Christmas holidays

What you can do with the family so that it does not get boring

Actually, children and students love the Christmas holidays - of course, you don't have to go to school and you have plenty of free time and there are also presents. But this year is different: Due to the Corona pandemic and the restrictions that come with it, many activities will be cancelled and a threatening hard lockdown is not in sight. So what can you do at home in winter so that the children don't get bored and the parents aren't overwhelmed? We at the Parents Hotline have collected a few ideas for you.

Activities for at home

Typical activities for the Christmas holidays are mostly omitted this year: the skiing holiday, Christmas markets, skating. All cancelled this year. Yeah, sleeping in is great, but even that's gonna get old. So our best guess..: Get active and use your free time at home to do nice things with your family in your own home. It is important that you clarify with your children what they want to do. Handicrafts and baking, for example, are wonderful and fun for the whole family. We have already collected Ideas for this from the parents' hotline. Think of new recipes that can be cooked together in the family, this will bring variety to the dull Corona everyday life. At the same time, you can give out small tasks to the children, perhaps helping out in the kitchen for the first time! For older children, the renovation of the children's room may be on the agenda, which you can tackle together. Or you can rearrange the whole apartment and see what new perspectives are opened up. All this strengthens family awareness and is a lot of fun. And lying on the sofa together watching Christmas movies, eating Christmas cookies and drinking tea is of course also allowed!

Fresh air

Especially during the dark and cold season it is not always easy to motivate yourself to go out into the fresh air. But especially now this is incredibly important and above all a nice, common activity when you go for a walk together as a family. Have a look if you can discover new corners in the surroundings! Do you still remember conventional cameras with film? You can get them at any drugstore and have them developed there. Take pictures of the whole family during your trips in the park, forest and at the waterfront and you can look forward to the snapshots on photo paper in a few weeks! Or you can develop the pictures yourself. You can also rummage in your memory what you did at the age of your children.

In addition, sport is always advisable: Whether you take your children out to play football, skate, jog or simply go for a walk - fresh air is always good for you and strengthens your immune system! And as things stand at the moment, you might as well take one or the other friend with you. If you take turns with their parents, then you will also have some time for yourself or your partner.

Learning

Yes, and of course there is also the unloved subject of learning. Unfortunately, in the Corona Year 2020, this has been neglected in many places. After all, the schools were closed for weeks in spring and often did not run in "normal operation" during the rest of the year. So there could be a lot of school material to catch up on, even if no child likes to listen to it and many parents don't want to. But maybe you can motivate your children to learn and also try out one or the other app or learning program (link to the corresponding link list) to prepare for a successful new year.

Ask children and teachers where they think there is still a need for learning, so that they can provide you with materials and information (about school and the internet). At the same time it is important to arouse the children's curiosity for certain topics. And children actually want to learn. If you manage to arouse their interest in a topic, you have already won.

Take advantage of the Christmas holidays to slow down, it will be stressful in the new year all by itself.

Published on 15.12.2020