There is pretty much no other way to say it: 3rd grade is taking an emotional toll on me. I know that it’s a testing year and that we knew it would be challenging, but I guess I didn’t realize it was going to be quite as difficult. For those of you who follow along, you know that Branden goes to a very demanding charter school and that he’s on the bus each morning by 7am and doesn’t get home until 5:15ish – rough. Then, he walks in the door with at least an hour of homework. We feel horrible that he doesn’t get much relax time – which kids need – so we made a pact with him: he does his part during the school week and weekends are all about play.
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Our play filled, weekend city adventures include being out all day long as a family, so we bring lots of treats to snack on throughout because stopping in a restaurant multiple times just doesn’t work for us. So during our multiple stops throughout the day, we always have CLIF Kid Zbars on hand! (Also, check out their cool video here for more ways to encourage play.)
Being a city kid has some downfalls and some major upsides, too. No, we aren’t able to just send our kids out to play in the back yard, but we have the most amazing parks, museums, exhibits, and shows for our littles – which are all pretty much in our back yard. Branden is pretty big on museums and likes to keep a close watch on new exhibits. (Hint: most NYC museums are donation entry, so if we’re just passing by we’ll drop only $10 and stop in for an hour for our whole family!) We almost always make a stop at The Met (does it get anymore beautiful than this?) and our days always end with a trip to the playground to burn off extra energy.
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CLIF Kid Zbars help keep our little guy fueled so that we can truly be weekend warriors and take on all the adventures that come our way. Living in NYC means lots and lots of walking from destination to destination, so the fact that they’re made with organic ingredients puts my mind at ease and let’s me know he’s eating something I actually feel good about giving him. Kids crave their flavors and parents yearn for the nutrients – its a win/win situation!
Even though this school year has been challenging, CLIF Kids has reminded me that even though school in back in session,it doesn’t mean that active play should stop and for us, weekends are the time when we get our adventures in around this crazy city that we call home!
How do you encourage play?
Fashionably Yours,
Allison
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
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