Self Confident Parent Guide to Fun Summer Activities to Do Together Part 2

How about some more fun summer activities, for that self confident parent to plan and do this summer, to have more fun and bonding experiences and build a self confident child or children.

Here are some more fun suggestions or ideas for the self confident parent to do this summer with their child or children:

1) Plan a game night or game time. Pull out your old board games.

One of my sons loves to play the game of bunco. (It is a fun game and one of my favorites. It is an easy dice game. There is no skill required except rolling of 3 dice at a time.) We have played with just with the two of us and sometimes three.

My girlfriend plans a yearly game night for her girlfriends and their sons. She provides the pizza and soft drinks and we provide the desserts and munchies. We have a great time! We have even had grade level bunco game nights.

When one of my sons were in third grade, a friend of mine planned a co-ed bunco night. We had 6 girls and 6 boys. She provided pizza,drinks ,and some inexpensive prizes. Each child brought 4 quarters and a snack to share. At the end of the evening, each child pulled out a number which corresponded to a prize, so everyone was a winner.

If you don't want to provide prizes for each child, when my other son was in 3rd grade, another friend, had a third grade boy's' bunco night. She provided appetizers and each child brought 4 quarters and the munchies and desserts. At the end of the evening, for prizes, we divide money up with winners in the following categories: most wins, most buncos, most mini buncos, and most losses. The kids had a great time.

My girlfriend has even had a birthday party with a game night theme, for her son's birthday one year. They played all sorts of boardgames, rotating from table to table for a certain amount of time and then would switch. They also played bunco as a group. The kids had a blast.

Another game that my son likes to play is Monopoly Junior. It is much quicker than the original Monopoly game. The Monopoly Jr. game on CD-rom is one of our favorites. For instance, when you land on the pay $2 to watch the fireworks, you actually get to watch a mini-fireworks show. This is great for teaching a child to be confident counting money and learning how much change to give back. It also teaches them about real estate investment.

2) Lounge around in pajamas, comfy clothes, or sweats all morning or for the day and just hang out. Just spending time together is great for the self confident parent to create great memories and make your child feel special and loved. While lounging around, you can make breakfast or lunch together, just hang out to talk, or read books together. You can make a hot chocolate bar. You make hot chocolate and put it in a thermos or just make it, one cup at a time. Set aside a lazy susan or little bowls with different things to put in your hot chocolate. You can have bowls containing mini chocolate chips, different colored sprinkles, chocolate sprinkles, whipped cream, chocolate syrup, etc. Everyone gets to personalize their cup of hot chocolate. You can make s'mores, helping each child melt their marshmallow on the stove. You can teach your child to bake cookies and make the cookies yourself and let them decorate them.

3) Rent a movie and have pizza, popcorn, and/or snacks. You can just have a family movie night or have your child or children invite a couple of friends to come and watch a movie and serve popcorn and snacks or pizza, popcorn, and snacks.

For the pizza, you can have pizza delivered, bake frozen pizzas, or even make your own. When we were young, I remember having a make your own pizza party. We would spread one half of an english muffin with pizza sauce . We would then top it with our favorite toppings, for instance different kinds of cheeses, pepperonis, mushrooms, olives, etc. We would then bake them, and then get to eat our own creations. You can also use a regular pizza crust or ready made crusts, like Bobolis, and have everyone put toppings on the pizza and can eat the slice that they put their favorite toppings on. It is a lot of fun.

4) Replace one meal with a free for all. Everyone gets to pick either their favorite entree, soup, or dessert. Or you can have a themed meal with everyone picking their favorite dish in that theme. A friend of mine used to have an ABC theme for breakfast, as a special treat for her kids. She would make things that started with A, then B, then C, etc. It sounded so much fun and what a great idea. Another thing that is fun to do is to play restaurant. My son will make up the menu, usually easy things that he can make, for instance, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, toast and butter, cereal and milk, and turkey sandwiches. He writes up a menu and then loves to take our order. When he brings our meal, though, he expects a tip. It is a blast!

5) Take turns planning fun activities to do. You could go around, starting from the youngest, and each take turns planning activities to do together. For instance, maybe one of your child's favorite activities is to watch a cartoon or jump rope. The whole family would watch a cartoon or play jump rope. Everyone would participate. Then the next person would pick an activity, for instance, my son would choose playing a game of "Horse" with a basketball. You should set a certain amount of time, ahead of time, for each activity.

Have fun trying out these fun activities or make up your own ideas from this list. You will create great family or summer memories while you build happy, fulfilling, and self confident children. You will also come away as a self confident parent. Have fun and enjoy!