For those of you with bigger kids, we have had a few good suggestions for what to do with your teens and nearly teens while you are at work. But before we get into that, there is the big old question of how old is old enough to be at home without childcare. Every child is different and we won't be dishing out that advice here!
So what are the top tips?
- Meet you at work. If they are old enough and can travel easily on public transport, ask them to come and meet you one day for lunch. Coming to Mummy's office is exciting for them and they get to see where you go every day.
- A playdate. Organise for them to hang with a friend. Just make sure you pay back the favour and have the child to pay another day!
- Earn some money. This could be wash the car, do the hoovering, clean the bathrooms or do the washing, but it gets them doing something.
- Get baking. It depends on the age of your kids, but if you can trust them to bake, then why not! And if they go out and buy the ingredients, that's even more of an adventure.
- Grandmas house. If you are lucky enough to have your family in the same city or not too far away, arrange some family time and/or a sleepover.
- Take the dog out. If you have a dog, this is a sure-fire way to get them out of the house. Take the dog out, have a walk and get some fresh air. Everyone wins! You could also extend this to washing the dog!
- Join a local camp. There are all sorts of day camps and there will be some close to you. If you live in a city and they can get there themselves, then all the better. This could be film making, tennis, cookery or football.
- Bedroom tidying. Yes, they hate it, but it could earn them a bit of extra pocket money if you pay for it!
- Cinema. Send them to see a movie!
- Homework. Get the homework done. No one wants to leave it till the night before school starts in September.
- Babysitting. Any friends with younger kids may be grateful for the help. Spread the word to your local friends.
- Read a book. If you have avid readers, then this is a good way to get them off their devices.
So that's a few to be getting on with! Please send any more to us at WoMo towers as we'd love to post up a few more!