We gave our boys a Boss for the Day voucher for Christmas. I wrote about our 4yo being Boss earlier in the week; he loved his day but was unsure of what to ask to do. He couldn’t quite believe that he got to organise his perfect day!
The 7yo was a lot quicker on the uptake! He immediately asked to play on the wii all day and eat pizza… In anticipation of this we had added some ‘small print’ to the voucher, saying that mummy and daddy had final say on any and all activities! Once we had established that he needed to do something special with his day, not just sit on front of the TV (pointing out that he could generally do that when he wants to anyway!) he set about designing his day :)
Much like the 4yo he wanted to start the day with pancakes, but he went for the full on American style breakfast with crispy bacon and scrambled eggs too. He also asked for several different ‘toppings’ for his pancakes…
When we lived in the UK we used to go to the cinema regularly. Our local cinema had a ‘kids (cheap!) cinema’ at the weekends and we went most weeks. It’s something that we haven’t managed to do here and he misses it. So, his main request was to go to the cinema. I booked us tickets to see Frozen at an early showing and off we went.
It was brilliant. I have missed taking him to the cinema, and it was just lovely. Great movie too :)
In the afternoon he asked to have a ‘boys’ swimming trip. As I had been taking him to his swimming lessons the previous term, his dad hadn’t seen how he was getting on for awhile, so he wanted to show off a bit. Quite right too!
Then it was time for ‘box’ pizza, from our local pizza takeaway, and another movie.
I was really pleased that both the boys requests were really quite simple. Their priority was activities that they could do with either me or their dad, getting some quality one-on-one time as well as getting to choose what we did.
Voucher Days will definitely become a tradition at birthdays and Christmas, although I suspect that the 7yo’s requests may become more elaborate as time goes on! I look forward to the first time the wee girl is old enough to have one too :)
I would really recommend this idea. More than simply an event (tickets to a show, or a planned outing), it gave the boys choice and responsibility.
I would offer a few tips though:
1. Include some small print, the day should be about more than the ‘normal’. Not that all TV/computers should be banned, as they are likely to be a ‘favourite’ activity, but they should only form part of the day.
2. Make sure you plan ahead: the day can’t be ‘today’ or ‘tomorrow’ in case they ask to do something that requires planning or tickets.
3. Encourage them to have fun with it; to choose meals, activities, treats, events, outings… With younger children, help them with some suggestions.
4. Try not to say no (beyond any small print). While their chosen activity might not sound fun to you, they will love it.
5. Not everything needs to be done as a family, remember it’s their day not yours. We were surprised, but pleased, that the boys both chose activities that were as much about spending some quality time with one of us, as they were about getting a treat.
Do you think that you might give ‘vouchers’? Do you think your children will understand and enjoy the concept or do you think it’s a bit risky?!
All this week, I’m hosting a linky of cheerfulness! You can read about the idea here. If you’d like to join in with any cheerful, happy, funny, silly, magical or inspirational posts to brighten up this rather miserable February, please do and I will share them to spread a little cheerfulness :)
