Nothing gets my 9- and 10-year-old kids more excited than when they know I’m willing to actually put my head under water when I get in the pool with them. It’s probably because they know it means I won’t irrationally shout about them splashing and (God forbid) getting me wet.
These really are the sweet years. I’m convinced of that and a recent poll seems to suggest most moms feel the same way. A 2024 Gallup survey found that while 80 percent of parents rate their relationship with their toddler as excellent, that number drops to less than half by the time kids hit their teens. Right now, our kids want to hang out with us, they care about our opinions, and they might actually think we’re cool. So while we’re in this phase, let’s try to embrace it and all the activities for school-age children that we won’t have forever.
- Don’t just swim. Do a cannonball, play Marco Polo, and splash until your hair is soaked.
- At bedtime, lie down with them to talk about the day.
- Enjoy a hug while you’re still taller. Need an excuse to hug? Try our Hug a Day printable.
- Visit them at school for lunch or be the “Mystery Reader” for the day.
- Read aloud together.
- Build a sandcastle in the summer or a snowman in the winter (or mudpies in spring).
- Hold hands in the parking lot.
- Run through the sprinklers.
- Let them climb into your bed on a Saturday morning and just stay there a while.
- Laugh at their disgust for kids of the opposite sex. Ew, cooties!
- Compare your hands, palm to palm, and remind them you’re still bigger and stronger.
- Do their hair and tell them they’re beautiful or handsome.
- Push them on the swings. Hop on and go for a swing, too.
- Pray with them at bedtime, out loud, by name, for the things that are on their little hearts.
- Get excited about school supplies, especially crayons and colored pencils. Oooooo, and pencil pouches!
- Use all the time in the car to have good conversations and sing along with your favorite songs. They’ll be driving themselves soon!
- Peek in on them while they sleep and notice the little bit of baby left in their faces.
- Take a day off of work to chaperone a field trip.
- Bake something sweet together. Sit on the kitchen floor and watch it through the oven window.
- Go for a family bike ride.
- Let them sit on your lap in the car and steer it into the driveway.
- Have an indoor campout.
- Do all the holiday things with gusto—hunt for Easter eggs, marvel at fireworks, go trick-or-treating, make the hand turkeys and get just as excited to look at Christmas lights as they do!
- Make up a secret handshake and use it every single day.
- Ask them to tell you about their favorite thing—dinosaurs, singing, swimming, a book. Listen intently, and ask questions to get more details.
As I think about all these special moments or activities for school-age children, I find myself hoping they don’t end when elementary school does. I mean, we can still hold hands with our teens if they’ll have us, right? Let’s work hard to help our kids be kids and embrace the childlike with them even if it means getting our hair wet when we just washed it.
Have a toddler or a teen? Check out these 25 activities to embrace while you have little ones and 35 fun things to do with teenagers.
What is it about this age you know you’ll miss when your child is older?
