Kids love summertime and the freedom it brings. Moms, not so much. Finding ways to entertain the children all day can be taxing on mom and on the budget. But there are some ways to take the strain off both.
A number of restaurants offer free kids meals on certain nights of the week. In our area, just about every night is covered by at least one restaurant. Sixty-nine cent cheeseburger Wednesday at McDonald’s is a popular lunch stop. Even though the savings don’t amount to all that much (I think cheeseburgers are ninety-five cents every other day), every Wednesday huge numbers of parents with young children flock to the one local McDonald’s that still has a playland.
Many movie theaters have started showing FREE movies on weekday mornings. Our Cobb theater has two free kids movies each week, showing at 10AM on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. If you can convince your children that they do not need twelve bucks worth of snacks to watch a movie, then free morning movies are a great way to get out of the house without breaking the bank.
Children’s museums are another good activity for summertime. Many will offer an annual family pass, which is a huge bargain compared to paying single day admission at most other venues. For $60, our family has unlimited access to the children’s museum, which is good for entertaining once a week all summer without getting dull.
There are always free events being hosted here and there in any given city. Books-a-Million is currently offering free kids activities on Saturday mornings all summer. While they haven’t been spectacular, you can’t beat the price and the kids sure seem to have fun.
While these events will help to keep the kids entertained without breaking the bank, mom is sure to be extra weary throughout the summer. Dad needs to step in and have some extra ‘date nights’ with the kids during the evenings, just to give mom a break. As the saying goes, “If momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” It’s a grammatical nightmare, but it’s true.