Winter break still exists for New York schools. Well, at least on Long Island where my family lives. It’s always in February, as it starts with President’s Day. Honestly, winter break is bullshit. Sorry, there’s no other way to say it. It’s unnecessary, and needs to go. However, it’s still here and parents can’t throw their kids outside, and tell them to just play. It’s too damn cold. To avoid eating our young, fun activities are necessary for winter break.
Winter break requires lots of creativity
Baby it’s cold outside. Before winter break hits, check out fun activities to incorporate into your week.
Manicures and Pedicure
Enjoy manicures and pedicures during winter break. Little Miss has started doing her own manicures and pedicures with great skill. It took a bit to get there, but after “letting go” of my need to have her nails be perfect (meaning no polish all over her cuticles and fingers,) she’s now highly skilled at doing nails.
She has access to a plethora of polishes, as well as tools, to give herself holiday-themed manicures. If there’s no holiday, she creates beautiful nail art to match the season. Her inner artist is showing, and it’s been fun to watch her gain confidence in her nail design skills.
I think she’s ready for The Flip Side Mani. She’s got the talent, and the steady hand. Wish us luck for the winter break coming soon to New York schools!
Facials
Facials aren’t just for the ladies, my friends. If my son knows what’s good for him, he’ll take my advice and pay special attention to his skin. Treating it well now, whilst he’s young, will benefit him in the future. There’s a whole lot of 20-somethings out there looking older than I am, and that’s super sad. Girls, and guys, take their young skin for granted through the teenage years, and their early 20s. It shows once they all hit 25. Lines, wrinkles, and dull as hell skin. Who wants that? NO ONE.
Both my kids wash their faces with oil, and moisturize! During the day, the moisturizer has SPF, as well as UV protection. At night, the moisturizer is rich, but not heavy, in order to keep them hydrated. Both kids have “chicken skin” on their arms, and it has slowly spread to their faces. It’s a battle to keep it from getting worse, so we’ve had to incorporate other pieces to their daily routines.
Now? Now I’m thinking of trying facials. What better time to start than during Winter Break? It’s cold out, and no one wants to go outside!
Makeovers
As we all know, I’m not a big fan of makeup. However, my daughter is. She never asks to wear much more than lip gloss, as she knows I’m not allowing her to wear anything on her skin until she’s at least 16. If she continues to take care of her skin, she won’t need makeup, and can push it off even further into the future. Perhaps she’ll understand starting with makeup at an early age has a direct affect on how her skin will age.
However, with the clean beauty revolution where many companies are removing many harmful chemicals, and ingredients, from their products….. it looks hopeful for her to be approved to wear it once in a while. It will never be a daily thing for her until she’s 18, because it’s not necessary. However, once in a while to have fun, and change her look for a holiday, or party, why not enjoy more natural products?
As she’s a big YouTube tutorial lover, she’s itching to test out some of the lessons she’s learning. Winter break might be a great chance to experiment with Au Naturale makeup, and allow her to develop the makeup application skills she’ll need in the future.
Card Games
UNO. It’s our card game of choice. The kids have a few different decks, but we’re super old school and prefer the standard, regular UNO deck over the Shopkins, and Superhero decks they’ve collected throughout the years. As the kids have matured, only good old mom throws her cards down in disgust after Little Miss’s heartless game playing wins her every game.
Seriously, she looks super sweet and innocent, but she has no mercy and plots out her vicious attacks on her family, so she is sure to win almost every time.
Reading
Reading isn’t what my son considers fun. However, he also has been bugging me to take classes to learn how to code. Unfortunately, our schedules don’t allow for extra time to send him to lessons, and Little Miss has zero time to head out to coding classes, too.
How did I resolve this? Went and bought a starter library of coding books to get them started on the path to coding domination. Let’s hope this works, and the two of them find pleasure in learning on their own between great books to read, and perhaps some YouTube Tutorials. Perhaps an assist, or three million, from the man behind my WordPress backend, otherwise known as Michael.
Fingers crossed this gets the desire for reading flickering.
Board Games
Technology does absorb much of my children’s attention, and time. There’s no doubt. They spend quite a bit of time learning amazing skills through YouTube, as well as wasting time watching other people play Minecraft. What is that nonsense about? Instead of trying to figure out their strange minds, I put a limit on their screen time and bring out the board games!
Currently, even though UNO is their favorite card game, classic Monopoly and Scrabble are their favorite board games. Scrabble is great, as my son sucks at spelling, and it’s helping him improve his spelling skills. I’ve also never seen the two of these kids use an actual dictionary like they’re using it since introducing Scrabble into their lives.
Board games making the boring “no screen time” hours more fun!
Movies on Netflix
Recently, after signing up for a T-Mobile smartphone plan, we received Netflix on them. I’ve never had Netflix before, but for this winter break, we’ll be enjoying movies whilst we cuddling under warm blankets, drinking hot chocolate.
Library Programs
Public libraries are amazing. When I was younger, I grew up in a district with a library other libraries modeled their children’s programs after. It was phenomenal. When I grew up, I worked at the library in my school district. Now we live in a district with a great library, and decent library programs. The kids love participating in the programs, and during winter break there’s plenty to keep both my elementary school son, as well as my middle school daughter, entertained and happy.
What’s on your agenda for Winter Break this February? Do you even have a Winter Break? If not, how’d you get rid of it from your school district? I’m desperate for the banishment of Winter Break, but it’s a rough fight. Warm weather breaks are so much more fun, don’t you think? Although, with all our fun activity ideas, this year might not be so bad.
