Indoor Playgrounds Are Disgusting And More Reasons Winter Sucks
I’ve officially reached my breaking point. The northeast has had a positively horrific winter and it’s done me in as a parent. Most days in the last month, it was so cold we could hardly get from the car to the front door of our house without our noses burning from the frigid air. Pipes are freezing, cars are dying-this is not weather meant to sustain human life. We are cooped up indoors and still have several weeks left, which means my kids are losing it. Winter sucks and I’m having trouble seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
Trying to come up with ways to entertain young children during a long stretch of bad weather can be incredibly difficult. We recently survived winter break, but just barely. It was much too cold the whole week to play outside and it snowed for days on end, so the roads were terrible and we couldn’t go anywhere. They were tired of Legos, board games, video games and television somewhere around day three and I was out of alternate ideas by day three and a half. Also, we had a snow day the week prior and two delays the week following the break. When I say we have run out of things to do, I am so not kidding.
Of course, there are some activities we could do indoors but most of them cost money and many are flat-out gross. I know I can’t avoid sending my kids to the germ-fest that is school, but I can make a hard pass on the nasty indoor playgrounds with fresh snot glistening on the slide and dried-on vomit at the bottom of the ball pit. I may be out of my mind with my stir-crazy kids trying to wear out my last nerve but I still have standards.
On top of everything else, even on days where they do go to school and we aren’t on our millionth snow day or 2-hour delay, they still can’t burn off energy outside. The school has a policy that they will not let the kids play outside unless it’s above 30 degrees and that hasn’t happened in a good month. They are bored. They are restless. I don’t even blame them, but that doesn’t make the resulting behavior any easier to deal with.
Honestly, I’m just barely clinging to sanity these days and all that’s saving me is a very understanding husband who helps whenever he’s home and the fact that they are good kids and they are trying their best to behave, despite the perpetual ants in their pants. Just another few weeks and we can bask in the hope of impending spring. I’m sure many of you are with me, so know that I am here in solidarity-drinking seven cups of coffee a day and trying not to lose my shit.
(Image: CREATISTA/Shutterstock)
