Summer Doesn't Have to Be Pointless: Motivating Your Kids To Put Down Their Screens

I've discovered that more often than not, when my children come to me with the complaint, "I'm bored", it's really some kind of secret kid code for, "Can I watch TV?" or, "Can I play on the computer?" I can offer them an extensive list of my most creative boredom busting ideas...paint a picture, write a story, see how many dandelions you can pick in the backyard, read a book in the hammock...nothing sparks any interest, except a screen. Helping my kids to see past the allure of screens, to the million other productive, happy, beautiful, enriching activities one can fill their day with, has been at the top of my mom priority list for a good 18 years now. I'm not perfect. Some days I give in and let my kids spend way more time staring at a screen than is healthy. I've found a method, no doubt born out of exasperation on one of those days where noses are constantly glued to screens, that is surprisingly effective at motivating my kids to abandon their screens, and spend their time in productive, healthy, ways.

Points Day

When I've had enough, when I can't take another day of incessant Peppa Pig, or Clumsy Ninja, I wake up before the kids, and make a list. I summon all my childhood memories of creative play, and make a list of as many fun, healthy, and utterly un-mind-numbing activities as I can think of. This list might look something like this:

Write a poem about summertime
Do a sneaky kind deed for someone
Draw the coolest picture ever of a dragon
Make a tower out of marshmallows and toothpicks
Practice an instrument for 10 minutes
Jump rope 100 times in a row
Read a picture book to a little sibling
Make a giant pile of pillows and read your favorite book on top
Color with sidewalk chalk in a puddle, and see what happens
Skip all the way around the house 3 times
Make a comic strip
Raid the dress up box for the most creative costume you can think of. (Dancing Super-hero Dog?)
Sincerely compliment someone
Make art out of something unexpected (ie: dried beans, pasta, leaves, pennies, etc.)
Play dough Pictionary
If you could take a trip anywhere in the world, where would you go? What would you do? What would you eat? Where would you sleep? Write it all down and read it to me.

I assign a certain number of points to each activity: one point for the quick and easy ones, two or three for the more time and thought consuming ones. I even dish out an occasional 10 points for the really tough ones. I write the "Points Day" challenge on the top of the list: "Pick whichever activities look fun to you! If you can earn 100 points by 5:00 this afternoon, you win the prize!" The prize can be whatever you think will motivate your kiddos. Our last Points Day grand prize was a walk on our favorite street downtown to get an ice-cream cone, or a cookie at the bakery, and a book at the cute used book store. It doesn't have to be expensive, or extravagant, just something novel and special. My kids have even found sufficient motivation in the slightly pathetic grand prize of lunch at Costco. When I've finished the list, I put it on the table, or the kitchen counter, or sometimes I tape it to the TV, anywhere easily spotted by the kids as they come downstairs in the morning.  I love to watch the kids discover the list. They forget all about Ash and Pikachu, and are immediately wrapped up in amassing as many points as they can! Before I know it, the house is buzzing with creative energy. Jonah is making up a song on the piano, Sophie is trying to swing higher than she ever has on the rope swing outside, and Lily is making a valiant effort to do 100 jumping jacks. Not once, all day long, do I hear the words, "I'm bored", and not once all day are my children found comatose on the couch watching TV. At the end of the day, when everyone has earned 100 points, (usually they get competitive and earn well over 100), we set off to cash in on the grand prize.

The next time the theme song to Sesame Street has you clenching your teeth, or your grow tired of the glazed look in your kid's eyes as he goes for the high score on Minecraft, consider making it a Points Day!

Share your genius with me! What are some ideas you would put on your list?

Today's a new day; let's  make it purposeful!
Kara