4 min read
It has been a long, cold winter in Canada. In fact if we keep this up we are shaping up to have one of the coldest winters in recorded history. And, sadly, it looks like that is exactly what we are going to get.
These long winter months can be hard on a person. Both mentally and physically. Lack of sun and activity can really take a toll. And when you have a little one at home, cabin fever can set in pretty quickly.
So, what can you do to beat those winter blues and keep moving? Well, despite the arctic temperatures there actually are plenty of ways to keep your family moving. I know the temptation to hibernate on a nice cozy couch in front of a movie is tempting. And there’s really nothing wrong with indulging in that here and there but it’s also very important to not make that a winter long habit.
Luckily for us we have a three year old who has a hard time sitting still. She is good at keeping us busy and keeping me wracking my brain to come up with what to do next! So what exactly do we do all winter long?
You can’t live in Canada (especially Saskatchewan) without partaking in typical winter activities like skating and sledding. This is the first year we got out daughter out skating and she loves it! It’s been too cold most of the winter to skate on outdoor rinks but we have plenty of indoor ones here and have made it a weekly family activity. And of course we go sledding when the -40 wind chills let up.
We also find winter a great time to enroll our little one in more formal classes. Summer is just so busy and we want to be free to just do carefree things like take off to the beach on summer weekends. So, the chilly winter months are a great time for things like swimming lessons and gymnastics.
But what do you do those days when it really is just too cold to go out? Well, sometimes we have to get creative but we always come up with something. Yoga is a great one! We have a kid’s yoga DVD that the little one adores. And even though it’s geared towards kids we really can all do it together.
We also play a variation of charades that is easy, but lots of fun for our three year old to do. We have a stack of little strips of paper that we write down words on. They are action words like sing and run or some of them have animals listed on them. When a paper gets put down on the floor everyone has to get up (or down depending on the action) and act it out.
I really, really wanted to write to you about how we jump on our Springfree Trampoline during the winter months. Really wanted to! Because you really can enjoy your trampoline all year round. But as we talked about earlier and you are well aware – it has been a brutal winter. And even though we could be using our Springfree right now, it arrived in January and it’s just been far too cold to get it set up. It’s not particularly complicated to set up but it does take a little time and because you want to make sure you do it right that means following the instructions. And standing out in -40 reading and assembling just has not been an option! So I’m optimistic that the next time I write I will be able to share some adventures and pictures of our wintertime jumping. Because we all know that winter in the prairies doesn’t really leave until April!
How do you keep your family active in the winter months? Do you find it harder when it’s extremely cold like it has been this winter?
Author: Shayna Jaymie Murray
