It is our first night tv free and we are bored! Help!

[Harmony08]

What can you do with a 15 month old running around? He stays up till 10:30. We did dinner, bath, playing playing playing, listened to podcasts, i tried to get out my cross stitch but ds was into it. Every game we have he gets into. Help what can we do???? Do we just keep playing???? I've been playing all day. We usually have some tv on in the background while we play. Any suggestions?

[Theoretica]

Pile up and read books with some hot tea for you and warm milk for him.

Put classical or jazz music on the radio (Pandora?) and dance to the rhythm.

Sing songs

Coloring Sit on the floor and color with him on blank paper

Go for a night time walk?

[zoebird]

time time walk is big for us too.

[Artichokie]

read books aloud. color. make playdough and as soon as it is cool, play with it. bake bread. do puzzles.

[Harmony08]

Haha, we can't take night time walks here. It is freezing cold and even if it wasn't we might get shot. We don't live in a nice place.

We actually started playing 20 questions. This we could do while playing with ds and there is nothing for him to eat or destroy. It was a lot of fun. I need to find more games like this. I can see how in a couple months from now DS will be able to do things like color and play with playdough and other play that we can relax around. I think this is a hard age for this. Tonight I am getting out 2 decks of cards. One for us and one for DS.

[Nazsmum]

I understand the "age" thing.....What about doing messy art and then taking a bath a little later?

One thing that you might do is play with things that light-up. flashlight, candle, toys that light-up, something like that. We make crazy shadows on the wall.

OK my son 13 months is crying. Hope that helps

[suziek]

Why does he stay up until 10:30? Is that a choice, for example--something you do because mom or dad work late and you want family time? Or is it a default kind of thing? If the latter, I would try getting DS to bed earlier.

If you like having him up late then you will soon find good, kid-friendly activites that you can enjoy with out the tv. Reading with ds, playdough, baths, music, dancing, books on cd, etc. Going without tv is an adjustment, but it won't take too long and you'll fill the time with things you all like better.

Parenting after 8 pm is not my favorite activity, though. I'm playdoing, dancing, reading to kids all day. At 8 my guys are in bed, reading (most of my kids are a lot older) or sleeping. And when I am alone or with just DH I never have any problem finding things I need or like to do! And I bet you wouldn't either!

[meco]

If you simply just had the TV on a lot as background noise, you can play books on tape (free ones can be sound, like at LibriVox) or music (either CDs, playlists or even Pandora).

Long baths and long walks are always nice space fillers. You can always do walks around other places when it's cold (although walks in the cold are quite nice! But once it gets below like 12, it's nippy)--the mall or the Y or the track at the local school or church. Sometimes even just getting out and hanging out at the bookstore can be fun.

Also, bubbles, art projects, making playdough, playing with water and different textures, I agree with lights--flashlights, finger puppets, always good times. If you have a sand/water table, that can be quick entertaining.

I always set up later afternoon playdates, which was useful as a distractor.

You could set up forts and tunnels in your living room. Also, since your son is at an exploratory stage you could set up the area with things for him to get into that are considered acceptable. I used to set my kid up with a bag of stuff so he could dig through it and find new things.

So that I could knit or sew, I would give my son paper with a big, blunt needle and yarn and let him sew himself. Or lacing cards provide a similar experience. Those used to entertain him so I could work on some craft for a bit.

I agree that while it's an adjustment, you will adjust and you will begin to find a lot to do. The age your son at is a hard age--all they want to do is explore (with their hands, feet and mouths!). But soon that stage will pass, and you will find it easier to fill the time.

[Harmony08]

We're doing well! Three days and no tv at all. Not even the super bowl. I am very impressed by DH. I like the light play suggestions, and will look into getting him some kind of lace up card toys. He is in that place where he doesn't want a marker he wants my pen, he doesn't want his monkey toothbrush, he wants my sonicare, he doesn't want a little plastic fork, he wants the real deal. So I am not sure he will be fooled but we will give it a whirl. I will go ahead and try playdough now. He will eat it so I may try some edible playdough recipe first. Our whole family loves to draw and color and that it fun until ds actually starts ingesting large pieces of crayon or marker. As far as I know they don't make edible crayons. Do they? I will also try to get down with this idea of after dinner outings. Really, the last thing I ever want to do after dinner is bundle up and go out in the negative degee weather. Like I said we don't live in a nice place, we don't have malls and things like that. I will look around and see if I can find anything that works. Thanks for the support!

[Nazsmum]

I have a moment so I wanted to add one thing. We keep things very quiet at night. After 7:00 the lights are low and we play thngs thins that do not make noise. They are in bed by 8-8:30.

After they are in bed still the same.

[Elizabeth2008]

reading books would be better than playing games if you're trying to get him to settle down at night.

[Nazsmum]

OH we do read a ton of books. When I say games I mean like shadows on the wall or tie-toe around the chair. I was just saying that at night we are keeping things on the "down low".