What actually works in your house when the kids are home all day, every day? We asked, and the Chibur chat answered. Drop your best ideas below.
Mom of Littles: Kiddie pool on the porch — let them move in for a week. (Complex boy? Don’t be surprised when neighbors knock that he’s spraying the street. Been there.)
Sensory Mom: Shaving foam! In the bathtub, spray the walls, let them draw in it. Messy is the point.
Planner Ima: Themed weeks! Camping week — tent + marshmallows on a little grill. Baking week. Art week. And each kid picks one at-home activity, one outing, and one summer goal.
Mom of Performers: They want videos? Have them put on a play — full costumes — filmed with the phone propped on books. Send to all the grandparents, then they watch it 50,000 times.
Balabusta in Training: Cooking competitions with real judges — neighbors, Savta. Blind Milky taste tests with scores. Everyone loves free yummy food.
Mom of a Crowd: Older kids run a day camp for the littles (with supervision). Littles entertained, bigs build responsibility. Win-win — usually.
Teen Wrangler: Teens get a budget and ground rules, then plan a whole day. Another version: hide money in the closets that need organizing — whatever they find funds the trip they plan.
Spy Headquarters: Narrow hallway? Tape a web of red string wall to wall — climb through without touching it. Like the laser scenes in spy movies.
Label Machine Lady: Closet organizing is a fabulous teen project: they buy bins, get the label machine, do try-ons (wedding gowns included). Then the pantry — and cook something from those interesting finds we bought and never used.
DJ Ima: Dance party: costumes, disco lights, glow sticks. A harkada is a hit for many nervous systems in my house — all ages.
Night Owls: Flip the clock: sleep in, late park nights with fun food. My Yerushalmi friend with seven boys woke them at chatzos to learn — then off to the empty playgrounds at 3am, down the slides together.
Vasikin Crew: Or the other direction: early vasikin at the Kosel, then rollerblading in Gan HaPaamon. Afternoon = chill time.
Honest One: Personally? Just being home. Room to room, something to read, fights, boredom, whining... and the felt sense underneath: we’re okay. We can just be. Am I crazy? Maybe. But I’m proud of it.
The friend who changed my summers: “My rule: I never do an activity with my kids that I don’t like. I hate Monopoly, so I don’t play it — I’m not doing anybody a service. I buy games I actually like, so I’m excited to play. And I invite them into what excites me — lately epoxy, so I bought all the supplies, and they’re excited because I am. Kids don’t catch activities. They catch excitement.”