NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665

February 4, 1999

Parent Line: Cooped Up and Crabby?

Kim Bushaw, Parent Line Program Specialist
NDSU Extension Service

Have your children's holiday toys lost their appeal, not to mention several of their important parts? Has the weather been a little too cold for a little too long? Do you count buying groceries as a mini vacation? If so, you may have an approaching case of cabin fever.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children and the Parents as Teachers National Center both offer cures. Here are a few suggestions to get your family started.

For the Very Young

Toddlers are likely to stay shut up indoors more than any other age group. There is no such thing as a quick trip out when parents are catching, bundling, mittening and re-mittening, all the while trying to get their own outerwear on. Warm days may be worth the effort. But on cold days, bring out assorted sizes of boxes. These can become blocks if stuffed with old newspaper or tunnels if the ends are cut out. A safe, secure mirror mounted in the play area will provide some companionship and exploration. How else does one find out how good he looks?

Alternate toys that are calming and energetic. A blanket thrown over the card table is a perfect fort and peek-a-boo spot. Read favorite books into the tape recorder and invite the toddler to recite repeated lines. A favorite project of this age is to dump. Some colored poker chips and a coffee can with a slot cut in the top will encourage toddlers to use their small muscles and coordination to get the chips into the can with a clink and their large muscles to dump them back out again.

Fashion a safe scoop and let the child practice scooping and dumping smaller toys at pick-up time. Wagons, wheelbarrows and shopping carts are great for clean-up time too. Toddlers love balls, but don't offer them if they can't be thrown in the house. If the child enjoys climbing, a toddler slide may keep him off the counters and chandelier.

Preschoolers love imitation. Dress-up clothes, shoes, handbags and briefcases with empty containers provide active, imaginative and creative play. Add dolls to wash and love plus dishes and tools of any safe sort that resemble grown-up work. Assorted pieces of wood, roofing nails, a hammer, glue, markers or paint, and safety glasses make the perfect start for a junior woodworker. Elaborate plans and projects are not as important as a place to create and hammer off some excess energy.

Write a book together. Children can draw the illustrations and adults can write what the child dictates as a story. If you supply beanbags or other items to throw, include a basket, box or can as a target and a designated area in which to throw them. To make a simple beanbag, use a sock or mitten that has lost its mate. Fill with dry beans and securely sew the opening shut.

Television can become a habit and may act as a pseudo nap time. Use it wisely and turn if off when the program you are intending to watch has ended.

For School-age Children

Make a neighborhood map. Start with a roll of shelf paper and lively markers. Look up recipes and bake something together. Draw and play your own board games. Use events important to your own family and markers that denote something special about each person. Use this wintry time to teach valuable skills such as practicing good manners at tea parties and role playing "unfriendly friends" situations. Encourage a collection of something fun and educational.

Work with the child to put photos in albums. This may take one evening or several weeks, depending on how creative you want to be. Small scrapbooks with special notes and drawings by the child make great gifts for grandparents.

Older kids often become focused on friends and events outside the house. Some useful winter activities might include making car survival kits together and going over each item's uses. Hopefully there is already one in each vehicle, but does everyone know how to use it?

Have the child invite her friends over for a snow sculpture day. Serve hot snacks you've made together. Plan a summer vacation; think warm, write or e-mail for information, and determine costs.

North Dakota is famous for its winters so let's also be known for the creative ways we use this time for learning and relationships, not for being cooped up and crabby. The world may already wonder since the movie "Fargo" is such a popular portrayal of our winter's work here.

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More than 100 Parent Line columns are in the book "Please Tell Me This is Just a Stage." To order, send $9.95 per copy to Distribution Center, Box 5655, NDSU, Fargo, ND 58105-5655.

Kim Bushaw answers the Parent Line, an information and listening support line for North Dakota parents from the NDSU Extension Service. Call the Parent Line at 1-800-258-0808 (231-7923 in Fargo) with questions about this column and other parenting topics. The Parent Line is answered 7:30 a.m. - 9:15 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Friday.

Source: Kim Bushaw (701) 231-1070

Editor: Becky Koch (701) 231-7875