It’s been pretty hot around here lately. Yes it is summer so of course it’s hot but it’s seemed overly hot lately.
Because of the heat we try to play out side in the morning when it is a little cooler. Maddy and her best buddy Boo love to play outside so sometimes we brave the late afternoon heat and head out to the backyard to play in the water. I say we but I don’t really play in the water. I personally prefer to be dry but that isn’t important right now.
My yard is tiny so while we don’t have a pool, or a kiddie pool or a slip n’ slide we do have a water table and lots of toys. Fun stuff for a 2-3 year old.
I would say changing two 2-3 year old girls into swim suits, applying sunscreen, finding hats and getting the water table ready takes about 35 minutes.
Yesterday the girls wanted to play in the water and I obliged. 35 minutes later the girls were in their suits, covered in sunscreen, fitted with hats and the water table was filled.
Maddy and Boo splashed and dumped and played and played and played for a whole 7 minutes after which they informed me that, “We’re done, lets go inside.”
I don’t know about you but a 20% return on my time investment is just not going to cut it. Maddy can hang out there forever by herself but I guess the water table just wasn’t fitting the bill for the two girls together yesterday so I pulled out the big guns. The sprinkler. Let’s face it I’m too stubborn to accept anything less than 15 minutes of playtime for all that work.
That lovely little sprinkler bought me another 26 minutes of focused happy toddler play time. 26 minutes!
More importantly it bought me some adorable little girls squealing in delight and giggling uncontrollably. I would say the return on my time investment was somewhere near 1000%. So worth it. Thank you sprinkler.
I don’t know what it is about kids, all they want to do is go outside until their outside and then all they want to do is go inside. Hopefully the sprinkler continues to hold their attention because I don’t have any other tricks up my sleeve now.
Do any of you have any tips for keeping kiddos outside longer than 10 minutes? All I am looking for is a decent return on my investment, and maybe time to finish my glass of iced tea before it’s time to head back inside and start the drying and dressing process.
5 comments
Oh sweetie, I hear ya! š
I can imagine them squealing as they run through the sprinklers, too cute!
My kids are older but I may just be mean. I just tell them they have to play outside longer and start naming things they can do, trampoline, bikes, chalk, pogo stick, scooter, soccer, the list is endless. Sometimes if they are being really pouty they will just sit in the shade on the porch but that only lasts a few minutes until they see the other kids having fun and they join in.
We also have a slip and slide and the neighbors have a pool so that helps us beat the heat!
I think I could spend hours at that water table. Looks like fun to me!
That is pretty funny! I feel the same way. It takes a long time to get 2 kids ready to go outside, especially if we are going to the pool. It wears me out! It is very frustrating when you end up back in the house 7 minutes later. Sometimes we spend about 30 minutes out but are actually only outside for 7 minutes because we have to run inside for potty breaks every 3 1/2 minutes.
As you know, I don’t have kids, so these are not tried methods of keeping kids outside, just suggestions:
1)a very large lock
2)a guard dog
3)an electric fence
4)play dough