winter activities

HOUSEWORK!!!! I think it is nice that she wants to play with you and not just plug in to something electronic all of the time. Get her some houseplants to take care of. Surely there is some kind of creative activity she likes. Does she have any friends that she would like to have come play board games with her?

Books on tape would help her read better. Many libraries will loan the book and the tape together. Solitaire, there are many games she could learn to pay herself. I played solitaire cards as a kid. I learned to bake and to cook as a teen. Starting an indoor garden would also be an idea.

How about puzzles? Has she tried doing those? How old is she? My granddaughter loves playing games on the computer....though it gets to be too much sometimes and my daughter has to tell her to take a break....

Get her her own computer & download some board games on it. She can play against the computer. I joined yahoo's game site. You can play against other humans or play against the computer. The games are $19.95 each or if you join for $6.95 a month, you get one free game every month or it's only $6.95 per game. At the end of the year they marked them ALL down to $9.95 with no limit on how many you can buy. I play against my computer most of the time as I don't like playing against people who are better players than I am!!!!

You are in a rough place..lol...I would just tell her I needed her help cleaning the house..mine always find something to keep them busy when I bring that up That really is tough spot since she doesn't like to read or do crafts. Maybe you could do a movie night or ohh...I know..dress-up!!! You could put on each other's makeup and do each other's hair...my girls love that!!! It's been forever since we have done "dress-up"..I may have to get them in on that tomorrow night.

I remember those days myself! I was horse crazy. If I wasn't riding them I was dreaming of them. There were too many days I had to be away from them with nothing else to do. One Christmas a kind aunt sent me a magazine subscription to Horse World. I was in heaven! Then, the next Christmas she sent me a book on horses. This continued until she passed away. I began to take interest in reading, until a teacher told me to stop writing every book report about horses! So then I started writing about the people, careers and businesses involved with horses.

Wow, board games and NOT TV? That's a rare breed!

Hmm... my kids aren't as old as yours. But I know your pain of trying to find something for them to do in winter. I bought the Wii one year for Christmas and it keeps us occupied some times. And of course my kids are younger so they do things like color, watch movies, read box, play, Dance Dance Revolution.... They do go out for a lil bit on the weekends to go sledding in the front yard for say 30 minutes & sometimes help w/ shoveling. Perhaps she can go to a friends house and spend some time? Grandparents? Cousins?

I know how you feel. My kids are younger but I can tell they get bored easily too. Maybe your daughter just needs some chores to do. That will keep her occupied. Or maybe she can start an online blog.

I would actually sit and write down with her what she likes and what her interests are. She might be surprised on the number of things she is actually interested in. However, when and if you decide to obtain any supplies for things she may like she has to give them a fair chance, in others not sit for an hour and say I do not like it lets try something else. Kids at this age are very creative but at times require a bit of motivation. Good luck with this and happy entertaining.

It's not easy, but maybe this is the time for her to get the habit to reed. You could find interesting books with good illistrations. Maybe she'll get the taste to draw too. And the chores - this is a good idea. Finally, I don't know how cold it is, but I think that it is good for the health to go and play outside.