Summer, because the kids are off school, is most parents' greatest nightmare - already I can hear "I'm bored! I'm bored!" So we get into the car, a picnic and an activity planned. "Are we there yet? How much longer?" goes the back-seat mantra.
It should be a lovely, relaxing, bonding time with the children. However, a survey conducted on the parenting website RollerCoaster.ie found that the greatest challenge for 40 per cent of Irish parents is juggling work and home life.
This summer many children will spend too much time watching TV/video and playing computer games, children's favourite activities, according to research by Desmond Broderick and Gerry Shiel at St Patrick's College, Drumcondra. Even in high summer they are less likely to play sports, or be physically active, than they are to watch a video.
Over 90 per cent of parents feel children are growing up too fast and half believe "the media" exerts a negative influence on their child's life, the survey also found. So how do we reverse the trend for sedentary, TV-watching among kids?
Resourceful parents will already be lining children up for summer camps, sports activities, arts-and-crafts camps, horse-riding, tennis and so on. But they all cost money, not to mention the time spent in the car ferrying children hither and thither. But, as I've written before, an element of boredom is good for children.
A hectic schedule of activities, no matter how enriching, squeezes out reflective time. And when kids are bored, they're more likely to pick up a book.
Some of you responded to my request for ideas for inexpensive activities. Aisling Flynn, from Dublin, was among those who suggested the library. Encourage a child's interest in a particular author or subject (dinosaurs, whales, insects, space travel).
Playgrounds in public parks are ideal places for children to work off energy, but the weather doesn't always comply, she says. So, on rainy days, clear off the kitchen table, spread out a few sheets of paper, hand out tubes of Pritt-stick and then use anything you can find - bits of wool, string, foil, pages of magazines, cotton wool, kitchen paper, newspaper, you name it - to make collages.
Mary Donovan, from Co Limerick, has several suggestions and the first is the classic treasure hunt. Depending on the age of the children, a parent can write and hide the clues, or a child can do it.
Making a tent with chairs and a sheet is another old trick that children love. They can picnic in their tent, pretend to be explorers or whatever. With older children, you can play "survivor".
If you have a proper tent, organising for children to spend the night in the garden on a warm evening provides hours of fun, planning, then "surviving", the ordeal. If they're back in the house after dark, no matter.
Try playing "shops", setting out goods, pricing them, then "selling" them to other children. Use your old coppers. On fine days, have a picnic. You can visit a national monument, a park or the beach. Let the children choose and prepare the food (with adult supervision, of course).
The beach, if you're lucky enough to live near one, is a magical place for children. Even if the weather is too cool for swimming, you can still build sandcastles and collect stones and shells.
Put on a play, musical show or puppet show. The children can issue written invitations, and spend the day getting together costumes, hairstyles, props and so on. Don't forget the camera!
Hold a fashion show, with a narrator describing the designs,. Mary Donovan suggests: "Naomi is wearing fabulous Slim Barrett jewellery (Mum's old necklace) with a Versace gown (old clothes/sheets tied up with scarves, belts etc)."
Be a tourist! Donovan suggests open-top bus rides around Dublin, the National Gallery IBM room with its touch-screens, the Dublin Castle tour (dungeons!), the Bank of Ireland tour and so on.
There are so many places to visit around the country that there is not enough space to list them here. Don't assume that the kids will find historical sites boring. To save money, bring sandwiches, juice and fruit. A cake and a drink in a coffee shop afterwards is a nice treat.
Some garden centres now have petting zoos, swings, slides and so on. Children love planting seeds and watching them grow. My own kids get a kick out of planting sprouted potatoes and onions, believe it or not. Older children can chart the plant's growth, feed it regularly and so on.
Organise a day-trip on the train. Bring along crayons and paper or notebooks so the children can draw a record of the day. Designate a child as press photographer to produce a story of the day for viewing later. If more than one child wants to take pictures, use disposable cameras. If you have a video camera, the films you make of such outings will be as precious as they are entertaining.
Linda Sisson, from Dublin, wrote to say that she and her family have tried to get away from the idea of leisure shopping. She has a rule of NO shopping at the weekend: "Instead we make a concerted effort to do a no/low-cost family event like a trip to the mountains, Bull Island, the South Bull/Pigeon House, the Botanic Gardens, the Dublin museums, Duchas sites. We spend a lot of time picking them out and planning the trip. We try to keep it all within two hours there and back as concentration times are limited enough."
Her bad-weather ideas include: old movies - with popcorn, the works; charades - harder for parents than the kids; dinner made by a different member of the family each night. (Mother, of course, does all the shopping but under instructions from the cook of the day. It has meant everything from fish fingers to beans on toast, but increasingly the recipe books are being opened and friends called in to help.)
"Don't mean to sound like the Waltons," says Linda, "because we certainly are not and we battle against Nickelodeon (and increasingly MTV) and all the other onslaughts on family life, but I welcome any forum that promotes these small triumphs!"
