To be a good parent we are not always meant to stand as fun. We are not supposed to be the “friend” especially to our teens. We are here to ensure that our children receive structure, rules, morals among many other life tips that we hope they carry on with them.

In between all of these events of training our children up we need to mix in surprises! Surprises that remind them that while we may not always be all about fun, we still have fun in us. Here’s a few tips to excite your kids!

• Go in 20 minutes after your kids have gone to bed and get them up to take them to ice cream in their pajamas {Read this on twitter! Can’t wait to try it}
  

• Surprise them after school with a picnic in the park for the after school snack

• Show up at your kid’s school and have lunch with them

• Have breakfast as a picnic on mommy & daddy’s bed… and a fun breakfast at that!

• Have a hookie day at least 2 times/year where you go and have a full day of fun – their choice of activities

• Let your kid choose and help cook whatever meal they can make up in their mind… and sit down as a family to lavish over it

• Mix up meal day where they can choose what they want to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner…. as long as it’s mixed up (ex: lunch for breakfast, dinner & lunch, breakfast for dinner)… that’s always fun… hey maybe even let them have dessert for lunch! One day won’t kill them
  

• Make an art gallery of their art work, framed an all for them to come home to… talk about feeling uber special!

• Surprise them with a half year {birthday} celebration party ~ no presents, just a celebration w/maybe cupcakes and some friends and games….. maybe a fun slumber party

• For your little girl, let her play dress up with your makeup and take her out for a special treat…. she’ll feel beautiful!

• For your little boy take him to a sports game (even if it’s a local high school, or any local school one) and choose a team to cheer for and get all excited with them. It’s fun!

I know that there a million things out there that you could do, but I just wanted to throw a couple of things out there for you so that you can realize that it really is simple to have some fun with your young ones.

Throughout our crazy, busy lives we can sometimes forget about the small little things can make our kids have fun memories of their childhood.

These are my little things that work for me and my kids. There are HUNDREDS of tips from others for a huge variety of different topics. {Kristen} is hosting this fabulous carnival! Go join in the fun!

And come back on Monday for {Just a Motivating Monday} hosted by me! It’s my day where I write an inspiring blog post and have a link up for others to link up their inspiring posts. Even if you have nothing to share I hope you’ll stop by to read what I have to write.