TGIF

One of my moms groups recently sent out an email asking for suggestions for indoor winter activities that don't require a ton of planning and that can be done with one child at a time so that kids are getting valuable one-on-one time with mommy or daddy-I have listed my favorites below.

Check them out and break up those winter blues. Maybe you will learn something new.

Stay warm and hang in there mommies, Spring is almost here and just remember that February is the shortest month.

1) My parents used to take my siblings and I out for a special birthday dinner each year-it gave the birthday kid something to look forward to and it and it gave him or her some one-on-one time with the parents which is also really important. Plus, it taught us to behave in nicer restaurants.

2) Give each one of your kids a jar for their dresser. Give them coins on a daily basis for doing nice deeds, behaving well, cleaning their room etc. Once the jar is full of coins the kid gets to count out their money and decide how to spend it-maybe a trip to the toy store for a certain item or an ice cream cone will do it. Maybe the child wants to see a movie or go to a store to paint his/her own pottery. This technique encourages good behavior and gives the kids something to work towards, but it also teaches them the value of money. If you are opposed to using money to fill the jars, use some other counter like marbles and assign a value to each colored counter-red is twenty points, blue is ten etc. Once the child hits a specific point value they get a reward, like a special dessert or extra television time etc.

3) Other fun one-on-one activities to do with kids in the DC area are: ice skating in DC or at the Ballston rink, painting pottery at Made by You in Arlington, cooking classes at Williams Sonoma or Sur La Table (Check locations for times and trial classes), a trip to Kid Town in Rockville, a trip to Sport Bounce, the play space at the Springfield Mall (this one costs money, but is much better than the one at Tysons), a kid play or puppet show at Adventure Theater at Glen Echo Park, a trip to the airport or union station, or an activity at one of the downtown museums-check the Hirshorn Gallery's listing-they have activities like puppet shows and crafts for kids as young as 18 months old.

4) Designate Fridays or another night as movie night and let one kid pick out the menu for dinner and the movie to be viewed. Take that child with you to the supermarket and the video store. Depending on their age and capabilities/interests, you might even let the child help prepare the meal with you for some valuable cooking lessons and special mommy time.

5) Check out one of my favorite websites of all times-www.gocitykids.com-and sign up for their newsletter to come into your email account each week. It gives you tons of ideas for activities and it breaks it down by type and age group.

Good luck and have fun-Enjoy your children-they grow up so fast.