you and your children have the proper safety equipment and always wear sunscreen.� Keep well hydrated, skip the soda and drink plenty of water.

������� Swimming is another great summer activity.� Most areas have public indoor and outdoor pools.� Take advantage of the reasonable admission fees.� Find out the day that the pool is the least busy and make this a weekly outing.� This will keep your children busy and cool them down from the summer heat.

��������Many citys have a movie theater that will show a kid friendly movie one day a week.� Sometimes you can get a free coupon or there is a�one or two dollar charge depending on your location.� Look in your local newspaper to find out if there is something similar in your area.� If there is not something like this already, perhaps you and a few other parents could speak to local business owners to see if a summer program could be set up.