Bending the Rules

(my friend sent me this info-great ideas)

Written By Lisa Olstein from Wondertime

Sure, routines are the stuff of life, necessary for maintaining structure and sanity with children, but bending the rules can be wonderfully liberating.


1. Instead of a wake-up call dictated by schedule, let dawn's first rays draw everyone out for a misty backyard safari.


2. Let go of the notion that picnics are for lunchtime: Take breakfast or dinner into the great wide open.


3. Skip the raincoats: The next time it rains, pull out the bathing suits and let the kids get as wet as they want.


4. Bring the outdoors in: Adorn walls, dressers, and bookcases with flowering tree branches (apple and cherry blossoms smell great).


5. Read a bedtime story under the starry night sky, flashlight in hand. Simply being outside in pj's is a thrill for kids, more so if you're in pj's too.