Mom, I’m bored.
Three of the most whined words on the North American Continent.
The “cool” mom in me wants to say OK — let’s run around the paint on our fence with finger paints.
But the reality in me, and the energy that children have sucked from my soul the past 15 years says “Well, honey, what do you feel like doing?”
The reality is I am not normally the mom to get on the floor and play poly pockets, or get out the glitter and things that will mess up my kitchen. I love spending time with my kids but, sometimes the idea of cleaning stuff up just freezes me cold.
While a lot of finding good media is trial and error, here are a few tips I’ve found:
- Preview. Sometimes a show looks GREAT but you need a few minutes to decide if it really is. When I’m really {smart} I preview it before bringing my kids in. I’ve been dumb before though, keep the remote close by!
- Filter. A lot of the movie sites you can filter out any R or even PG-13 rated movies. I love that what is left is usually things we’re good to watch. Makes it easy!
- Diversify. For a while we did all animated movies and then I considered cutting my eyeballs out every time my kids wanted to watch a movie so we diversified. I also made a no animated shows on Sunday evenings. It helped. 🙂
- Be a good example. Your kids need to see that you struggle finding media that is appropriate. I bet a lot of you are rolling your eyeballs right now, and that’s fine, but I want to be the good example to my kids and I have so little time to actually watch TV I need to make it good TV when I do.
- Streaming — makes it easy to stop it when someone has to leave or dinner needs to be cooked. LOVE my Amazon and Netflix. There are very few days I miss when we had cable.
In comes some Media that we can all enjoy!
Here are a few shows we are all loving latley that are on Netflix or Amazon (check to see if it’s on the streaming of your choice).
Once Upon a Time. All of my kids ages 6 to 15 really like this show. I didn’t let Princess P start to really watch the show with us until she was 6, but now we are all REALLY enjoying it. It’s just scary enough to make it enjoyable, and not scary enough to make us all scared. It’s often our Sunday night go to that we can all relax and be in a fairy tale
When Calls the Heart. Thing Anne of Green Gables mixed with Little House on the Priarie. Basically, my dream show when I was about 12. I love this show. It’s so sweet and good. Both Princes P and myself love watching it up cuddled up on the couch together, but my boys will tolerate it if they are particularly bored.
Property Ladder. Because buying a new home might be on our docket in the near future it’s fun for hte kids to see how hosues to change, how much it costs and how much houses, in general, cost. It’s been an eye opener for them, and now “open concept” is a frequented phrases in our house. 🙂 — couldn’t find an Amazon link, available on Netflix.
Brain Games. This one gives so much cool information about how our brain works. My oldets 2 really enjoy this show. Often, once bedtime has come for Princess P to keep her in bed, I only offer “Informational” shows to be watched by them. Brain games is good enough, they don’t care.
Mr Bean. My kids could watch this almost every day. They think he is SO funny, and frankly– I agree. 🙂
Mash — available on Netflix now. This show has so much history and information. I remember living it as a teen too. Always wanted to be hot lips. 😉
As an aside, there are a few ways that I unwind better than a little TV. Some of my own favorites lately are:
Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries — Love the period drama mixed with the intrigue of mystery. A fun one (not appropriate for younger kids, I would let my 15 year old watch it with me though, some adult humor).
Delivery Man — Ex cop turn midwife. Yup, I’ve laughed to tears in this show several times. I love it. 🙂 Not available on Amazon, is available on Netflix as of October 2015
The Vicar of Dibley. SO many laughing tears in this show. Not appropriate for younger viewers but most of the humor would just go over their heads. I just prefer to giggle insanely sans kids.
Bernie — this is a movie, not a show but I really enjoyed it. About a man who is driven to kill his employer after she takes over his life. It may have hit home a little too close. 🙂
Race to Nowhere. Now, I’ve been on my no homework box a fair amount on my Facebook page this year, but this show really solidified that it’s completley useless and killing our kids. {sad face} — really makes you re-think about pushing your kids too hard. — Available on Netflix (not on Amazon) as of October 2015
Some other ways we enjoy media together:
VidAngel. This is a streaming service that you pay per movie. The movies can also be edited to your personal preferences (or not edited at all). Due to them editing things, you have to “buy” the movie but you can return it within 24 hours which ends-up being even cheaper than Redbox without a trip to the store!. LOTS of great family-favorite movies. We have enjoyed it! Totally check it out!
We love our wii — and we LOVE to play Just Dance together. It’s a great way to get out energy when the weather’s not great. Love it! There’s lots of great wii games that you can all enjoy together. I love wii party (which can be tailored to the time you have available).
Anyway that’s some of the media that we really enjoy together at our house. Now it’s your turn! Share what you watch together as a family!
**{Smart} Moms is a relative term. I had to give it a name, but I am the first one to say I’m not smart all the time. Plenty of times I hide from my kids rather than do things with them, I just find it easier when I find a happy medium for us. This series is just a list of things I’ve found to make life easier — not to say — WOOT WOOT, I’m SOooooOOOO smart! {said like Steve Martin}
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