Parenting Indoors: Tricks to Manage Your Kids’ Inner Energizer Bunny

Here in Houston, we’re under a tropical storm warning. Advisory? Threat? I’m really not sure anymore. This isn’t something I’m used to. I moved here from the desert, and it rained twice a year there if I was lucky. This morning it was raining so hard I couldn’t see more than the outline of my neighbor’s house across the street.

I like to let the kids burn off energy outside when I can, because I think it’s good for them. Not just to have the space to run more freely, but to absorb the vitamin D from the sun, and breathe fresh air. I know a lot of parents can’t spare that, many are working from home, or like me are stuck indoors due to weather. Some are home with sick kiddos and can’t take the others out.

I wrote an article for Medium this week talking about how I keep my kids occupied while I’m indoors. You can read that article here: As A Parent, You’d Think I Would Be Used To This By Now, But I’m Not

I talk about the four biggest tactics I use to occupy my kids indoors, which is something I had to do often in El Paso and also here in Houston. I still struggle mightily with my kids, please don’t misunderstand. This isn’t by any means a “cure-all” type article. It’s just some simple, zero cost options I use at home to distract my kids when they’re feeling particularly antsy or destructive.

If you have any tips for me, I’d love to hear them! I’m always appreciative of new ideas to help wrangle my toddlers. When you live with three of the energizer bunny, new things are always useful, and life is never boring.

“Encourage and support your kids, because children are apt to live up to what you believe of them.” – Lady Bird Johnson, former First Lady of the United States