Teacher Appreciation day should be every day, but no more so than during the upcoming spring breaks where parents and caregivers learn what it’s like to keep kids occupied all day long for five weekdays.
While some had the foresight and budget to take a trip or enroll their children in spring break day camps, a large percentage of parents are tasked with doing what teachers do every day: keeping youngsters engaged for hours on end.
“You have to be very intentional with the week, space things out and be creative,” said Meghan Peters, a Brookhaven parent. “We try to do some family activities like go to museums or the movies, but it’s so expensive.”
Some families, such as Peters’, face multiple weeks of juggling spring breaks depending on school schedules. She took her 16-year-old son, Bobby, to Costa Rica, and is seeking ways to keep Lillian, 9, and 12-year-old Barrett busy for their upcoming spring break week. On the agenda is a day at Great Wolf Lodge (a family water park and resort in LaGrange), the Balloon Museum, bowling, pickleball and hikes in the woods. “We’ll probably take some of the kids’ friends to a park. There’s a lot of fun stuff to do here.”
With many sports programs taking their own break during spring break, Andrea and Micah Addington came up with a family activity: fostering a dog that they met recently at a pet adoption. They worked with Braveheart Bulliez Rescue Pet in Roswell to foster Gypsy, a petite long-hair beagle mix that was abused and rescued, and integrate her temporarily into the family that includes Hampton, 5, Halle, 9, and Stella, 12, as well as four dogs.
“It’s good for the kids,” mom Andrea said. “They are handling her, feeding her, walking her and throwing the ball around. They’re actively tiring the dogs out — and themselves.”
Here are more ideas for a great break:
Get outside and explore
There are indeed a lot of activities around town, not all of which are pricey. A walk in the woods (or along a…
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