family activitiesWeekend days are notorious for getting away from us too fast. Sometimes, as a mom, I am so exhausted from the week past that I end up wanting just to sleep all morning, keep the kids in front of the TV and veg.

Then, on Sunday, most typically, I wake up with the weight of the week on my chest. It's the day for Costco, Whole Foods, cleaning, lunch packing and errand running. Where is the family time? We are lucky if we get an hour at the local park.

This is not what the weekends are made for. We spend all week apart, so why not come together on the weekends and make them all about family? There are a lot of great ways to make the weekends count. I, for one, plan to try to do at least one really fun thing per weekend from now on.

Here are five ways to change it all up:

 

Do a kid's choice day: Each day of the weekend, give over to one kid. They get to pick EVERYTHING. If that means Snickers for breakfast, so be it. If that means you spend all day on roller coasters and laughing until you puke, then have a blast doing it. Kids feel empowered and you all have more fun. It's a major win all around!

Do Shabbat dinner even if you are not Jewish:  I am not a religious Jewish person, but I do enjoy lighting candles and sitting down sans phone or Internet on Friday nights. It is a great way to regroup form the week and just be a family.

Have a "no power" day:  Buh-bye phones, Internet, TV and electronics. Spend a day as a family with no electronics or even electricity. Sometimes "blackouts" are good for the whole family (though not weeklong ones, SANDY!).

Do a family field day: OK, so it's a LITTLE Brady Bunch. But a family field day can also be a blast if you want it to be. Break out the old potato sacks. Get sweaty and laugh a lot.

Family slumber party: This is one of my favorite things to do. Pop some popcorn, get some age appropriate scary movies and camp out in the living room (or in the backyard!) Make microwave s'mores and sleep in a big pile.

What do you do to shake up weekends?